Passports

Passports: Knowledge Design Workshop

May 10, 2-4pm

Houghton Library

Register online: bit.ly/2KkQwMi

Passports signify sovereignty and control, the freedom of travel and the stricture of borders. Their design is bound up with the aesthetics of governmentality; their history is that of the nation-state itself. In the academy, we typically produce knowledge about such things in the form of written texts. But what other forms can knowledge of passports take? The concept of Knowledge Design marks a practice of discovering new forms for learning and discovery, taking cues from design, media, performance, and the graphic arts. In this workshop in connection with the exhibition Passports: Lives in Transit, members of metaLAB (at) Harvard will facilitate a playful exploration of knowledge-design possibilities, working with participants to uncover new ways of telling stories and making arguments about citizenship, travel, and state power past, present, and future.

Workshop is limited to 15 people. Please register online to reserve a place.

The workshop may be recorded.

Jeffrey Schnapp, Professor of Romance Languages and Literature (FAS), Faculty Director of metaLAB (at) Harvard, a Faculty Co-director of the Berkman Klein Center.

Matthew Battles, Associate Director, metaLAB (at) Harvard

Sarah Newman, Creative Researcher, metaLAB (at) Harvard

Passports co-curators Lucas Mertihikian and Rodrigo del Rio

Image: Shirley Graham Du Bois’ African Passports: Ghana, 1963; Guinea, 1968; and Tanzania, 1972. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Papers of Shirley Graham Du Bois, 1865-1998, MC 476.