In Focus II: Fabricating Power in Twentieth-Century Balinese Textiles

This course will continue the themes of the first In Focus class (Fabricating Power), exploring the nature of cross-cultural exchange, colonial power relationships, and the construction of identity in Bali in the early twentieth century. Specifically, Fabricating Power II will focus on the production of research and written material for the February 2018 exhibition of the same name. This includes curatorial involvement through the production of exhibit labels, the selection of visual elements (such as photographs, sketches, maps), and the creation of essays and other contextual elements for the exhibition. Students who take this course will be very involved in the design and planning of many aspects of the exhibition, taking a practically oriented approach to the material and delivering focused and relevant research on the exhibition themes. They will also participate in the planning of suitable digital interactive modules, catalog graphics and exhibit design. This course will also involve some contextual study of the production of Balinese and Southeast Asian textiles and the historical practices of western museums in ordering and displaying these objects. 3 credits. Satisfies the non-Western requirement.