ELENA VALUSSI, Liberal Education professor, writes: We are on the eve of departure for Shanghai (we leave on the 4th of January). Everything is coming together really well and everybody is excited! This course is taught by Elena Valussi - me -(Liberal Education) and Natasha Egan (Museum of Contemporary Photography), with the invaluable help of Liz Chilsen (Photography), and it is offered through the Liberal Education department, which has given us a great amount of support. Sabina Ott (chair, Art & Design department), will also accompany us.
There are twelve students enrolled in this exciting new course. (Click here to read more about the genesis of this project, as well as the teachers involved in it. Click here to see the syllabus, which outlines what we will be doing day by day.)
Although I have been teaching for several years, this will be my first experience leading a group of students to China, and the first time that I will be leading a course mainly concerned with contemporary art and culture, so I am sure that I will learn at least as much as the students!
One of the main reasons behind my desire to put together such a course is that I went abroad as a student (to China) and it completely changed my outlook on life, study, politics, history, and just about anything else. That first trip, when I was 21, led to many more experiences abroad that have shaped my life ever since. Most of the students leaving for Shanghai with us have never been abroad, and Shanghai will be their first foray into the outside world! Just this opportunity will, I hope, be enough to spur new ideas and directions in their lives. Furthermore, because this course does stress many of the elements that are central to a Columbia College student�s training�like contemporary media, photography, video, and art�this will be an opportunity for them to expand their professional knowledge and aspirations and broaden their work horizons.
My expectations are first and foremost that we will all have a good time. Second, that we will discover an amazing city, with several layers of history, all visible in its architectural makeup. Third, that we will uncover a fascinating, as well as sophisticated, art-world community. Fourth, that we will have a chance to learn about it firsthand through meetings with artists, gallerists, museum curators, and people who do business with art. In the end, we will have fully experienced one of the most cosmopolitan and bustling centers of China, itself one of the few countries in the world experiencing continuous economic growth for the past several years. Hopefully this experience will be somewhat conveyed on this blog by posts, pictures, discussions.
I am eager to read posts by the students about their own expectations and fears, as well as about their reactions to the (thick) reading packet, and the questions they will bring to China to be answered, so start posting!
