The Rhizome
Professor Veronika Szkudlarek
Course: Networks and Post Digital Art CROS-3081- 001 Fall
The Rhizome & Networks and Post Digital Art CROS-3081- 001
​
Key Goals of this assignment, housed in CROS: Networks and Post Digital Art:
1. Decentralized, Student-Centered Learning: The Rhizome assignment, inspired by Deleuze and Guattari’s concept, fosters a decolonized, decentralized, and holistic approach to learning. Students contribute weekly to a communal Miro board using a variety of media, connecting their work to peers’ contributions. This networked structure encourages collaborative knowledge-building, reflection, and exploration of gaps in discourse, developing a student-led class network (or rhizome).
2. Emerging Themes and Knowledge Growth: Over ten weeks, more than 60 students contributed to the growing Rhizome, uncovering themes such as Cyberfeminism, Indigenous Futurism, post-humanism, mental health, climate change, and BIPOC representation on social media. These emerging themes highlighted the class's diverse interests and played a role in shaping group discussions and community building throughout the course.
3. Dynamic and Evolving Educational Archive: The Rhizome acted as a living archive unique to each cohort, reflecting the specific interests and dynamics of the students. This evolving, collective project serves as both a record and a research tool, demonstrating the potential of post-digital and networked art education as a communal, interconnected experience.
The Rhizome was designed after years of research & pedagogy. Digital integration into the Studio Arts has been a research area for me pedagogically and through research. See examples to the right.
The Rhizome project has recently been supported by a SSHRC Seed grant.
This project will help disseminate the concept of the Rhizome for pedagogical uses across Canada, and abroad.
​
The following link will send you to the project-in-progress!
​
https://abhaanil.github.io/Rhizome/page/index.html
​
