Teaching, Exhibitions, Lectures, Design
Diversity Politics and the Arts at ZHdK
How can we develop a deep understanding of diversity? How do we apply that knowledge and interpret its social significance? And what does it mean to question diversity from within an institution like the ZHdK?
The T-MINOR approaches these questions with an activist perspective aimed at social change. It examines the implications of challenging social norms and historically entrenched power relations. Breaking down disciplinary silos, the program investigates diversity and power structures through two alternating focus areas: decolonial feminist thinking in the arts and post-colonial and gender perspectives.
Students learn to consider the intersectional overlap of categories such as gender, religion, age, and class. The core of the minor is a critical examination of asymmetrical power relations and experiences of violence—forces inscribed both in collective institutions and in individual bodies and social forms. Participants learn to recognize how historically grown hierarchies intersect with discrimination and to connect these insights to their own artistic practice. The program also asks how structures of discrimination can be confronted and transformed through art.
