DXARTS 200: Digital Media - History, Theory and Practice

SCHEDULE

Week 1: Introduction

[9/27] Lecture 1: disOrientation
[9/29] Seminar

Homework One - Due 10/6/06

Choose two visionary texts. Download from the links below. Come to class prepared to discuss the following:

Do you find either text inspiring? Outline reasons why.

Evaluate the extent to which x’s prophecy has been realized. Assuming that the prophecy has not entirely come true, what reasons can we suggest for its failure?

Compare the two visions objectively, asking what makes one more or less successful than the other.

Write up your answers, and submit during the following week’s seminar (10/6).

Texts:

Ascott, R., Behaviourist Art and the Cybernetic Vision
Baudelaire, C., The Artist, Man of the Crowd… (1863)
Benjamin, W., The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1936)
Burnham, J., The Art of Intelligent Systems (1969)
Burnham, J., The Future of Responsive Systems in Art (1968)
Bush, V., As We May Think (1945)
Davies, D., Prophecy: The Art of the Future (1973)
Kluver, B., Northeastern Power Failure (1966)
Marcuse, H., Art as a Form of Reality (1969)
Marinetti, F., The Futurist Cinema (1908)
Moholy-Nagy, L., Theater, Circus, Variety (1929)
Scheerbart, P., Glass Architecture (1914)
Seawright, J., Phenomenal Art: Form, Idea, and Technique
Smithson, R., Entropy and the New Monuments (1966)
Toynbee, A., Art: Communicative or Esoteric?
Wagner, R., The Artwork of the Future (1848)

Week 2: Projection and Perspective

[10/2]  Lecture 1: Art and the Future (Ereserves Download - In "Class Presentations")
[10/4]  Lecture 2: Eunsu Kang/Heather Raikes
[10/6]  Seminar

Homework Two - Due 10/13/06

Write a list of what you consider to be the essential properties of systems art. The list should contain at least ten things, and be ranked in order of importance. Write a brief description of each element and why you included it on your list. Hand in the list during the seminar.

Come to class on Friday prepared to discuss the following texts in relation to the work you have seen so far in class. Which works can be considered to operate within a systems paradigm? What did Smithson mean when he talked about an "esthetics of disappointment"?

Readings:
Burnham, J. Systems Esthetics (1968)
Burnham, J. Steps in the Formulation of Real-Time Political Art (19??)
Smithson, R. An Esthetics of Disappointment (1966)
Kulver, B. Artists, Engineers, and Collaboration (1994)

Also read Wilson, sections 1.1 and 3.3

Week 3: Systemmic Aesthetics

[10/9] Lecture 1: Frames of Reference (Ereserves Download - In "Class Presentations")
[10/11] Lecture 2: James Coupe
[10/13] Seminar

Homework Three - Due 10/20/06

Use the ideas presented in the assigned reading to analyse one of the following net based works:

The Lies Project
Time Resequenced
A Reactive SelfPortrait
Home-maker

Make sure to experience the work thoroughly, and spend some time exploring the content. How does the piece relate to concepts of subjectivity in art? Does the experience have an element of theatricality? How does the space of the computer/net relate to this theatricality? What type of narrative structure most resembles the organisation of the work? Does it fit well into one of the described categories, or does it seem to have a different type of structure? What is your reaction to the interactive element of the work? Does it seem essential or superfluous to the experience? You may want to include diagrams, maps, or other non-written elements to illustrate your ideas.

Readings:
Brenda Laurel - Computers as Theatre: Dramatic Foundations, Part I: Elements of Qualitative Structure
David Rokeby - Transforming Mirrors
Mark Meadows - Pause and Effect: Three Different Structures of Interactive Narrative

Wilson, sections 6.4 and 7.2

Week 4: Inter

[10/16] Lecture 1: Action (Ereserves Download - In "Class Presentations")
[10/18] Lecture 2: Noel Paul
[10/20] Seminar

Homework Four - Due 10/27/06

Attend the DXARTS concert 7.30pm Tuesday in Meany Hall. Complementary tickets are available during your sections the Friday before. Your homework will be to write a review of the event. It should be at least two pages long, but no longer than three. It should include a bibliography, and critical response (bibliography is not included in the page length). You must take a point of view in the review: it should not be simply a description of what happened. I want you to say why you did / didn't like the event, and justify your reasons based upon observations on the night and from relating the work to other work you have seen elsewhere

Try to avoid taking the middle ground: say what you think, but remember to back up what you say with concrete examples, comparisons, references. Focus on one or two of the works in the concert if you like. Think through some of the issues / discussions we have encountered in class regarding art and technology. Look at this homework as a way to navigate through these issues by applying your perspective on them to a contemporary event. Hand in your review in the Friday section. For the bibliography section of the homework, you will have to compile your own reading list to contextualize the work in the concert. Come to class prepared to discuss what you have read, and how it related to what you saw.

Readings:
Wilson 6.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4

Week 5: Remote Control

[10/23] Lecture 1: The Ghost in the Machine (Ereserves Download - In "Class Presentations")
[10/24] Special Event: DXARTS CONCERT
[10/25] Lecture 2: Shawn Brixey
[10/27] Seminar

Homework Five - Due 11/3/06

Think about the list of systems art properties that you created previously, or your revised interpretation of what constitutes systems art. Then take a single, blank sheet of paper. Using the sheet of paper, transform it so that it operates according to all of the properties on your list. Use the paper as an example of a real-time system. What you do to the paper is not restricted to writing or drawing: you may fax it, print on it, clone it, burn it, fold it, crumple it, measure it, stick things on it, cut it, atomically deconstruct it, post it, place it, exhibit it, anything that you like. Concentrate on emulation rather than simulation.

If you feel a short explanation is needed to understand the piece, you may submit one with it.

Read the two texts below for inspiration.
Submit your real-time system during Friday's seminar.

Readings:
Bourriaud, N., Relational Form (1998)
Borges, J. L., The Garden of Forking Paths
also Wilson: 4.2

Week 6: Emerging Properties

[10/30] Lecture 1: Overview of DXARTS Application and Major
[11/1] Lecture 2: Simon Penny - "Embodied Interaction via Volumetric Machine Vision: Seven Years with the Traces Vision System
[11/3] Seminar

Homework Six (in two parts, worth twice as much as normal one week homework) - Due 11/17/06

Part 1. First, listen to the following sound based artwork:
Download High-Res Version
Download Low-Res Version

Then, invent a new form of notation for representing the events that occur in the soundscape. Provide a key for your notation system, describing the meaning of the symbol system you have created. Think beyond traditional forms of music representation. Focus on the patterns, compositional flow, spatial arrangement, moods and cycles of the work. Develop a method of depicting the piece that echoes the overall theme or experience in a creative manner.

Part 2. Using the notational system you created, now map/describe/create a score for a new auditory artwork. . Your peice may include specific locations, instruments, systems, performers, or events. Think about the relationships between the representation of the piece and the experience itself, and try to design an overall aesthetic for your work that ties them together. You may expand on the method of depiction that you previously created if needed to add new elements.

Readings:
Steven Johnson: Interface Culture. Bitmapping, an Introduction
Russalo, Luigi. The Art of Noise (1913)
also Wilson: 3.1 and 3.2

Week 7: The Organization of Noise

[11/6] Lecture 1: Emergence and Uncertainty in Art and Science
[11/8] Lecture 2: Juan Pampin
[11/10] No Class (Veterans Day) (Homework Six, both parts, due NEXT Friday the 17th)

Week 8: Hidden Dimensions

[11/13] Lecture 1: The Art of Noise (Ereserves Download - In "Class Presentations")
[11/15] Lecture 2: Gary Kendall (Link to Gary Kendall Singing Brook)
[11/17] Seminar

Week 9: A Living Organism

[11/20] Lecture 1:
[11/22] Lecture 2: Hugo Solis Garcia/Allison Kudla
[11/24] No Class (Thanksgiving)

Homework Seven - Due 12/1/06

Following the model of Genetic Encoding seen in this week’s lecture, take a meaningful data sequence (e.g. DNA, a sentence, a haiku, a poem, a song, a telephone number, a name, etc.) and devise a manner of embedding or implanting this data within a secondary device, object, system, structure, or place.

Document your process using visual methods or bring your experiment to class.

Also provide a one page description outlining your decision-making.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Please turn this homework in on paper (not via the server).

Week 10: Augmented Realities

[11/27] Lecture 1: Site, Sample, and Symbol
(Shirin Neshat http://www.artnet.com/artist/12480/shirin-neshat.html)
(Gary Hill http://www.djdesign.com/artists/ghill1.html)
(Stelarc http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/)
[11/29] Lecture 2: Stephanie Andrews
[12/1] Seminar: Final Discussion (Extra Credit Due)

Week 11: Continuity and

[12/4] Lecture 1: Closing Remarks (Ereserves Download - In "Class Presentations")
[12/6] Lecture 2: Richard Karpen
[12/8] Seminar: Student Presentations

Final - Due Friday, December 8

Final Projects are due Friday, December 8. All projects must be uploaded by 8:30am on Friday, December 8. The server will no longer accept submissions after that time.

Final projects will be presented Friday, December 8 during section and Tuesday, December 12 during the final exam period. All students are expected to attend both sessions. The Friday, December 8 presentations will take place in regular section meeting rooms. Please see the information below regarding meeting rooms for Tuesday, December 12.

Tuesday, December 12th, 8:30-10:20: Student Presentations
Section AA – TA Heather Raikes: 8:30-9:20 MGH 254
Section AB – TA Eunsu Kang: 9:30-10:20 MGH 295
Section AC – TA Eunsu Kang: 8:30-9:20 MGH 295
Section AD – TA Heather Raikes: 9:30-10:20 MGH 254
Section AE – TA Hugo Solis Garcia: 8:30-9:20 MGH 288
Section AF – TA Hugo Solis Garcia: 9:30-10:20 MGH 288

Final Project Uploading Instructions:
PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY AND THOROUGHLY.

1. Create "200final"(or any other title that you want) folder on your computer. (This is just to keep your html files and materials in one place so YOU don't get confused later.)

2. Create "index.html" in your folder (and any other Web pages). Be sure you have file called "index.html" (NOT "index.htm" or any other name).

3. Click here: https://depts.washington.edu/dxarts/dx200/

4. Read all instructions and do what it says. You are going to upload all files to DXARTS server from '200final' folder. (not the folder itself but everything in the folder including your "index.html"file)

5. Click here and see if your name shows up: http://www.dxarts.washington.edu/courses/200/final_projects.php (If not, it means you are using wrong ID and PW)

6. Click your name and see if it shows your index/main page. (If not, it means you don't have 'index.html' in your directory.)

* If are having problems making your Web site, try visiting Catalyst online or in person. Click here for information about one-on-one help.

* If you have any problem with uploading files, please contact Eunsu Kang at eskang@u.washington.edu.

DXARTS 201 Application:

https://catalysttools.washington.edu/survey/pampin/29839?solstice_selected_button=btn_635bb35fed168fa992110d94221621fa_1

DXARTS 200 Extra Credit:

Visit one of the exhibitions listed below. Now, instead of writing a normal review of the show, I want you to choose a particular work to focus on. Imagine creating a new piece that acts as a response to the original. How does your new work relate to the original piece? What is it made of, and how does it function? You are encouraged to incorporate ideas and technologies related to what you've learned about in class in a way that enhances your new work. Give an imaginative and detailed description. Is it located in the same space and time? If not, where is it and when does it take place? How would it be experienced, heard, viewed, etc? Finally, what is the nature of the dialogue between the two works that you have created by responding to the original? Make sure to incorporate descriptive elements about the original to provide context. Additional information and illustrations such as images, diagrams, charts, maps, and references are highly encouraged.

When:
Location: Western Bridge in SODO
Choose: Any work in the Into Black exhibition involving light or video
Site: http://www.westernbridge.org/

Location: Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park:
Choose: Shirin Neshat, Tooba
Site:http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?WHEN=&eventID=8879

Location: Seattle University Lee Center for the Arts
Choose: James Coupe
Info Site: http://www.washington.edu/dxarts/news.php
Artwork Site: http://www.difference-engine.net

Location: Tacoma Art Musem
Choose: Trimpin: Conloninpurple
Site: http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/page.asp?view=425

Location: Frye Art Museum
Choose: Trimpin: Klompen
Site: http://www.fryeart.org/

Worth up to 5 points each, depending on quality.
Due: may be given to your TA in your Friday session up through DECEMBER 1ST.
Maximum: TWO submissions.
NOTE: For second to qualify, you must choose work FROM A DIFFERENT VENUE, not within the same show/location.