What makes the city of Rome a vibrant place of contemporary exploration? Rome is one of the oldest living cities, and its claim to be “caput mundi,” continues to resonate. How is this manifested in the field of the visual? This course explores the many people that contribute to the contemporary life of Rome every day, at the same time working in a historic continuum. Students will be encouraged to see themselves as archivists of contemporary Rome, and will learn to interact with the living culture of this city with the eye of the documentarian, the care of the curator, the perspective of the historian, and the creativity of the artist, though each of these roles and attributes are freely interchangeable. Relating Rome in its contemporary manifestations, students are encouraged to develop their own narrative, and inflect the city historically, in real time, according to their personal vocational or study interests. Whether taking the form of essays, performances, actions, or visual records, each student will develop a project that will be the basis for a small publication, to be realized by the end of the semester. The author’s voice will be emphasized, with a focus on position, framing, and editing. Developing writing, photo-editing, and social media criticality, the road from proposal to project will be a focus of the course.