THE TEMPORARY DEPARTMENT FOR ACADEMIC RESEARCH

ABOUT TDAR

The Temporary Department for Academic Research (TDAR) is a perpetually ad-hoc working group dedicated to an investigation of academia. Exploring the aesthetics of the academic via installation, conversation, and other media, the fellows at the Temporary Department variously resist, appropriate, and acquiesce to the formalized parameters, institutional rituals, and conceptual boundaries of the classroom itself.

BACKGROUND

Emerging into the stark daylight of a post-baccalaureate world devoid of the recursively self-reflexive questioning to which they had become so accustomed, three twenty-somethings sought refuge in the backrooms of local coffee shops, bars–any location that would afford them the autonomy to continue their furtive intellectual meanderings and musings free from the callous, unreflective gaze of others.

But having honed their skills of textual and visual analysis over fours years of intense academic rumination, the fellows could not help but turn those same hermeneutical hacksaws upon themselves, questioning the very systems of education, initiation, and accreditation under which they had so recently thrived.

After careful deliberation, the once-clandestine trio proposed the creation of the Temporary Department for Academic Research (TDAR), a perpetually ad-hoc working group that would allow them to pursue this investigation of academia, appropriating while at the same time acquiescing to the formalized parameters, institutional rituals, and conceptual boundaries of the classroom itself.

FELLOWS

Sarah Jacoby
Temporary Fellow, BA, Haverford, 2006
Sarah=English at Haverford et. Cinema Studies @ Bryn Mawr college.
///—> History, Backwards: Currently works at the University of Pennsylvania. Studied Broadzilla at its onset with co-temporary colleague James. Served as an adjunct faculty member at the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study.
///—>Has an internet space: thesarahjacoby.com. Strives to be an illustrator, author, designer type.
James Weissinger
Temporary Fellow, BA, Haverford, 2006
James studied English at Haverford College in Haverford, PA and currently works there as the Associate Director of the Hurford Humanities Center. He also plays records with Broadzilla and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study.
Oliver Wunsch
Temporary Fellow, BA, Haverford, 2007
Oliver studied studio art at Haverford College, in Haverford, PA. For two years, he worked at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, where he served as Marketing Director. At the moment, Oliver studies history of art in the graduate program at Williams College. His website is oliverwunsch.com.

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. ABOUT TDAR The Temporary Department for Academic Research (TDAR) is a perpetually ad-hoc working group dedicated to an investigation of academia. Exploring the aesthetics of the academic via installation, conversation, and other media, the fellows at the Temporary Department variously resist, appropriate, and acquiesce to the formalized parameters, institutional rituals, and conceptual boundaries of the classroom itself. BACKGROUND Emerging into the stark daylight of a post-baccalaureate world devoid of the recursively self-reflexive questioning to which they had become so accustomed, three twenty-somethings sought refuge in the backrooms of local coffee shops, bars–any location that would afford them the autonomy to continue their furtive intellectual meanderings and musings free from the callous, unreflective gaze of others. But having honed their skills of textual and visual analysis over fours years of intense academic rumination, the fellows could not help but turn those same hermeneutical hacksaws upon themselves, questioning the very systems of education, initiation, and accreditation under which they had so recently thrived. After careful deliberation, the once-clandestine trio proposed the creation of the Temporary Department for Academic Research (TDAR), a perpetually ad-hoc working group that would allow them to pursue this investigation of academia, appropriating while at the same time acquiescing to the formalized parameters, institutional rituals, and conceptual boundaries of the classroom itself. FELLOWS Sarah Jacoby Temporary Fellow, BA, Haverford, 2006 Sarah=English at Haverford et. Cinema Studies @ Bryn Mawr college. ///—> History, Backwards: Currently works at the University of Pennsylvania. Studied Broadzilla at its onset with co-temporary colleague James. Served as an adjunct faculty member at the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study. ///—>Has an internet space: thesarahjacoby.com. Strives to be an illustrator, author, designer type. James Weissinger Temporary Fellow, BA, Haverford, 2006 James studied English at Haverford College in Haverford, PA and currently works there as the Associate Director of the Hurford Humanities Center. He also plays records with Broadzilla and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study. Oliver Wunsch Temporary Fellow, BA, Haverford, 2007 Oliver studied studio art at Haverford College, in Haverford, PA. For two years, he worked at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, where he served as Marketing Director. At the moment, Oliver studies history of art in the graduate program at Williams College. His website is oliverwunsch.com.
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