Yukinori Yanagi, World Flag Art Farm, 1990
In World Flag Ant Farm, Yukinori Yanagi created a series of interconnecting boxes, each filled with coloured sand in the pattern of a national flag – representing the nations of the world – and linked by plastic tubes. He then released ants into this system who were able to travel between all the networked flags, transporting food and sand. These “border crossings” eventually resulted in an intermingling of colour throughout the system, each flag’s integrity being slowly degraded, creating in a sort of “cross-cultural” multinational network.
Questions
- What does it mean to articulate “global” together with “Asia”?
- What are some of the currently circulating stories about the relationship between Asia and globalization?
- How might World Flag Ant Farm help us rethink global movements and conventional mappings of Asia?
- How would you narrate your own relationship to Asia and to globalization?
Th 09/30 Introductions
- Introduction to course
- Student introductions mapping exercise
Students who missed the first day of class need to complete the following and turn it in at the next class meeting:
On one side of a plain piece of white paper, provide responses to the following student information prompts:
- Name, year, major
- In what other terms do you define yourself?
- Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Where do you live now?
- What do you expect to learn from this class? Why are you taking it?
- What is one thing about yourself that would surprise people?
On the other side of the paper, draw a map that charts your relationship to Asia and processes of globalization. This does not have to be a geographic map. It can be a conceptual map about family, work, leisure, consumption, or educational relations. Try to do this with as few words as possible. Be creative and thoughtful.
Week 1
Yukinori Yanagi, World Flag Art Farm, 1990
In World Flag Ant Farm, Yukinori Yanagi created a series of interconnecting boxes, each filled with coloured sand in the pattern of a national flag – representing the nations of the world – and linked by plastic tubes. He then released ants into this system who were able to travel between all the networked flags, transporting food and sand. These “border crossings” eventually resulted in an intermingling of colour throughout the system, each flag’s integrity being slowly degraded, creating in a sort of “cross-cultural” multinational network.
Questions
Th 09/30 Introductions
Students who missed the first day of class need to complete the following and turn it in at the next class meeting:
On one side of a plain piece of white paper, provide responses to the following student information prompts:
On the other side of the paper, draw a map that charts your relationship to Asia and processes of globalization. This does not have to be a geographic map. It can be a conceptual map about family, work, leisure, consumption, or educational relations. Try to do this with as few words as possible. Be creative and thoughtful.