School
for
Poetic
Computation
‘For Love and Science: Reclaiming Science through ancestral and intuitive practices’ was a tender exploration of experimentation and research. We learned about matter, energy and information outside the classical western worldview. We explored fundamentals of motion, electricity, astronomy, nuclear energy and quantum physics through an embodied and intuitive lens. Together, we created new tools for research and experimentation, collected and analyzed data through movement, meditation, and improvisation. Grounding ourselves in ancestral wisdoms, we created our own cosmologies about the complex and elegant universe. We asked how we can be transformed by learning about the patterns of nature and positively transform the wounded systems around us (can we also have wave-particle duality, be at times discreet and other times amorphous in aspects of our identity?). How can we do science differently when we dare to use our senses, follow a flow, a beat, a wave, and collectively work on different practices, tools, and technologies to engage with our environment? We unpacked the limitations bound up in our current colonial reductionist scientific methodology, disentangled ourselves from dominant science, and sought ancestral and intuitive practices that could unlock the next wave of liberation sciences.
Images courtesy of teachers, participants and class documentarians.
Participants will understand science through the lens of storytelling and science as storytelling. By the end of the class, participants have a good grasp of Western traditional science as one way of shaping the world into a narrative and have encountered different types of storytelling.
After an introduction to foundational science practice from different perspectives, participants will engage in creating their own scientific story through building DIY sensors, engaging in theater games, and practicing rituals based on indigenous practice.
They will develop their own methods of gathering data through the body and the senses by engaging with the world around them and tracking patterns in nature, culture, and psyche through intuitive and embodied practice.
Participants will be expected to invest time outside of class (2-3 hours/week) for personal data collection, observation, experimentation, light readings per week.
For participants for whom the NYC area is accessible:
Participants will vote on and schedule up to 3 in-person field trips to museums, outdoor spaces, and the CUNY ASRC Community Sensor Lab. At the Community Sensor Lab, participants will tinker in the lab, learn about sensors, and other cutting edge research happening in the facility. Online participants will have access to a virtual tour of the space.
Required:
This class is for you if…
Participants who attend the in-person field trips will be required to provide proof of up-to-date vaccination status (including boosters) and negative PCR tests before the start of class. Participants, teachers and staff are expected to be masked during field trips.
Kendra is an intersectional scientist, educator, artist and woman of color on many edges. Raised by artists, educated as an electrical engineer (BS Renssaeler Polytechnic Institute, MS CU Boulder) she is also trained in anti-oppression facilitation, theater, mindfulness and permaculture/social ecology. Her work and research is a convergence of these many waters. She founded 4LoveandScience in 2014 as a platform to teach transformative science throughout the country. She frequently collaborates with artist to curate and produce multi-media installations and immersive performances around themes of psyche and science. She currently works as a science educator at CUNY's Advanced Science Research Center where she has founded The Community Sensor Lab as a space for DIY community science and advocacy.
She/Her
· website
· twitter
· instagram
Zahra is an interdisciplinary scholar from Vienna with roots in Iraq.
With a background in journalism and media, they are now dedicated to environmental studies and creative writing within NYU’s Experimental Humanities and Social Engagement program. Recently, their work has been revolving around Iraqi orange trees, and what it means to come into their senses when conducting research. They are currently writing a piece of speculative fiction about environmental disaster. It looks at sandstorms, droughts, floods, and how we can move closer together to create alliances beyond disciplines, borders, and species.
they/them/no pronouns
· website
· twitter
· instagram
Our programs are conducted in spoken English with audiovisual materials such as slides, code examples and video.
Please take care and be well. We hope you are comfortable in your housing, living, and working situation in general. Never hesitate to ask us for advice and reach out if you have accessibility requests or need any assistance during your time at SFPC. We will work closely with you towards co-creating the most accommodating learning environment for your needs.
What natural pattern or phenomenon is fascinating to you right now?
Applications open until Applications closed on December 2, 2022.
You can expect to hear back from us about the status of your application on December 16, 2022. Please email us at admissions@sfpc.study with any questions you have.
For 10 classes, it costs $1200 + $39.24 in processing fees, for a one-time payment. We also offer payment plans. Participants can schedule weekly or monthly payments of the same amount. First and last payments must be made before the start and end of class. *Processing fees apply for each payment.
SFPC processes all payments via Withfriends and Stripe. Please email admissions@sfpc.study if these payment options don't work for you.
Upon payment, your space in the class will be reserved. We offer scholarships for those who cannot pay full tuition. Read more about scholarships below.
If you can’t pay full tuition, we really still want you to apply. Our application will ask you how much you can pay. We will offer subsidized positions in all of our classes, once each one has enough participants enrolled that we’re able to do so.
We have also started a scholarship fund, and we will be offering additional scholarships as community members redistribute their wealth through SFPC. We direct scholarship funds towards participants who are low-income, Black, Indigenous, racialized, gendered, disabled, Queer, trans, oppressed, historicially excluded and underrepresented.
Right now, tuition is SFPC’s main source of income, and that is a problem. It means that we can only pay teachers, pay for space, and organize programs when participants pay full tuition to attend. Tuition is a huge barrier to entry into the SFPC community, and it disproportionately limits Black participants, indigenous participants, queer and trans participants, and other people who are marginalized, from participating. Scholarships are not a long term solution for us, but in the short and medium term we hope to offer them more while we work towards transforming SFPC’s financial model.
For SFPC to be the kind of place the community has always meant it to be, it needs to become a platform for wealth redistribution. If you are a former participant, prospective participant, or friend of the school, and you have the financial privilege to do so, please donate generously. There is enough wealth in this community to make sure no one is ever rejected because of their inability to pay, and becoming that school will make SFPC the impactful, imaginative, transformative center of poetry and justice that we know it can be.
Interested in more learning opportunities at the School for Poetic Computation? Join our newsletter to stay up to date on future sessions and events, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Support our programming through scholarships. Get in touch over email.