Art 12A is an introduction to the historical and theoretical foundations of digital media art and design. The course traces how information technologies informed the growth of new expressive mediums, and considers how today’s pervasive digital culture evolved through interdisciplinary collaborations between artists, engineers, scientists and scholars. Through lectures, assignments, and discussion, students will examine critical issues relevant to digital media and related cultural phenomenon, and will develop an appreciation of how art-making practices have shaped—and been shaped by—trajectories of technological change.

Art 12A can be used to satisfy one General Education (GE) Requirement in Category IV, Arts and Humanities.

Art 12A is a core course in the Minor in Digital Arts offered by the Department of Art in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts.

 


 

OVERVIEW

Instructor: Jesse Colin Jackson

Teaching Assistants: Erin Gordon (for last names A-I), Borey Shin (for last names J-N)and Alexandra Thomsen (for last names O-Z)

Time: Tuesday and Thursdays, 9:30AM—10:50AM

Place: SSH 100

Office Hours: by appointment

 

REQUIREMENTS

The course consists of a combination of instructor and guest lectures, informal and formal examinations, assigned readings, in-class and online group discussion, and student submission of rhetorical and creative work.

Students are required to attend all classes, respond to in-class participation questions, complete a final exam, submit written responses to assigned readings, contribute to online group discussion, and produce a creative project.

Knowledge of the lecture topics will be assessed by means of the in-class participation questions and the exam. Synthesis of the lecture material and the readings will be assessed by means of the written responses and online discussion contributions. The ability to creatively engage with the course material will be assessed by means of the project.

 

GRADING

The final grade will consider the final exam (20%), the written responses (20%), the course project (30%), and participation (30%). Specific evaluation criteria for each of the above will be provided on the course website.

 

ATTENDANCE

Attendance is mandatory. Though annotated lecture slides will be uploaded to the course website, detailed notes will not be provided.

Attendance and will be regularly gauged by means of in-class participation questions. Responding to these questions will constitute 50% of your participation grade. You are permitted to miss a maximum of two in-class participation questions without penalty.

Arriving late to class is disruptive; in-class participation questions will typically take place at the beginning of class.

 

I>CLICKER

In-class participation questions will require the use of an i>clickerYou must register your i>clicker before the beginning of class on Thursday, January 19

 

LATENESS

Late submissions of assignments will not be accepted except as a result of significant and legitimate extenuating circumstances. Please let us know right away if you are having a problem completing an assignment on time.

 

RESOURCES

All required resources (e.g. readings, assignments, visual material) will be made available on the course website.

 

TOPICS

The course studies a range of ideas, essays, artworks, technologies and other materials created by visual artists, computer scientists, scholars, writers, musicians, performing artists, interface designers, cultural critics, and individuals working across disciplines, including but not limited to:

  • The evolution of computing technology: Babbage, Turing, Xerox PARC.
  • Two hundred years of networks: from semaphore, telegraph, telephone, radio and TV broadcast, international submarine cable and satellite networks, to the Internet and the Web.
  • The robot in literature and cinema: Asimov’s laws, Frankenstein, Metropolis, Blade Runner, Robocop, Terminator, Star Wars.
  • Emerging technologies as media shaped by power relations and the politics of race, gender, and class.
  • Approaches to computing discourse: cybernetics, artificial intelligence, artificial life, genetic programming and autonomous agents.
  • Gaming as a new cultural form: gaming, simulations, VR training, war games, and the military involvement in games and simulation.
  • Computers and music: technologies and theories of composition; early electronic music.
  • User experience, human-computer interaction, interface as medium.
  • Programming as medium, programming as literature.
  • Surveillance, cyborgs, technology as prosthesis.
  • Hypertext, hypermedia, rhizomes, the Web and Internet art.
  • Worms, viruses, hackers, hacktivism, resistance, and social media.
  • Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing.

 


 

QUESTIONS?

This is a big class, with only one professor and three teaching assistants. We’re here to help, but please help us help you by asking yourself:

  • Can it wait? There will be time for questions during every class. Please ask yours—someone else has the same question.
  • Too shy? Come and ask us at the end of class. We’ll hang around if you need us.
  • Urgent? Email your TA: Erin Gordon (for last names A-I), Borey Shin (for last names J-N) and Alexandra Thomsen (for last names O-Z).
  • Confidential? Email your instructor Jesse Colin Jackson. Please note that it might take up to 72 hours for us to reply. Be succinct!