New School: Arts & Culture

Diversity in representation after death can be found in both obituaries and archives, but it's not something that happens overnight, and it is not something that happens on it’s own. If death as an act is the only thing that transcends all else, then studying its representation in our society and who we choose to remember could be helpful to understanding our country’s long suppression of diversity. I reached out to an obituaries writer at The New York Times and an archive librarian at University of Santa Barbara’s Special Collection Library to learn about the diversity initiatives these two institutions have taken on.

57 Years after the Good Friday Experiment gave 20 christian college students the mystical experience of their lives, one professor decides to pay homage to the site, as a place of sacred and religious significance. Special thanks to Christopher "Doc" Kelley Additional audio provided by: MAPS, from Psychedelic Science Conference, 2013

In recent years, drag culture has become widely recognized in the mainstream culture, being featured everywhere from television to makeup ad campaigns. The evolution of this wide appeal is explored as a once queer subculture emerges into more publicized conversations.

Witches have long been thought to be evil and have mystical powers, beyond what is “natural” and “normal”. But today there are many recognized religious practices that consider themselves witches. We explore the modern day witch and how culture towards witches has changed since its inception in early Europe.

WNSR reporter Nihira Ram had the opportunity to audit a 'Radical Addition' class. Taught by Ulrich Lehmann, this course aims to bring together radical theory and artistic practice by fusing otherwise unrelated objects through student creativity which centers user/audience experience. Students presented their work, sometimes explaining; but other times choosing to let the work speak for itself.