OCS has big plans for the 2017-2018 academic year! We will be offering a total of eighteen programs – fourteen term-long seminars, three winter break trips, and one spring break trip. Among the long-standing OCS staples, such as the Spanish in Madrid, Literature and Theater in London, and Geology in New Zealand programs, we are launching three new options:
- Art Now: Global Contemporary Art and the Mega Exhibitions (summer), led by Ross Elfline
- Architectural Studies in Europe: Britain, France, Italy and Spain (winter), led by Baird Jarman
- (Beyond) Nationalism and Xenophobia in Central and Eastern Europe (spring), led by Mihaela Czobor-Lupp
Here is what the faculty directors say about their programs:
Mihaela Czobor-Lupp: Romania is a country by the Black Sea, which bridges Western Europe with the Balkans and the Middle East, with Russia and Ukraine. It is a place of increasing geopolitical interest, but also a place with fascinating history where diverse cultures encountered and challenged each other throughout time. I am happy to announce that I am working on organizing an off campus studies program that will be mainly hosted in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. The students will have the opportunity to learn about this part of the world, from which I myself have come, through an intense and varied engagement with the places and the people of this crossroads country.
Baird Jarman: Architecture is best studied up close, in person, and on location. I am excited to immerse students in architectural studies by using over 100 landmarks, ranging from the prehistoric to the postmodern, as our “textbook.” This new program, Architectural Studies in Europe, will wend its way by high-speed rail through England, France, Spain and Italy, stopping for several weeks in London, Granada and Rome but also paying week-long visits to Paris, Barcelona and Florence. We will visit Gothic cathedrals, Moorish palaces, Roman temples, Byzantine churches, Modernist villas and many more structures, including over two dozen UNESCO world heritage sites. The program has no prerequisites (except for enthusiasm) and, I hope, will include students with diverse interests that intersect with architecture, ranging from history and preservation to engineering, design and urban planning.
Ross Elfline: I’m thrilled to be leading Carleton’s program to Italy and Germany in the summer of 2017. One reason I love studying contemporary art is that scholars haven’t yet made up their minds about art that is so new and challenging. At the Venice Biennale, Documenta, and Skulptur Projecte Münster, the students and I will have the opportunity to encounter and wrestle with some of the most important and challenging art of our time before the art critics have cast their judgment and before the history books have decided what should be canonized.