New Media Studio
Instructor: Robert Spahr
Contact: rob@robertspahr.com AIM:
rospahr
Office Hours: TBD & by appt.
Course Syllabus Location: http://www.robertspahr.com/nms/
Required Text:
Stiles, Kristine & Selz, Peter. Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings . Berkley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press
Wardrip-Fruin, Noah & Montfort, Nick. The New Media Reader. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Further Reading:
Castro, Elizabeth. HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition (Visual Quickstart Guide). Peachpit Press
Chapman, Nigel & Jenny. Web Design, A Complete Introduction. Wiley
Packer, Randall & Jordan, Ken. Multimedia From Wagner to Virtual Reality. New Yok, NY, W. W. Norton & Company
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Description:
This studio course exposes students to current issues in New Media art such as non-linear & linear narrative, games, open source programming, performance, installation, tactical media, and surveillance. We will use historical texts, theoretical writings, analysis and ensemble work to better understand the history of art leading to current New Media art practice. Primary source material will come from Futurism, Dada, Pop Art, Happenings, Environmental Art, Conceptual Art, and New Media.
Students will research new media art based on specific themes and create an online presentation to be presented in the class. Students will also create individual and a collaborative new media projects.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will have developed a deeper understanding of the history and theory of New Media art. They will have developed new productions skills, and applied this knowledge in critiques and the creation of individual and collaborative New Media studio projects.
Syllabus:
WEEK 1: MON
Introductions, Course Overview
WEEK 1: WED
Web Workshop (part 1)
Internet History, DNS, TCP/IP, open source
HTML Basics
FTP/SFTP
Text Editors/Web Browsers
WEEK 2: MON
Futurism & Dada
Lecture: Futurism & Dada
Reading:
Benjamin: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1935
Russolo: The Art of Noises, July 1, 1913.
F.T. Marinetti, et al: The Futurist Cinema, November 15, 1916.
Huelsenbeck: En Avant Dada: A History of Dadaism.
Motherwell, Robert (editor), The Dada Painters and Poets, Belnap Press, 1951.
Screening:
Leger: Ballet Mecanique
Vertov: Man with the Movie Camera
Listen:
Russolo Intonarumori
Hugo Ball
Richard Huelsenbeck
Raoul Hausmann
Tristan Tzara
Marcel Duchamp
WEEK 2: WED
Web Workshop (part 2)
Advanced HTML
Tables
CSS
Javascript
Photoshop
Final Cut Pro
WEEK 3: MON
Pop Art, Happenings, & Environmental Art
Lecture: Pop Art, Happenings, & Environmental Art
TDCA: pg 335, "Oldenberg: I Am for an Art"
TDCA: pg 337, "Lichtenstein: Interview with G. R. Swenson"
TDCA: pg 340, "Warhol: Warhol in His Own Words: Untitled Statements"
TDCA: pg 633, "Beuys: Untitled Statement"
TDCA: pg 634, "Beuys: An Appeal for an Alternative"
TDCA: pg 707, "Cage: Composition as Process Part II: Indeterminacy"
TDCA: pg 709, "Kaprow: Untitled Guidelines for Happenings"
TDCA: pg 524, "Maya Lin: Untitled Statements"
TDCA: pg 530, "Smithson: The Spiral Jetty"
Screening:
Opus 20 Modern Masterworks: John Cage - Part 1
Opus 20 Modern Masterworks: John Cage - Part 2
John Cage - 4'33" by David Tudor
John Cage Sonata V
Warhol's Cinema - A Mirror for the Sixties (1989)
Spiral Jetty(excerpts)1970
WEEK 3: WED
Open Studio session
Scheduled individual meetings.
Research the Rhizome.org artbase for project one.
WEEK 4: MON
Conceptual Art & New Media
Lecture: Conceptual Art & New Media
Reading:
NMR: pg 3-11 "Inventing the Medium"
NMR: pg 13-25 "New Media from Borges to XHTML"
NMR: pg 193-209 "Two Selections by Marshall McLuhan"
NMR: pg 211-226 "Experiments in Art and Technology"
NMR: pg 280 "Baudrillard: Requiem for the Media"
NMR: pg 543 "Stallman: The GNU Manifesto"
TDCA: pg 825-828 "Lewitt: Paragraphs on Conceptual Art"
TDCA: pg 828-829 "Lewitt: Sentences on Conceptual Art"
WEEK 4: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 5: MON
*** Project 1: Presentations and Discussion ***
WEEK 5: WED
*** Project 1: Presentations and Discussion ***
WEEK 6: MON
Open Studio session
WEEK 6: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 7: MON
Open Studio session
WEEK 7: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 8: MON
Open Studio session
WEEK 8: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 9: MON
Open Studio session
WEEK 9: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 10: MON
*** Project 2 Critique ***
WEEK 10: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 11: MON
Open Studio session
WEEK 11: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 12: MON
Open Studio session
WEEK 12: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 13: MON
Open Studio session
WEEK 13: WED
Open Studio session
WEEK 14: MON
Open Studio session
WEEK 14: WED
*** Project 3 Critique ***
WEEK 15: MON
*** Individual Evaluation and Critique ***
WEEK 15: WED
*** Individual Evaluation and Critique ***
Project 1: Connections, Comparisons, Contrasts
Explore the artbase at http://www.rhizome.org/. Select at least 5 works organized with a specific theme. Create an online presentation to present to the class. This presentation will be uploaded to the class website.
Potential Themes to Explore
hypertext / mark up languages
software / programming
open-source & free culture
databases
non-linear media
surveillance
social networks / social software
ownership
installation
tactical media
video games
search engines
artificial intelligence
Project 2: Individual Open Studio
Develop an independent project. Document this project on the class website.
Project 3: Group Collaboration / Presentation
Collaborate with other students to develop a new studio project.
Document this project on the class website.
As a group develop a method and process to create an appropriate group presentation of Project 2 and Project 3.
Evaluation:
Your final grade will be determined by the projects, as well as your attendance and participation in reading discussions and critiques.Artwork will be graded on artistic, creative and intellectual merit.
Grades will be based on the following:
- Originality of concept
- Delivery (execution of the concept)
- Process
- Craft
- Critique participation
All Projects are due at the beginning of class.
Attendence to all classes is expected. You are allowed up to TWO unexcused absences. Each absence beyond this threshold will result in a letter grade deduction from your final grade.
All projects will be considered finished after they are documented on the class website. Late projects will result in a letter grade deduction.
Web Resources:
More information will be added throughout the semester.
RSS Feeds