The Studio Experience [Multimedia Module] Sp08-2

Discussion: Introduction to key concepts and paradigms in multimedia art, including the reading: Birth of a New Medium, from the Overture, Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality, edited by Randall Packer & Ken Jordan

Lab: Creation of a blog on blogger.com
See this example of a blog entry and the basics of formatting.

First blog entry: Digital multimedia has introduced new paradigms to the creation and experience of art that depart from traditional artistic media (drawing, painting, etc.), while there are also aesthetic considerations that haven't changed. Formulate a question on this topic and give a brief response. In your opinion, how does the computer introduce new opportunities for artistic expression? We will use your questions as the basis of discussion.

Discussion of blog questions on the nature of digital media and the resulting paradigm shift in artistic expression.

Overview of the Project: Situational Tours, a text-photo narrative

Linking to a Google map to document a location for your Situational Tour project.

Project timeline: (1) Due Thursday, February 28, choose a location, locate it on Google Map in satellite view, embed the map, and describe the environment briefly in relation to the four keywords. (2) Due Tuesday, March 4, photograph the location and be prepared to transfer your images to work on your Situational Tour in class. (3) Due Thursday, March 6, completed project ready for class critique.

Reading Assignment (due February 28): Integration of the Arts, Overture, Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality. Write a question and brief response on your blog, approx. 100 words. We will use your questions as the basis for class discussion.

Continue reading "Class 1: Overview of Multimedia (Computer as Medium)" »

In conjunction with the exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum, we will discuss concepts in contemporary video art and survey examples of works by artists in the exhibition: The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image. Everyone in the class is expected to make a field trip to the Hirshhorn Museum (7th and Independence on the National Mall), prior to the end of the two-week multimedia module. For those with schedules permitting, you can attend one of my lectures at the Hirshhorn on Friday, March 7th, at 11:00 am or 12:30 pm.

NEAREST METRO STOP
L'Enfant Plaza (Blue, Orange, Yellow, and Green lines). Use the Smithsonian Museums exit to Maryland Avenue and Seventh Street SW.

"... a revolutionary solution that each of us become a manipulator, in the sense of an active operator... pass from the status of receiver to that of producer-transmitter." - Jean Baudrillard, Requiem for the Media (1970s)

How soon artists will have their own TV channels? - Nam June Paik (1973)

Final writing Assignment (due Tuesday, March 18): Everyone will write a blog response to today's lecture in the form of a hyperessay that summarizes the following questions: In the age of YouTube, a vast repository of video that serves as a 24/7 channel accessible via the Web, (1) how does the medium differ from broadcast television, (2) what is its impact on the creation and distribution of video art, and (3) what are the political and social ramifications of the broad distribution of video art? and (4) Describe one work in the Hirshhorn show that demonstrates in your opinion an innovative form of video art, explain why. Your response needs to be approx. 500 words. Refer to concepts discussed in class, and image stills and/or embedded YouTube video examples of works to illustrate your point. Use YouTube and Google image search mechanisms to find examples that illustrate your essay. A hyperessay is an essay that includes not just words, but also other forms of hypermedia: image, sound, video, animation, and links.

Discussion of introductory text by Hirshhorn video curator Kelly Gordon.

Discussion of works featured on YouTube as well as video artists from the exhibition, The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image: Tony Oursler, Gary Hill, Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler:

Critique: Presentation of project location / ideas. This is what your embedded Google Map should look like:

View Larger Map

Review narrative guidelines for Situational Tours. Here is an experimental and imaginative example. This project explores the nostalgia of childhood.

Next Project Assignment (due Tuesday, March 4): Photograph location and write draft narrative text for the Situational Tours project. Be prepared to upload images and write narrative text next class.

Continue reading "Class 2: Overview of Multimedia (Integration of the Arts)" »

Discussion: An overview of authoring in the Blogger environment, ideas regarding the design and formatting of projects.

Techniques for photo re-touching, sizing, and formatting in Photoshop.

Lab: Work on Situational Tours project

Assignment (due Thursday, March 6): Critique of Situational Tours project

Continue reading "Class 3: The Situational Tours" »

Critique of the Situational Tours projects.

For the critique (10 minutes maximum), be prepared to walk us through your situational tour, discuss the narrative and how you approached the assignment. Most importantly, be prepared to discuss how the project incorporate the keyword(s) (security, authority, ritual, ideological). How did the project change your view or perception of the location you chose, do you see it differently now? How so? I also expect the class to ask questions and offer commentary on one another's work.

Final Writing Assignment
How does technology mediate the artist experience?

We have discussed essential paradigms in digital art, from interactivity to the integration of the arts. We have put into practice the use of digital media in the construction of narrative form.

This assignment is an opportunity for you to synthesize the theoretical concepts and practical skills you have learn in this module. As you have transitioned from drawing to digital media, how has technology affected the creative process? By mediate we are concerned with how art functions as a medium through which you view and construct the world around you. Drawing is one way to view the world and develop your own perspective, while digital media is another medium with its own capabilities and issues. As you conducted your situational tours, your camera became your window on to the environment you explored. The on-line blog then became the “canvas” where you constructed your narrative. How has technology impacted this process, how has it affected your experience of making art?

The assignment should be approximately 200 words in length.

Drawing from the readings and our discussion of media artworks, talk about your experience by referencing these sources. You may review the lecture notes on-line at http://multimedia.american.edu/teaching.

I want to see a thoughtful response that draws from our discussion and your own individual experience in creating a digital project.

The hyperessay assignment is due Tuesday, March 18. Please contact me with questions: x2773, rpacker@zakros.com, or 216 Katzen.

I will give each student a final grade for the module based on your postings: (1) Question/response to readings; (2) situational tour location with link to Goggle map, including how the location relates to the keywords (ritual, ideology, security, authority), (3) situational tour photo-text narrative, (4) hyperessay.