Teaching / Courses

Information and syllabi on courses taught by Robert Spahr

Spring 2010

Explorations in Live Art
This course exposes students to the history of performance art as an open-ended medium, executed by artists impatient with the limitations of more traditional art, and determined to take their interdisciplinary message directly to the public.

For this course we will define performance simply as live art by artists. Students will draw on any number of disciplines and media for material, such as visual art, literature, theater, poetry, music, dance, and installation art as well as video, film, and the Internet. We will use historical texts, theoretical writings, analysis and ensemble work to better understand the history of performance art and the various forms it takes. Students will create individual and group performance pieces, which will be presented to the public in an evening of Live Art.

Web Portfolios
The Web is part of a larger environment that constantly evolves in relation to social and technological developments. This course investigates the design of online experiences through lectures, discussions, workshops, and projects. Students explore relationships among design, technology, and user experience in the context of contemporary Internet cultures and develop skills in designing information architectures, interface behaviors, navigation systems, and typographic and image strategies with particular emphasis on creating web portfolios.



Archived Courses

Propaganda & Persuasion in a Digital Age
This class will explore the concepts of persuasion, propaganda and public opinion. By examining the applied techniques of advertisers, activists, and political campaigns, we'll learn basic persuasive tactics which can be effective in changing the attitudes and behavior of others. We will also discuss the ethics of using the same techniques for different purposes. This seminar is designed to teach you about influence, and it's relevance to an artist working in the digital age.

New Media Studio
The Internet is revolutionizing the way the world communicates. In this studio course, students will investigate how the Internet works, as well as explore relationships among design, technology, and user experience while developing web sites, information architectures, interface behaviors, and navigation systems. Topics include: HTML & XHTML authoring, Cascading Style Sheets, Javascript, open source software, as well as incorporating sound, video, and images into web pages. We will also explore issues of privacy and social networking as well as the legal and ethical responsibilities of being a consumer and producer of web content.

Creating Web Documents
The Web is revolutionizing the way the world communicates. In this course, we will investigate how the Internet works, and the tools and techniques used for creating web documents. Topics include: HTML & XHTML authoring, Cascading Style Sheets, scripting languages, data retrieval, and incorporating sound, video, and images into web pages. We will also explore issues of web design and usability, as well as the legal and ethical responsibilities of being a consumer and producer of web content. There will be regular reading assignments, written responses and group discussions relevant to the class.

Interactive Design
VDE3090
In this course, which builds on the skills and processes explored in VDE 2460 and 3800, emphasis is on designing for interactive media (e.g., CD-ROMs, Web sites, interactive kiosk displays, interactive installations, performance). Students develop skills in designing storyboards, navigational systems, scriptwriting, sequential picture and sound editing, and typography in motion. Individual final projects focus on appropriateness of communication design, inventiveness, and nonlinear organization of many elements.

Design for the Web
VDE 3800
The Web is part of a larger environment that constantly evolves in relation to social and technological developments. This course investigates the design of online experiences through lectures, discussions, workshops, and projects. Students explore relationships among design, technology, and user experience in the context of contemporary Internet cultures and develop skills in designing information architectures, interface behaviors, navigation systems, and typographic and image strategies for the Web.

Digital Media for Designers I
VDE 2450
This course is an introduction to the digital tools that graphic designers need for professional creative work. Software applications (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) as well as techniques for using fonts and creating print output are covered. We will also consider and explore some of the possibilites offered by digital media that is inherently different from traditional media. Students will develop an individual semester long project, and will also be required to actively use a sketchbook for quick sketches, small color studies, ideas and assignments.

Introduction to Media Arts
Introduction to Media Arts exposes students to a wide range of technology and concepts related to web documents, digital images, sound and video. Students learn basic XHTML, CSS, image editing, creating, sampling and editing sound, shooting and editing video, as well as exporting media into optimized formats for the web. This course does not provide comprehensive instruction in all of these media, as much as give the student a chance to explore and discover their interests, while they continue to develop a personal artistic vision. We explore the creative possibilites of artists working in new media, as well as the social and political issues contained in the history of the web and open source software. Students will learn about computing in the arts, as well as theories and trends in new media. Throughout the class students will discuss the required readings, present their work before the class and gain insight from regular critiques.

History of Graphic Design
This lecture course has a studio component, where students will work on a graphic art project while completing their traditional studies. Students will explore the ways visual communications relate to other visual endeavors, the development of new technologies, and the rise of mass culture. Research is carried out in the college gallery and in New York City.

Designing with the Computer I
This studio course provides a foundation for students to explore the traditional elements of design via weekly assignments and semester long artistic exploration. As in most studio classes students work to develop their ideas creatively while maintaining respect and mastery of their respective medium. Using computer generated digital imagery students explore: traditional photography; create a personalized image bank; examine positive and negative form in composition; type as form; page layout and design composition; image as collage traditional color theory; exploration to secure a personal voice that yields a work of art; ethical concerns regarding copyright and trademark; critical analysis of readings related to culture and perception; the history of type and the universality of the art of the comic strip narrative to tell a story. This class is not a tutorial for industry software programs, but rather a creative investigative journey destined to open new vistas, promote discussions, while problem solving all the way. Students produce a portfolio of work along with a written museum assignment that chronicles on-site research done in conjunction with a final project. Research is carried out in the college gallery and in New York City.

Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction
This course provides an introduction to critical studies regarding art making in the age of digital reproduction. Students will learn to analyze the political, philosophical, and cultural forces affecting the techniques and technologies of digital media. Using Walter Benjamin's essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", as well as historically significant texts from the last sixty years, students will examine the issues that have helped define digital art. We will question assumptions related to authorship, reproduction, context and temporality. Lectures and demonstrations will complement the readings by introducing students to a wide range of issues useful for the study and presentation of digital art. Throughout the term students will work on projects to explore, analyze and participate in the possiblities of being art makers in the age of digital reproduction. By the end of the class students will be both critical observers of and participants in digital art making.

Algorithms and Procedural Art Processes
This course will expose students to very basic perl and shell scripting in a linux environment as well as command line image manipulation. Spiders are programs used by search engines to index the content of the Internet. We will create a "spider" whose sole purpose is art making, and it will be automated to go out onto the Internet and harvest content that we will then re-process to create art. The class will develop and share blocks of code that will perform simple tasks that will form the basis of our "digital toolkit." Using this toolkit we will create procedural processes for the generation of art images. After taking this course, students will have had an introduction to simple perl and shell scripts, as well as a deeper understanding of how technology, automation, and the Internet can be used in the creation of art. We will explore the use of chance as well as the implications of using the Internet as source material and its impact on authorship.