Photography & New Media
Code: A0601-21
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Open to All
Students of any skill and knowledge level.
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Critical Dialogue
Critical Dialog:
The Guerrilla Girls- Realization, Activation and Agitation
Jul 12 - 13, 2021
10AM-3PM
Concept
Join the Guerrilla Girls and Helen Molesworth in this energizing and thought-provoking seminar/workshop to consider the history of taking action through art and finding ways to translate your political agenda into a concise visual message. Participants will be led through an interactive dialog about feminism in art between the Guerrilla Girls and Helen Molesworth, and then will enter the Patton Print Shop to experiment with designing and printing a unique political poster in a single color screen print. Challenging topics are encouraged as well as an active voice!
The Guerrilla Girls are feminist activist artists. They wear gorilla masks in public and use facts, humor and outrageous visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture. Their anonymity keeps the focus on the issues, and away from themselves. They believe in an intersectional feminism that fights discrimination and supports human rights for all people and all genders. Recently they produced new street projects in London and 9 other UK cities, as well as museum projects at Tate Modern and Whitechapel Gallery, London; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Art Basel Hong Kong; and much more. Their new book The Art of Behaving Badly contains almost all the Guerrilla Girls‘ work 1985-today.
Registration is required, please CLICK HERE to register.
View All Photography & New Media Workshops
Media & Techniques
The Critical Dialog Program at Anderson Ranch seeks to engage the community in lively discussion about contemporary art and art making.
Faculty
Helen Molesworth
Helen Molesworth is a writer, podcaster, and curator based in Los Angeles and Provincetown. In 2023, Phaidon published Open Questions, Thirty Years of Writing About Art, an anthology of her essays. Her podcasts include Death of an Artist, a 6-part podcast about the intertwined fates of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta, and the inaugural season of Recording Artists with The Getty. She is also the host of DIALOGUES, a podcast that features interviews with artists, writers, fashion designers, and filmmakers hosted by the David Zwirner Gallery. Her major museum exhibitions include One Day at a Time: Manny Farber and Termite Art, Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933–1957, Dance/Draw, This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, Part Object Part Sculpture, and Work Ethic. She has organized one-person exhibitions of Ruth Asawa, Moyra Davey, Noah Davis, Raoul De Keyser, Louise Lawler, Steve Locke, Anna Maria Maiolino, Josiah McElheny, Kerry James Marshall, Catherine Opie, Amy Sillman, and Luc Tuymans. She is the author of numerous catalogue essays, and her writing has appeared in Artforum, Art Journal, Documents, and October. The recipient of the 2011 Bard Center for Curatorial Studies Award for Curatorial Excellence, in 2021, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2022, she was awarded The Clark Art Writing Prize. Photo by Catherine Opie.
Guerrilla Girls, Women In The World, Photo by Katie Booth, 2016
Workshop Details>
Lodging & Meals
Housing is limited and includes shared and private lodging options. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. The earlier you reserve housing, the better your chance of receiving your preferred option. Please note: Workshop costs do not include accommodations.
NEW: Course fees includes a welcome dinner and lunches. In our effort to foster a stronger sense of community and accessibility at Anderson Ranch, we include the welcome dinner and all lunches as part of course fees for summer workshop students. Our hope is that this adjustment will encourage all students to come together to share meals and engage in meaningful conversations. The Ranch Café Meal Plan, which is included with Room and Board fees, strives to provide healthy, creative meals that will nourish your artistic creativity. Learn more.
We have established a Business Safety Plan with added layers of precaution that prioritize the health and safety of our staff, students, faculty and guests while continuing to provide you with the Anderson Ranch experience that you know and enjoy.
Photography & New Media>
Photography & New Media Studio in Aspen / Snowmass
The Photography & New Media Studio at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, located in Snowmass Village near Aspen, Colorado, is a professional studio environment designed to support immersive photographic and digital media practice. The facility provides dedicated workspaces, critique areas, and technical infrastructure for artists working in traditional photography, digital imaging, video, and experimental new media.
Interested in enrolling? Explore the full schedule of Photography & New Media workshops at Anderson Ranch.
Photography has always been a vital part of Anderson Ranch, one in which students explore visual storytelling through a variety of contexts and concepts. The program has uniquely evolved to focus on both traditional photography and new media— making it one of the only workshop settings of its kind. Three floors of the Fischer Photography Center house state-of-the-art equipment, including three photography studios, two Mac labs, a traditional darkroom, and a lighting studio with strobe and continuous lighting for photography and video.
All photography workshops are rooted in the same idea—powerful art requires rigorous inquiry of techniques and ideas. We focus on technical skills, content and critical dialog. Students have access to color-managed media labs equipped with 24-inch iMacs, flatbed and film scanners, Epson printers, and cutting-edge software including Adobe Creative Cloud. When appropriate, students utilize strobe and tungsten lighting equipment, seamless backdrops, green screen, audio and video recording equipment and Epson large-format printers.
The Ranch Photography and New Media team creates an inspiring environment, allowing artists of all levels to explore lens-based media and the journey of artistic discovery in the unparalleled setting of the Colorado Rockies.
Don’t know where to start? View the skill levels for Photography and New Media workshops.
Anderson Ranch Arts Center is a historic, rustic campus that features gravel pathways and uneven terrain that may pose challenges for individuals using wheelchairs or other mobility devices. We strive to provide accommodations to ensure all guests can access and enjoy our programs and facilities. With advance notice, our staff can offer personalized assistance and coordinate access to studios and campus spaces. For questions or to request an accommodation, please contact us at (970) 923-3181 or [email protected].

Anderson Ranch is happy to extend a 20% tuition discount for summer one- or two-week adult photography and new media workshops for SPE, the Center for Fine Art Photography, and Colorado Photographic Arts Center members at the student membership level or above. Please email [email protected] with your SPE or CFAP membership information prior to registering and we will send you a promo code to complete registration with your discount applied. You are also welcome to call 970-924-5089 to register after verifying your membership with us. **Please note, this discount must be approved prior to registering and cannot be applied retroactively. SPE and Center for Fine Art Photography discount does not apply to Advanced Mentored Studies programs or Destination Workshops, nor can it be combined with any other discount, scholarship or special offer.
Scholarships, College Credit & Discounts
Making Art Accessible
Applications for scholarship support are encouraged. Specific scholarships are funded by Ranch supporters, either through endowed funds or special gifts.
Many colleges and universities offer college credit for workshops taken at Anderson Ranch. Discounts are available for students and teachers.
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II
Level II
Photography students have a basic understanding of photography principles and technology and are comfortable using an SLR camera in manual mode. New Media students have a basic understanding of video, multimedia or animation software. Students have basic computer skills and are comfortable using a Macintosh computer.
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III
Level III
Photography students have some formal training and significant experience making, capturing and digitally processing images using Adobe Lightroom and/or Adobe Photoshop. New Media students have some formal training in conceptual and technological aspects of video, multimedia, coding or animation and are versed in the appropriate software applications. Students have a portfolio of their artwork.
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Photography students have some formal training and significant experience making, capturing and digitally processing images using Adobe Lightroom and/or Adobe Photoshop. New Media students have some formal training in conceptual and technological aspects of video, multimedia, coding or animation and are versed in the appropriate software applications. Students have a portfolio of their artwork.
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Master Class This master class and intensive seminar examines photography in the era of artificial intelligence. Each day combines morning theory sessions with afternoon practical workshops. In the mornings, participants engage in seminar-style discussions on the history, politics, and aesthetics of computer vision (CV) and AI, using readings from the instructor’s forthcoming book as a foundation for critical dialogue. Afternoons focus on hands-on practice, where students experiment with Python, OpenCV, and large language models to develop their own computer vision tools through “vibe coding.” No prior programming experience is required. The course emphasizes critical inquiry and rapid experimentation, preparing students to create original projects at the intersection of photography and AI.