Monday / Wednesday 12:40–3:10, Fields 205
Course materials on Google Classroom
Online meetings (first two classes only): https://zoom.us/my/digitalmediastudio
Prof. Brian House (he/him), brianhouse@lclark.edu
Office hours W 3:15–4:45
Hybrid worlds studio. Further development of digital media techniques with an emphasis beyond the screen: automated systems, microcontrollers and sensors, and 3D fabrication. Seminar-style reading and discussion will center on conceptual issues arising from everyday life in a digitally mediated society. Students will work on individual projects for studio critique.
Prerequisites: ART 112
- Cultivate an ability to think in terms of systems that span the physical and the digital
- Understand the ways in which digital tools participate in contemporary culture
- Survey contemporary artists working critically with code, physical computing, and 3D fabrication
- Develop a repertoire of digital methods for studio practice
- Increase programming proficiency with Python and learn basic skills in electronics and 3D printing
This course is built around four projects completed over the course of the semester in the digital media studio, which will be critiqued by the class. While there are technical and conceptual parameters for each project, you are expected to be experimental and to develop a personal artistic trajectory. A title and 3-sentence description must be included with each project. Cumulatively, the projects account for 85% of your final grade, with the final project given double weight. As work is evaluated via in-class crit, no late work can be accepted.
Each student will give a 10-minute presentation on an artist working in digital media. These presentations, which must be organized in slides, should give an overview of the context in which the artist is working and then precede to show one or two artworks in detail. Students should comment thoughtfully on how the work relates to the themes discussed in class as well as to their own practices. The presentation should end with a couple of questions posed to the class for discussion that relate to the technique or themes of the artist's work. Students will sign up to present on an artist chosen from a list on a first-come, first-served basis. These presentations make up 10% of your final grade.
Each week we will read critical texts that situate digital media in society and its impact on the material world. These will are provided through the links on this syllabus. Reading is due on the day where the text is listed; a reading response must be submitted before class via Classroom. This can be a question raised by the text, a critique of it, a link to related artistic work, or some other brief comment which can stimulate our discussion. Responses make up 5% of your final grade.
It is my intent to lead a course that serves students from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and that our varied life experiences may be a common benefit. Content in this studio art course may at times challenge our aesthetic and/or ethical values; free exchange of ideas and critique is encouraged and expected, but harassment and disrespect will not be tolerated. During class discussion and critique we aim to be mindful and generous in our interactions and to make everyone feel heard.
The version of this syllabus posted online will be updated periodically and is the definitive version. It is your responsibility to consult it and stay up-to-date.
This course requires a personal laptop—recent hardware and MacOS is preferred (Windows and Linux are also fine; Chromebooks will not work). If you do not have access to a laptop, you will need to make arrangements to borrow one for the course.
All students must complete their own work but are encouraged to help each other. To facilitate collective learning, students are encouraged to work in Fields 205 outside of class hours.
There is a course fee automatically paid through student accounts when registered for this class. The fee helps cover software licensing and sensor hardware. However, open source software will be used whenever possible.
If you have a disability that may impact your academic performance, you may request accommodations by submitting documentation to the Student Support Services Office in Albany Quadrangle (x7192). Staff in the SSSO will notify me of the accommodations for which you are eligible; please also make an appointment to discuss with me personally.
Please refer to the policy on Academic Integrity available on the College's 'Policies and Procedures' webpage. The work submitted in Digital Media courses must be conceived of and programmed by you. While learning from and incorporating code from other sources is a natural part of programming (e.g. Stack Overflow and OpenProcessing), you must demonstrate understanding and intentionality in your work, and you may not copy and paste others' code wholesale. Always credit your inspirations and be confident in your original concepts.
The Fields Art Center is built on land belonging to the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Watalala bands of the Chinook, the Tualatin Kalapuya, and other indigenous nations of the Columbia River, and we are here because of the sacrifices forced upon them. Furthermore, we are at an institution named after white colonizers in a city with a racist history. As artists working in Digital Media, we must be aware of and resist the many ways computation capitalizes upon and perpetuates violence toward marginalized people.
The College’s health and safety guidelines are applied in all settings across campus and comply with county guidelines. We each share responsibility to keep our community healthy by adhering to the following expectations:
- Wear a face covering when inside, even when physical distancing can be maintained, and outside when physical distancing cannot be maintained. Stay at home if you have any of the following COVID symptoms, including cough, fever or chills, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, nasal congestion, or runny nose.
- The Art Department reserves the right to ask you to leave the studios if you exhibit symptoms. If you are present in the studios without a mask, we will remind you to put on a mask immediately or leave class. If necessary, masks may be removed for a short duration for drinking, but please minimize these temporary removals and do not consume food during class time.
- If you are experiencing COVID symptoms DO NOT come to campus. Information on COVID symptoms can be found on the LC Health and Safety Expectations webpage and on the CDC webpage.
- Introduction
- In-class reading and discussion: Nam June Paik, "Cybernated Art"
- Project 0: Cybernated Life
- Reading response due for discussion: Ingrid Burrington, "Effortless Slippage"
- Project 0: crit
- Project 1: Social Automation
- Discussion and workshop: Twitter
- Reading response due for discussion: Data & Society, "How to Think About Bots""
- Workshop: review of for-loops and lists
- Survey presentations 1
- Project 1: proposals due
- Work time
- Project 1: check-in
- Survey presentations 2
- Reading response due for discussion: Safiya Noble, "Google Has a Striking History of Bias Against Black Girls"
- Work time
- Project 1: crit
- Survey presentations 3
- Reading response due for discussion: Shannon Mattern, "Interfacing Urban Intelligence"
- Project 2: Poetic Sensors
- Workshop: microcontrollers + databases
- Project 2: proposals due
- Workshop: microcontrollers + databases
- Survey presentations 4
- Reading response due for discussion: Wendy Chun, "On Software, or the Persistence of Visual Knowledge"
- Work time
- Project 2: check-in
- Survey presentations 5
- Reading response due for discussion: Tara Rodgers, Interview with Laetitia Sonami
- Work time
- Work time
- Survey presentations 6
- Reading response due for discussion: Jennifer Gabrys, "Digital Rubbish"
- Project 2: crit
- Project 3: Real Digital Objects
- Workshop: 3D scanning + Meshmixer
- NO CLASS (Sherman Fairchild visit)
- Survey presentations 7
- Reading response due for discussion: Morehshin Allahyari and Daniel Rourke, "The 3D Additivist Cookbook"
- Project 3: proposals due
- Workshop: 3D printing
- Survey presentations 8
- Viewing due for discussion: James Bridle, "Waving at the Machines"
- Project 3: check-in
- Project 3: crit
- Reading due for discussion: Florian Cramer, "What is 'Post-Digital'?"
- Project 4: Hybrid Worlds
- Survey presentations leftover
- Project 4: proposals due
- Reading due for discussion: Lisa Parks, "Mediating Animal-Infrastructure Relations"
- Work time
- Project 4 check-in #1
- Reading due for discussion: Trevor Paglen, "Invisible Images"
- Project 4 check-in #2
- Work time
- Project 4: draft of documentation video due
- Final documentation due