Portfolios and Political Compasses is a part-seminar part-workshop elective course dedicated to discussing the dynamic relationship between a student's own set of intentions and the multiple ways in which their portfolio-object/thing can enable, enhance, expand and create an actual experience of said intentions.

Inspired by Alejandro Zaera Polo's "Well Into the 21st Century: Architectures of Post-Capitalism?" reflections already initiated in 1998 and revisited in an article published in El Croquis in 2015, the course will equip its participants with a modest cross-media publishing toolkit through a series of exercises to speculate an own political compass for their Design and Architecture practices.

In short: what's involved in showing your work in public, and how to make it personal while at the same time relevant to others?

Some practitioners have an online presence, some don’t. Some write for newspapers, some don’t. Some make collages, other make photoshoots, other make 3D renderings. Some film videos, some do livestreams. Some write articles, some use memes. Some do all of it together and more. Some say nothing should be done. Great things have been done through sketching on napkins in bar conversations (we won’t drink in class).

Guest faculty in Art History, Graphic Design, Architecture, Journalism, Curatorial Studies and Public Programming will join us over Skype, enhancing our collective investigation.