WEEK 3: Traces in Spaces

Reading traces on the ground has been paramount to human survival for thousands of years. How can artists tap into this knowledge? How can combination of figures and traces convey stories? Can you tell a story with traces alone? This session explores the narrative potential of combining absence and presence with a focus on narratives in space rather than pictures. Again starting out with contributions by participants, we will look at how artists use marks, imprints, and remnants to suggest presence, memory, and loss.

Key topics:

•           The power of suggestion: storytelling through traces
•           Forensic aesthetics and the visual language of evidence
•           Erasure, palimpsests, and the politics of memory in art

Discussion & Reflection: Participants will be encouraged to reflect on the traces in their own work or develop a conceptual approach to storytelling beyond figuration.