New Media Theory, ARTS 6110/4130

Monday 10-12; Thurs 10-12

West Hall room 323

Prof. Michael Century

century@rpi.edu

276-2302 West Hall 115b

Office hours Wednesday 2-4 pm and by appointment

Online syllabus and reading links: http://www.arts.rpi.edu/century/nmt10/nmt10.htm

Overview

For the Spring 2010 semester, this course explores the subject of new media theory through a mix of readings by key media scholars, study of both popular and experimental art practices, and hands-on production of new media creations. The readings begin with a focus on four influential theorists – Benjamin, McLuhan, Manovich, Castells, then continue in a topical manner to survey the field from the standpoints of philosophy, law, aesthetics, geography, architecture and bio-science. Students may opt to participate in the production aspect of the course, which is focused on preparing works for a student component of the digital image festival onedotzero.at EMPAC on April 29/ Students opting for the production track can work individually or in groups, and will be guided by several visiting artists and in scheduled class critiques. Those pursuing the academic track will complete their course requirements with a term paper.

Method of Instruction

Lectures will be illustrated with audio-visual materials – slides, video, sound, digital multimedia, etc. Discussion and participation are a crucial part of the class, and weighted in the grading accordingly. Participation is defined as being prepared for class (having thoroughly reviewed all materials assigned), engaging thoughtfully in discussions, and punctually submitting written assignments.

Assignments and Determination of Final Grade

30% Short response papers based on course readings

30% Final Project – creative project or 12 page (double space, 12 pt) essay

15% Midterm Exam

15% Final Exam

10% Participation and attendance

Response Papers

Regular writing of critical responses is emphasized in this course. Topics for these short papers will be specifically assigned in class and will be based on material that is either posted online or distributed in class, or they will involve attending exhibitions or performances. The aim here is to avoid summarizing or describing the material, but rather to engage both critically and intuitively with the material to formulate a substantive personal response. Standard essay style need not apply. I will be looking for a clear and concisely written effort to express your responses to the work using an open and engaged mind.

Midterm and Final Exam

Students will be shown images and sound excerpts and will be asked to identify basic information (time period, artist, related movement, etc.) as well as key points about the piece's significance (within the context of that period, movement, the artist's work, broader cultural perspective, etc.). Some more open-ended questions will address the understanding of theoretical concepts, as well as provide opportunities to express independent critical responses.

Online journal

Unless otherwise directed, response papers will be posted to the student’s personal journal on LMS course website http://rpilms.rpi.edu/

Required Texts and Study Materials

Articles for downloading are available at:

http://www.arts.rpi.edu/century/nmt10/nmt10.htm

Academic Dishonesty Policy

Academic dishonesty is, by definition, considered a flagrant offense to the education process. It is taken seriously by students, faculty, and Rensselaer and will be addressed in an effective manner. If a student is found in violation of academic dishonesty policy (for example submitting another student's assignment for your own), your grade will be submitted as "F" for that assignment and the incident will be reported to the Dean of Students Office For the full formal policy, please see http://doso.rpi.edu/update.doc

Mon Jan 25: Introduction, course organization

Thurs Jan 28: New media, new technologies

Required Reading

Lister, M. (2002). New media : a critical introduction. London ; New York, Routledge. “New Media, New Technologies” (pp 9-37)

Lovink, Rossiter, Ippolita: “The Digital Given: 10 Web 2.0 Theses”

Mon Feb 1: Walter Benjamin

Benjamin, W. (1936) “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”.

Ways of Seeing, by John Berger, first chapter, plus view on Youtube

*G Buck-Morss, S. (1992). "Aesthetics and Anaesthetics: Walter Benjamin's Artwork Essay Reconsidered." October 62(Fall): 3-31.

Thurs Feb 4: Immersion

Artists and examples to include 19^th c. panorama, 3D cinema, Shaw, Naimark, Davies, Novak, Benayoun, acousmatic electronic music

Mon Feb 8: McLuhan 2.0

“Understanding Media” (excerpt) “The Medium is the Massage”, “Man and Media”

*G Vilem Flusser: “The Codified World”

McLuhan’s Wake DVD, on reserve Folsom library

Thurs Feb 11: Synaesthesia--union/disunion of the senses

Artists and examples to include pre-computer abstract animation, visual music, Granular Synthesis, Listening Post

Mon Feb 15: no class, do Manovich reading assignment

Selections: Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press. Sections on the Principles of new media.

Software Takes Command (unpublished pre-print), chapter 3, “After Effects, or How Cinema Became Design”, chapter 4 “Universal Capture”

Thurs Feb 18 One Dot Zero Visiting Artist Benton-C Bainbridge

Mon Feb 22: Authorship, intellectual property, remix culture

Class visitor Scott DeLahunta

Lev Manovich, Remix and Remixability

L. Lessig Remix 1-19, optional to page 84

Eben Moglen, "Anarchism Triumphant. Free Software and the Death of Copyright"

*G Kelty, Christopher (2008). “Introduction”, Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software, page 1-18

Thurs Feb 25: Genres – Remix Culture/ Project Discussions

Mon March 1 – Chris Salter special guest

Required reading by Salter: “The Question of Thresholds: Immersion, Absorption and Dissolution in the Environments of Audiovision”

Thurs March 4: Manuel Castells

Required Reading

Castells, M (2009) “Communication in the Digital Age”, in Communication power New York : Oxford University Press, pp 54-136

Clay Shirkey “Here comes everybody” – Youtube lecture

Trebor Scholz “Web 2.0, What Went Wrong?”, slidecast

7pm Chris Salter panel discussion @ EMPAC , Michael Century, Mark Changhizi, Linnda Caporel, Ted Kreuger.

ALSO VISIT SALTER’s installation at EMPAC open from 3 – 7 March

Spring Break March 8-12

Mon March 15: Theories of the New, the Modern, and the Contemporary

Kern, S. (1986).”The Nature of Time”, in The culture of time and space. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.

Adam, B. (2006). "Time." Theory Culture Society 23(2-3).

Smith, T. (2006). "Contemporary Art and Contemporaneity." Critical Inquiry 32.

Bruce Sterling (2008). The Life and Death of Media, in Sound Matters: Sampling Music and Digital Culture, MIT Press.

Bruno Latour audio interview on why “we have never been modern”

*G: Jameson, F. (2003). "The End of Temporality" Critical Inquiry 29

*G: Urry, J (2009) “Speeding up and Slowing Down”, in High-speed society : social acceleration, power, and modernity. University Park, Pa., Pennsylvania State University Press.

Thurs March 18: Mid Term Exam

Dancing on the Ceiling reception, 6 pm.

Douglas Trumbull talk 7 pm. / 2001: A Space OdysseyThursday March 18, 6:00 PM

Mon March 22 Multi-media Performance

Artists and examples to include Einstein on the Beach, Wooster Group, Open Ended Group, Laurie Anderson

Thurs March 25: One Dot Zero Visiting Artist Reid Farrington

March 25-27, Open Ended Group performance “Upended”, EMPAC

Mon March 29: Interactivity, Improvisation, Performance

Rokeby, David. (1995). Transforming Mirrors: Subjectivity and Control in Interactive Media. Critical Isses in Electronic Media. S. Penny. Albany, N.Y., SUNY. 133-158

Dinkla, Soke. (1996). From Participation to Interaction. Toward the Origin of Interactive Art. Clicking In. Hot links to digital culture. Ed. L. H. Leeson. Seattle, Bay Press. 279-90

(not available) Lewis, G. (2009). Improvisation and Interactivity., in Dean, R., The Oxford Handbook of Computer Music

*G: Eco, Umberto. (1989). The Poetics of the Open Work

Thurs April 1: Presentations for OneDotZero, with visiting Curator Liz Slagus and artist Jeff Crouse

Mon April 5: Place, Location, and “Relational Architectures”

Debord, G, Writings from the Situationist International

Hemment, D. (2006). "Locative Arts." Leonardo 39(4).

Fernandez, Maria (2007) Illuminating Embodiment: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Relational

Architectures Architectural Design, Volume 77 Issue 4

Artists and examples to include Rafael Lozano Hemmer, Blast Theory, Cardiff/Miller

Thurs April 8: Sound Art

Artists to include Cage, Oliveros, Stockhausen, Neuhaus, Amacher and others

Ong, Walter. “Orality, Literacy and Modern Media”. Communication in History. Crowley and Heyer (1994), Longman Addison Wesley. 64-70.

Butler, Toby (2006) pp 889-893 only, A walk of art: the potential of the sound walk as

practice in cultural geography Social & Cultural Geography, Vol. 7, No. 6

Christoph Cox From Music to Sound: Being as Time in the Sonic Arts

R. Murray Schafer, Tuning of the World

Conner, S. (1997). The Modern Auditory I. Rewriting the Self: Histories from the Renaissance to the Present. R. Porter. London and New York, Routledge.

Mon April 12: Data Aesthetics, Eco-visualization

Native Land, Stop Eject, an exhibition created by the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in conjunction with 2009 Climate conference at Copenhagen.

Holmes, Tiffany, Environmental Awareness through Eco-visualization: Combining Art and Technology to Promote Sustainability

Cultural Analytics, lecture by Manovich in 2010 on cultural analytics

Martin Wattenberg's lab at IBM  

Ben Fry Visualizing Data

Sonification, The Listening Post