School
for
Poetic
Computation
Maps are not neutral. This class pairs Indigenous cartographic traditions with hands-on GIS practice to rethink mapping as relational, ethical, and accountable. Through global case studies, including burial grounds and erased landscapes in the tropics, students of all levels will build critically grounded spatial projects using GIS.
Images courtesy of teachers.
This is a class made for BIPOC participants who will be prioritized in the application review process.
Maps can extract, erase, and govern—but also remember and restore. This class brings Indigenous cartographic knowledge into dialogue with GIS tools.
Through case studies of sacred sites and overwritten landscapes, students will learn spatial techniques while interrogating how mapping encodes power. GIS becomes both technical skill and poetic computation.
We will work hands-on in GIS, developing skills in layering, georeferencing, and spatial analysis. Alongside technical instruction, we will engage Indigenous methodologies to affirm data sovereignty and relational geographies.
Students will produce a final mapping project that integrates spatial analysis with culturally specific memory and land-based knowledge.
3–5 hours/week outside class on readings + mapping exercises
No prior GIS or coding experience is required!
Participants should:
Computer capable of running QGIS with a reliable internet connection
This class may be for you if you:
This class may NOT be for you if you:
Yvonne Mpwo is a Congolese-American curator based in New York whose work explores reclamation, indigeneity, and sovereignty through exhibitions that bridge digital and material worlds. She is the founder of bana’pwo, a nonprofit curatorial residency facilitating cross-cultural exchange between artists, researchers, and architects engaging with the cultural landscapes of the Congo, as well as its publishing arm, lóbí press. Working between New York and Congo, she develops projects that foreground spatial storytelling, counter-archives, and diasporic memory through technology and material practice. Yvonne holds a Master of Science from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), where she studied Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture, focusing on diasporic visuality, technological mediation, and curatorial refusal.
she/her
Ellie Madsen is a NYC-based researcher, engineer, and designer working at the intersection of media, computation, and the environment. Her research practice questions the spatial, aesthetic, and epistemic conditions of digital Earth representations, from geographic information systems to remote sensing foundation models. She is broadly interested in how computational infrastructures mediate physical and virtual environments. Ellie has worked as a software engineer, adjunct researcher, and environmental data analyst at a variety of institutions, including the Impacts Group at Columbia Climate School & NASA GISS, the Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, and Pinterest. She maps, models, writes, visualizes, and programs, while maintaining a reflexive position informed by media theory, environmental justice, and critical data studies. Ellie holds degrees in Environmental Studies and Computer Science from Brown University and Computational Design Practices from Columbia University GSAPP, where her Master's thesis, Embedding Earth, was awarded the 2026 Writing Prize.
she/her
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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