PROJECT

ART 12A COURSE PROJECT: DIGITAL MEDIA DEPRIVATION

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Select a form of digital media that you use every day. For the purposes of this project we will define digital media expansively: anything communicative that involves computers. Examples include:

• Computer software, e.g. Microsoft Word, UCI EEE
• Digital recording devices, e.g. digital still and video cameras
• Smartphone—either the whole phone or specific, regularly used applications (e.g. texting; Skype; Kik; Snapchat)
• Other digital communication devices, e.g. GPS, intercom
• Social networks, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Strava

You are welcome to propose a form of digital media not found on the list above. The most important thing about your choice is that it be something you use often, so that your deprivation experience is significant. Don’t necessarily choose the first thing that comes to mind. Consider the creative potential of a less obvious choice.

Select a period of time (ideally at least seven days) between now and the middle of February, and deprive yourself of your chosen digital media. Prepare a creative response to your deprivation experience that is not an essay. It might be a documentary photo or video response; a creative fiction or non-fiction piece; a work of audio or visual art. The only constraints are that your final submission must be:

• Submittable via EEE, and uploadable to the course website (e.g. text; PDF; JPG, TIFF, or PNG; a link to Youtube, Prezi, or another online location).
• Digestible by the viewer in no more than 2-3 minutes (e.g. approximately 500 words;  10 images/slides; 1-2 minutes of audio or video).

Some questions to consider during your deprivation experience:

• What do you miss the most about the digital media?
• Have you needed to replace the functions it provides? If so, how?
• Did you feel isolated, liberated, or neither?
• Did your experience change throughout the duration of your deprivation?
• Can you live without this digital media?

There will be some Q&A sessions devoted to the project. Check the Schedule page for some key milestones between now and the final deadline.

The project is worth 30% of your final grade, and is due on Sunday, March 12 at 11:55PM. There will be no opportunity for late submissions of the course project.

 

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Submit two files to the folders provided on EEE DropBox:

1. Your project file (one only), in the format of your choice as described above. In the case of a web link, simply upload a text or Word file containing the link.
2. An artist’s statement of no more than 250 words describing your choice of digital media, the nature of the deprivation experience, and why you have chosen to represent this experience in the way that you have.

Be sure to submit to the correct DropBox: there is one pair of DropBoxes for last names A-I, another for last names J-N, and another for last names O-Z.

 

EVALUATION CRITERIA

25 points—Deprivation Experience (commitment, rigor of execution)—Was the deprivation experience relevant and substantial? 

25 points—Representation Strategy (suitability, evidence of thoughtfulness)—Is the response to the deprivation experience appropriate and compelling?

25 points—Craft and Care (skill of execution, evidence of effort)—Is the response to the deprivation experience well produced, with love?

25 points—Impact (subjective and transcendental qualities)—Do I want to exhibit and discuss the response? Do I care? 

TOTAL: /100

 

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