Remapping Relations is a multidisciplinary course in which students will engage with storytelling, cultural production, theorizing, activism, and art-making focused on imagining and enacting transformative futurities. We have been granted permissions from the Wolastoqewi Grand Chief for the opportunity to work on Wolastokuk land with the Wolastoqiyik people and the Wabanaki Visual Arts program on the theme of remapping relations (human and non-/more-than-human) as an act of planetary kinship. Please be mindful that this course is structured around community-style learning with an emphasis on respectfully following protocol.
Estimated dates—final dates to be announced.
Course Dates: Jun 15, 2023 — Jul 7, 2023
2.5 GPA required. Non-RISD participants see eligibility requirements below.
Estimated cost—final cost to be announced.
Included tuition, accommodation, studio space, in-country transportation, field trips, entrance fees, some group meals and international travel health insurance.
Remapping Relations is a multidisciplinary course in which students will engage with storytelling, cultural production, theorizing, activism, and art-making focused on imagining and enacting transformative futurities. Remapping Relations will take place at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design (NBCCD), as part of a collaboration with NBCCD’s Wabanaki Visual Arts program. Students will have the opportunity to work with the Wolastoqiyik people of the Wabanaki Territories and the Wabanaki Visual Arts program on the theme of remapping relations (human and non-/more-than-human) as an act of planetary kinship.
As a class, we will interrogate the ongoing colonial matrix of power and how it has ruptured human and non-/more-than-human relations. We will also analyze, imagine, and work to seed possibilities for anticolonial, decolonial, Indigenized, multispecies, and planetary futures. Remapping Relations will culminate with the collaborative creation of a mixed-media artbook anthology featuring student contributions that include creative writing, scholarly work, and multi-media art discussing and imagining futures rooted in planetation (or planetary kinships). We use the notion of plantation to provide a behavioral-existential space where we can become practitioners of a radical care politics -- which other planetary inhabitants already perform. Planetation is a system of being and doing that is rooted in cosmic relations that allows us to move beyond bounded western humanisms.
During this course, students will be asked to participate in typical college coursework such as discussing readings and completing material assignments. In addition, students will visit the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, participate in workshops, studio visitations, Wolastoqiyik community events, and opportunities to be present and embodied with the region’s Lands and Waters. This class strives to prioritize forms of knowledge, learning, theorizing, and creation outside of the dominant western university model. It hopes to encourage students to conceive of Lands, Waters, and the non-/more-than-human beings they support as teachers, and requires that students trust themselves and their embodied and felt experiences. Students will engage in diverse artistic practices rooted in mapping-as-storying and storytelling as methods of future weaving and reality curation. The intention of this course is to provide students with an opportunity to learn Land/Planetary-based epistemologies of relationality with a focus on the question, “what future are the youth inheriting?"
To participate in RISD Global Summer Studies, all students are required to stay in RISD- provided housing for the duration of the course.
If your current cumulative GPA is 2.5 or above, you are eligible for registration. If your current cumulative GPA is lower than 2.5, you must first contact the Registrar at registrar@risd.edu to seek exception to this academic policy.
If you are a college student currently enrolled in another art/design college or institution around the world, or a professional practicing in the field, you are eligible for registration. We will collect a recommendation/support form from your institution/workplace.
In order to register for RISD Global summer studies, you are expected to have a high level of English (speech, writing, and comprehension) as all coursework and critique is delivered in English.
Global Summer Studies are three weeks long and take place in June/July, and you are required to attend all program activities scheduled during the travel course. RISD Global Summer Studies comply with RISD class attendance policy. In case of unexcused or multiple absences, you may be removed from the course, given a grade of “W" (withdrawal) or a grade of “F” (fail).
Requesting to withdraw from a RISD off-campus global learning program, including RISD Global Summer Studies, prior to the start of the course is highly discouraged and requires a formal process outlined in the RISD course withdrawal policy. It is not possible for a student to drop a RISD Global Summer Studies travel course via the standard Add/Drop process after it has commenced. In the case of unforeseen and extenuating circumstances (and only after students have spoken with the faculty lead and RISD Global for approval to withdraw from the program), students should be aware that no refund will be issued.
In order to reserve a seat, a non-refundable deposit of $500 is required at the time of application submittal. Students who apply before March 31st will have until April 1, 2023, to submit full payment, and new application submissions starting April 1 must make full payment by April 14, 2023. Students that fail to make full payment by their deadline will forfeit their $500 deposit and their seat in the course.
All RISD students enrolled in RISD and other full degree schools/universities are required to remain in good academic standing in order to participate in Global Summer Studies. A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required for all students. Failure to remain in good academic standing can lead to removal from the course, either before or during the course.
In cases where summer travel courses and studios do not reach full capacity, the course may be canceled after the last day of registration. As such, all students are advised not to purchase flights for participation in Global Summer Studies courses until the course is confirmed.
The application for Global Summer Studies 2023 will open on March 1, 2023 at 7 PM EST and close on April 14, 2023 at 11:59 PM EST.
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Have questions? The RISD Global team is available to meet for a 1:1 advising session. We can give you more information about your study options, help you figure out which program makes sense for you, and assist you with the application process.
Schedule an AppointmentNo announcements for this program.