Shell, Hanna Rose

Research

research overview

Hanna Rose Shell is a Professor in the Division of Arts & Humanities at the University of Colorado Boulder, jointly appointed in the Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts, and the Department of Art & Art History. She was the Faculty Director of the Stan Brakhage Center for Media Arts from 2021 to 2024, and is currently Scholar/Artist-in-Residence at the National Solar Observatory. She lives and works between Boulder, Colorado and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Shell has published monographs with Zone Books and the University of Chicago Press, directed and co-directed award-winning documentary films, and has edited or co-edited peer-reviewed volumes about the interconnections of science, technology, and visual practice. Her academic and creative work investigates the interconnected histories of art and science, with a focus on photographic and cinematographic modes of registration, representation and narration. Shell’s monograph, Shoddy: From Devil's Dust to the Renaissance of Rags, examines recycled textiles as transformative media. An innovative and interdisciplinary material history of used clothing, it dovetails with a series of experimental documentary shorts shot in Haiti, West Yorkshire, and Montreal. Shell’s previous book Hide and Seek: Camouflage, Photography, and the Media of Reconnaissance, published by Zone Books in 2012, theorizes the historical emergence of strategic concealment in relation to the genealogy of photographic technology, and has directly inspired the work of artists and filmmakers worldwide.

keywords

Film & Media Studies; Science & Technology Studies (STS); Museums and Material Culture Studies; History of Documentary Practices. Expertise: Surveillance, Camouflage, Sustainability, Recycling, Textile Technology, Solar Astronomy.

Publications

selected publications

book
chapter
- "Old Clothes and Academia" 2023
- "Vanishing and Morality in the Dunes" 2023
- "Skin of a Living Thought: Art, Science, and STS in Practice". 3-13. 2021
- "L’évanescence photographique et l’impulsion caméléonesque" 2020
- "A Global History of Secondhand Clothing" 2013
journal article
- The Poco of Pocos: Brief life of a Harvard “character”: 1831-1918 2021
- Alchemy of Rags 2021
- High Altitude Observatory Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds. Technology and Culture. 239-259. 2020
- Take 1: Historians of Technology Watching Chernobyl. Technology and Culture. 1149-1153. 2020
- The Documentary Impulse. Technology and Culture. 846-855. 2017
scholarly edition
- Extermimation of the American Bison 2002

editor of

scholarly edition
- Extermimation of the American Bison 2002

Teaching

courses taught

ARTF 5004 - Topics in Film Theory
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2023
Provides topic-centered analyses of controversial areas in film theory. Students read extensive materials in the topic area, analyze and summarize arguments as presented in the literature, write "position" papers and make oral presentations in which they elaborate their own arguments about specific assigned topic, establishing critical dialogue with the primary materials. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Same as CINE 4004 and HUMN 4004.
ARTF 5023 - Topics in International Cinema
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Fall 2023
Focuses on major international filmmakers who have had a decisive impact on world cinema. Students will learn how directors create their own innovative body of work with specific formal and thematic patterns and will also learn to place such work within multiple frameworks that will cover film history, theory, aesthetics, philosophy and social and cultural analysis. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours provided topics are different. Recommended prerequisites: CINE 3051 and CINE 3061. Same as CINE 4023.
ARTF 5043 - Topics in Cinema Critical Studies
Primary Instructor - Spring 2024
Prepares students for advanced Cinema Studies critical studies courses. Subject matter varies each semester. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours, provided the topics are different. Same as CINE 4043.
ARTS 4017 - Special Topics in Studio Arts
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
Introduces timely subjects in studio art courses that cannot be offered on a regular basis. Information on topics in any given semester is available prior to pre-registration in departmental office. May be repeated up to 18 total credit hours. Same as ARTS 5017.
ARTS 4118 - Visiting Artist Program
Primary Instructor - Spring 2020
Artists of national and international reputation, interacting with graduate and advanced undergraduate students, discuss their studio work at seminar meetings and at public lectures or events. Provides continuous input of significant developments and a comprehensive view of contemporary issues in the arts. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Department enforced prerequisite: portfolio review. Same as ARTS 5118.

ARTS 5097 - Special Topics-Non-Studio
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021
Introduces timely subjects in the visual arts that cannot be offered on a regular basis. Information concerning the topics offered in any given semester is available prior to preregistration from the fine arts department. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Same as ARTS 4097.

ARTS 5117 - Graduate Art Seminar
Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023
For students intending to pursue a professional career in Art. Emphasizes the development of a critical overview of their work and interests. For non-ARTS or non-ARTH Grads, permission of instructor required.

ARTS 5118 - Visiting Artist Program
Primary Instructor - Spring 2020 / Spring 2023
Artists of national and international reputation, interacting with graduate and advanced undergraduate students, discuss their studio work at seminar meetings and at public lectures or events. Provides continuous input of significant developments and a comprehensive view of contemporary issues in the arts. Same as ARTS 4118.

ARTS 6957 - Master of Fine Arts Creative Thesis
Primary Instructor - Spring 2024

CINE 3940 - Cinema Studies Internship
Primary Instructor - Spring 2023
Provides students with professional internship experiences with film, video, new media production companies, governmental agencies, production units, audio recording studios and new media industries. Students will be responsible for securing their own internship position. May be repeated up to 9 credit hours. Recommended prerequisite: CU GPA of at least 2.00 and upper-division standing and a 3.00 GPA as a BA or BFA Cinema Studies major. Formerly FILM 3940.

CINE 4004 - Topics in Film Theory
Primary Instructor - Fall 2019 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2023
Provides topic-centered analyses of controversial areas in film theory. Students read extensive materials in the topic area, analyze and summarize arguments as presented in the literature, write "position" papers and make oral presentations in which they elaborate their own arguments about specific assigned topic, establishing critical dialogue with the primary materials. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Recommended prerequisite: CINE 3051. Same as HUMN 4004 and ARTF 5004.

CINE 4023 - Topics in International Cinema
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Fall 2023
Focuses on major international filmmakers who have had a decisive impact on world cinema. Students will learn how directors create their own innovative body of work with specific formal and thematic patterns and will also learn to place such work within multiple frameworks that will cover film history, theory, aesthetics, philosophy and social and cultural analysis. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours provided topics are different. Recommended prerequisite: CINE 3051. Same as ARTF 5023. Formerly FILM 4023.

CINE 4043 - Topics in Cinema Critical Studies
Primary Instructor - Spring 2024
Prepares students for advanced Cinema Studies critical studies courses. Subject matter varies each semester. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours, provided the topics are different. Formerly FILM 4043. Same as ARTF 5043.Restricted to CINE majors and minors.

FILM 3104 - Film Criticism and Theory
Primary Instructor - Fall 2018
Surveys the range and function of film criticism, introduces major positions and concepts of film theory and focuses on students' abilities to write about film. Same as HUMN 3104.

FILM 4004 - Topics in Film Theory
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
Provides topic-centered analyses of controversial areas in film theory. Students read extensive materials in the topic area, analyze and summarize arguments as presented in the literature, write "position" papers and make oral presentations in which they elaborate their own arguments about specific assigned topic, establishing critical dialogue with the primary materials. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Recommended prerequisite: CINE 3051. Same as HUMN 4004 and ARTF 5004.

HUMN 3104 - Film Criticism and Theory
Primary Instructor - Fall 2018
Surveys the range and function of film criticism, introduces major positions and concepts of film theory and focuses on students' abilities to write about film. Same as CINE 3104.

HUMN 4004 - Topics in Film Theory
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
Provides topic-centered analyses of controversial areas in film theory. Students read extensive materials in the topic area, analyze and summarize arguments as presented in the literature, write "position" papers and make oral presentations in which they elaborate their own arguments about specific assigned topic, establishing critical dialogue with the primary materials. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Same as CINE 4004 and ARTF 5004.

... more

Background

education and training

Ph.D., Harvard University 2007
M.A., Yale University 2002
B.A., Harvard University 1999

awards and honors

Eleanor Searle Visiting Professor in the History of Science at Caltech and the Huntington, conferred by Huntington Library, The, 2020
Millard Meiss Publication Fund, conferred by College Art Association, 2012
Harvard Society Junior Fellows, conferred by Harvard Society of Fellows, 2010
Harvard Society Junior Fellows, conferred by Harvard Society of Fellows, 2007

International Activities

geographic focus

Africa Continent
Americas Transnational Region
Asia Continent
Canada Country
Caribbean Transnational Region

... more

VIVO

Positions

Research Areas