School
for
Poetic
Computation
This is a class about using collage to explore a world overflowing with information: finding poetry in small slices of it, absurdity in enormous systems, and new meanings in the spaces between things. We’ll break collage-making into five parts: gathering, cutting, sorting, composing, and gluing. We'll trace each part from its tactile origins to its computational descendants as we collect strange datasets and invent our own rules for recombining them. In the second half of the class, we’ll use these same methods to build our own collage machines: experimental systems that might include software, games, social systems, media art, craft processes, parties, or something else entirely where the source material, rules of transformation, and artistic choices remain visible in an outcome greater than the sum of its parts.
Images courtesy of teachers.
AI-assisted coding, sometimes called "vibe coding," is allowed in this class. We'll approach these tools critically, considering the labor, data, resources, and corporate systems behind them without shaming individual use.
Where possible, we encourage limited use, running appropriately sized models locally, or choosing values-aligned services such as Duck.ai. The goal is to make space for experimentation and play while remaining thoughtful about the tools we use and their impacts.
We are saturated with data: images, text, archives, feeds, databases, metadata, and increasingly, systems that promise to digest all of it for us, find patterns, and recombine those patterns into something new. Everything Good Is Collage starts from the idea that collage is also a kind of data-processing system. A collage begins with a pile of material, applies a set of choices or rules, and produces a new configuration. But unlike systems optimized for scale, collage keeps its seams visible. It asks: Where did this material come from? Why these pieces? Why are they next to each other? In this class, we’ll break collage-making into five parts: gathering, cutting, sorting, composing, and gluing, and consider each part’s tactile origins and computational descendants. We’ll collect strange and specific datasets, invent rules for recombining them, and experiment with ways of finding meaning through juxtaposition, interpretation, and context. In the second half of the class, we’ll use these methods to build our own collage machines: experimental systems for transforming existing material into generative kaleidoscopic compositions. A collage machine might be software, a social system, a piece of media art, a game, an arts-and-crafts technique, a party, or something else entirely. Anything where the source material, the rules of transformation, and artistic choices remain visible in the process and the outcome is greater than the sum of their parts. This is a class about using collage to explore a world overflowing with information: finding poetry in small slices of it, absurdity in enormous systems, and new meanings in the spaces between things.
This class may be for you if you:
This class may NOT be for you if you:
Claire Hentschker is a Brooklyn-based artist and creative technologist whose work takes materials from the beauty aisle, the grocery store, and the internet and turns them into sculpture, installation, and participatory experiences. She teaches at NYU's Integrated Digital Media program and co-founded LARPA, a DIY artist-run space in Bushwick dedicated to experimental digital culture, where she curates events like Small Batch: A Dataset Farmers Market, THE MOST EVIL COMPUTER EVER malware hackathon, and LARPlympics for real-time livestream manipulation.
she/her
Jamie Brew is a writer, musician and very computer programmer. He writes for The Onion, was the head writer of ClickHole and cofounded Botnik, an art tech group devoted to absurdly small language models. He co-hosts Robot Karaoke, a live comedy show where volunteers sing new lyrics extracted from bespoke text datasets.
he/him
Applications open until Applications closed on November 16, 2026.
You can expect to hear back from us about the status of your application on . Please email us at admissions@sfpc.study with any questions you have.
For 10 classes, it costs $1200 + processing fees, for a one-time payment. We also offer payment plans. Participants can schedule 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 also offers scholarships to attend for $600, $300, $100 or even $0. Over half of our students receive some form of scholarship. Our application will ask you how much tuition you are able to afford and if we accept you, you will only have to pay that amount. Learn more about scholarships at SFPC here.
For more information about what we look for in applicants, scholarships, and other frequently asked questions, please visit our applicant FAQ.
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.
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