MAT203 01W
Instructor: George Legrady
Monday 1-3:30pm - Kerr Hall, Wednesday 1-3:30pm - Estudio
Intersection of Art, Technology and Culture
A seminar that reviews current issues, methods, questions related to how art practice, and visual culture intersect with technology and culture. with special attention to convergences and differences between the various related industries.
The seminar will begin with two texts that address the process of artistic practice and its transition from personal experience to its integration into the discipline's discourse. The rest of the semester will consist of discussion related to three texts: John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" to introduce the issues related to social, cultural, commercial and technological forces that shape the artwork; Neil Gershenfeld's "When Things Start to Think", a book that explores diverse situations related to the interface between humans and machines; Peter Anders' "Envisioning CyberSpace" provides an overview of issues and individuals practicing within the fields of virtual architecture, immersive environments, cyberspace and digital media.
In addition to the readings, weekly presentations will be given on time based interactive art and other relevant works to the topics at hand.
Student workload consists of participation, regular presentation of the readings, a brief report in HTML of each presented readings and a student defined final project to come out of the topics covered in discussions.
Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Expression and Aesthetics in Science and Art;
Ethnography As Discursive Sabotage, American Journal of Semiotics, vol 6.no1, 1988-89
Jack Burnham, The Structure of Art; Search for a Structure,
John Berger, Ways of Seeing, BBC and Penguin Press
Neil Gershenfeld, When Things Start to Think, Henry Holt NYC
Peter Anders, Envisioning CyberSpace, McGraw Hill
Other References:
Presentations of digital media artists' work documented in various cd-roms, online, etc.
20% discussion participation
40% final project
