Gymnasium: Archiving the City in Comics
From the illustrated culture of the nineteenth century to contemporary Afrofuturist visions, Americans have expressed a collective anxiety about cities—as well as aspirations about the city—in comics. Professor Julian Chambliss leads an open gym in which participants approach comics as a continually evolving archive of the modern urban experience. To explore how comics’ special relationship to words and images have helped Americans imagine the city, audiences will create a comic zine that documents their experiences of city life, in conversation with Professor Chambliss’s research and via exploration of the MSU Broad's exhibitions, Never Spoken Again: Rogue Stories of Science and Collections and John Lucas and Claudia Rankine: Situations.
Gymnasium is a platform for MSU researchers to share and develop emerging research in conversation with exhibitions at the MSU Broad. The series features a diverse scholarly response to themes and narratives rooted in the rigorous questioning and playful spirit of contemporary art. Experiential and experimental in design, Gymnasium events involve speakers and audiences in participatory learning activities, encouraging a capricious and collaborative research practice.
Plan to arrive early to check out the galleries before this event! Our galleries close to the public at 7pm.
This event will be located in the Alan and Rebecca Ross Education Wing.
