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CMP alum Kyle Parry (Film and Visual Studies, 2015) has released his first book, A Theory of Assembly: From Museums to Memes, through University of Minnesota Press. In the book, Parry argues that assembly is one of the most powerful and pervasive cultural forms in the digital era.

According to Judith Butler of University of California, Berkeley, “Kyle Parry’s remarkable book offers an eclectic theory of assembly, shifting the focus from political theory to aesthetic and media practices. This is a wide-ranging and original work that keeps shifting angles to produce the sense of vibrant, if problematic, new constellations of the various assemblies that pervade contemporary life. Mindful of both the progressive and reactionary forms that assemblies can take, Parry probes the intensified circulation of digital assemblies in all their ambivalence.”

Kyle is currently associate professor history of art and visual culture at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

CMP student Emilio Vavarella (Art, Film, and Visual Studies) was named one of nine Harvard Horizons Scholars by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. This program recognizes extraordinary PhD research and offers opportunities for long-lasting community, mentorship, and professional and artistic growth. The scholars will present brief talks at the 2023 Harvard Horizons Symposium at Sanders Theatre on April 11 at 5pm.

The GSAS recently interviewed Emilio about his CMP capstone project The Other Shapes of Me, which is the result of Emilio’s research into “the origin and current applications of binary technology: from weaving to programming, algorithms, software, automation processes, up to the complete computerization of a human being.”

The Other Shapes of Me includes several components, the central of which is an installation of a modified 19th century Jacquard loom – one of the first modern computational machines – on which Emilio’s mother wove a textile based on Emilio’s complete genetic code. The film Genesis, documenting this year-long performance, is both part of the installation and a standalone piece. Medium-scale tapestries comprise Sections (The Other Shapes of Me) and small-scale tapestries comprise Samples (The Other Shapes of Me), all of which explore the technical limits and possibilities of contemporary digital looms. An artist book published by Mousse, rs548049170_1_69869_TT, includes documentation of the work and contributions from 15 thinkers and practitioners in art, philosophy, bioengineering, media theory, and the history of science and technology.

Emilio’s dissertation,“Techniques and Technologies of Thought: A Short History of Media Models,” is an interdisciplinary study of the relationship between technology and thought.

Jessica Bardsley’s short film, Life Without Dreams, is set in the outer space of consciousness, where the surfaces of far-out planetary bodies form the terrain for an exploration of 24/7 capitalism, insomnia, and the disappearance of darkness due to light pollution. The film will be screened in person and online at the Sundance Film Festival. Dates to be announced. Congratulations, Jessica!

CMP student Nnenna Onuoha ( PhD candidate in Anthropology) will present four of her recent video works in the exhibition AFTERLIVES at Berlin’s Galerie im Turm December 15, 2022 through February 19, 2023.

The videos will be presented one after another in an individual display. “Centering Afrodiasporic voices in processes such as collective re-membering, archiving of Black experience and (self-) care, Onuoha approaches histories of colonialism across West Africa, Europe and the United States. By carefully and repeatedly applying these methods, the artist generates histories of the past that can be shared collectively and thus may work as a means to repair.” – exhibition program

Nnenna Onuoha and Melody Howse will hold a talk in the gallery on January 25 to consider how the visual language of “Black Visual Intonation,” theorized by Arthur Jafa in 1992, has impacted their work as Afrodiasporic filmmakers.

The Graduate School in Arts and Sciences offers a secondary field in Critical Media Practice (CMP) for Harvard PhD students who wish to integrate media creation into their academic work. CMP reflects changing patterns of knowledge dissemination, especially innovative research conducted or presented using media practices in which written language may only play a part. Students interested in creating original interpretive projects in still or moving images, sound, installation, internet applications, or other media in conjunction with their written scholarship may apply to pursue the CMP secondary field, which will connect them with courses, workshops, and advising on production of media in different formats. Critical Media Practice is overseen by the Film Study Center.

The deadline to apply for the Critical Media Practice secondary field has been extended to Monday, November 28, 2022.

More information about CMP can be found on the website: https://cmp.gsas.harvard.edu/
Application can be downloaded at: https://cmp.gsas.harvard.edu/for-students/#apply

Image: Christian Struck’s CMP Capstone, “Echoes of the Mundane X Materiality of Text”