(PBS Digital Studios logo)

With the internet, it's hard to, it's hard for something special to rise to the surface, and I kind of see, and yet, we all like, put so much energy towards this thing, right?  We're all constantly dumping our attention and energy into this place that reduces everything to one context.  So I think to take something out of that and make it real and make it a physical thing is a resistance to that, I guess, in a way.  

Nina Katchadourian: So your assignment is to...

Toyin Odutola: Articulate something intimate that is indispensable to you.

Tameka Norris: So first, before you do anything, take a selfie...

Ghana Think Tank: Find somebody who you think could never understand your perspective.

Allison Smith: Fashion your own uniform out of whatever materials you have at hand.

Brandan Odums: It could be anything.  It could be something discarded on the side of the road or it could be something you find in your basement, in your attic, or it could be something you find in the trash.

Ryan Lott: You know, if you're creating something out of your own urges, out of thin air, you're gonna come up with something and I'm sure it'll be great, but there's something else that happens.  A different kind of mental process and different kind of creative process when you create something in response to someone else's art.

Lenka Clayton: It's really not about being able to make things well with your hands.  There's gonna be beauty in the way that you find objects and put them together, whatever your ability is.  That's something to be embraced.

Hope Ginsburg: Your assignment is to conjure a studio.

Robyn O'Neil: All I need you to do is go get a piece of paper.

Hugo Crosthwaite: Find a drawing surface.

Tschabalala Self: Make a line drawing of a shape you think represents yourself.

Oliver Blank: Call the number that's on the screen now.

JooYoung Choi: Make an imaginary friend.

Jesse Sugarman: Create a visual representation of your family.

(?~1:32): Make an object that is embarrassing.

Fritz Haeg: Gather up all the old clothes and sheets.

Kate Gilmore: And when it looks cool, you're done.

Sonya Clark: If you do this assignment, you're gonna learn more about yourself and you're gonna find something about yourself that you can extend to others, and I actually think that's the only reason to make art.  So as an artist, I understand things a little bit more when I measure them then when I put them out into the world, they become a way for us to understand something together.

Florian Riviere: There is no goal.  It's not a competition.  You're just doing something you never think to do.

Alec Soth: So your assignment is to be a newspaper photographer for the day.

Desiree Holman: To become a science fiction character.  

Lauren Zoll: Turn off a screen.

Assaf Evron: Take a photo, almost random photo but just not too close and not too far.

Christoph Niemann: And each of the photos should convey one emotion.

Toyin Odutola: That's the beauty of being an image maker.  You can do whatever you want.  You can create whatever you want and it's all in the realm of how, you know, how vivid and how, like, broad your imagination is.

The Guerrilla Girls: Now do you one thing, you put it out there.  If it works, you do another and if it doesn't, you do another.  So, this is true for all of us.  You can't expect one thing to make a difference, but if you keep doing it and keep chipping away over time, you can make a difference.  

(singing, drumming)