Final Project

By: Randall Packer |

A performance project that bridges your practice with the Internet

How has the Internet as a space for production altered the way you work, conduct research, engage in dialogue, share ideas, and collaborate? And how has the study of performance, communication, social interaction, and dialogue encouraged you to think differently about your work and/or creative process? These are questions to consider in the creation of a final project for Media & Performance.

Create a final project that draws from the concepts, Web tools, software, and online experience we have explored in this course. The goal of the final project is to bridge your practice (interactive media, film, sound, animation, graphic design, product design, or discipline outside the arts) with the Internet and performance. You can either record your performance specifically for the Web, so that it can be viewed and experienced online, or it can be staged as a live event. In many cases, the outcome of the final project will be prototypical, in other words, a realization of an idea that could be expanded in the future. We will hold an evening of final presentations at the end of the semester to showcase everyone’s work.

Essential criteria for the project:

  • The project is to be created to performed as an online work and/or as a live event.
  • It is built with tools and software presented in the course (though other tools can be considered)
  • The work is performative in some nature.
  • There is some aspect of communications that is integral to the concept of the work.
  • The work explores critical ideas drawn from our study of media, performance, and net culture.
  • The work might have a live component, or be pre-recorded.
  • The work may be prototypical, meaning, it demonstrates a proof of concept, rather than being a polished, finished work. We are interested in process and good ideas in this course.
  • The work may be collaborative, the joint effort of more than one student.
  • You may use any media.
  • The work is not documentation, unless the documentation is integral to the work itself.

The Final Project will be completed as a “Project Page” (Project Hyperessay #3 Conclusion) that will be included in the main menu of your site. This Project Page is a standalone page, not a post, that includes an overview of the work and the work itself. Each project will have its own approach to the exact specifications for the Project Page, which will discuss.

 

Final Project Presentation

Due: Wednesday, April 15

Each student will prepare a 10 minute final project presentation using Powerpoint, your Project Page, or work examples (video, etc.) to present the final project.  Come prepared to present your work in a clear, concise manner, with online examples that illustrate the work and its ideas and execution. All students are encouraged to participate in constructive critique of each others work. Here are some specific criteria:

  • Plan your presentation carefully by giving an overview of the work, showing examples, and discussing how the project relates to the course and its topics.
  • Be sure your illustrations and work examples are good quality and represent the work well
  • Time your presentation so it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes
  • Be prepared to discuss the work for additional 5 minutes

I am also asking everyone to participate in discussion about the work of other students. This group discussion is very important for critical feedback.

Project Page / Hyperessay #3 Conclusion

Due: Friday, April 17

The Project Page / Hyperessay #3 Conclusion is the main Web interface to your final project. Here is where you synthesize your project and invite the viewer to understand the concept of the work and to follow any instructions/specifications for their participation. The Project Page needs to include the project title, relevant illustrative image(s), a brief description of the work, and links to other documents/sites that are part of the work. Note that you create a page as a standalone static document that does not get included in your posts feed, nor does it get aggregated on the class site, it can only be accessed through your site.

Process

The final project will be conceptually developed during the second half of the semester (as organized and mapped out in the Project Hyperessays, and produced during the final weeks.

Note:  The completed project is due on Friday, April 17. Final projects cannot be submitted late.

It is expected that students will work on the project throughout the semester, demonstrating progress on a regular basis. Developing a good workflow is essential in media art, with so many technical issues that need to be researched, tested and resolved.

Grading

Grading criteria will be based on the strength of concept, its execution, the ability of the student to engage critical issues discussed in class, to develop the work in a timely manner, to work through conceptual, aesthetic, and technical issues, and to steadily progress towards the completion of the project throughout the semester. Each stage of the project will be graded: (1) Project Hyperessays (I – III); (2) Presentation; (3) Project Page; (4) Final Work. In sum, the entire process of creating the work, using the Project Hyperessays for effective documentation, the presentation of your work, and following through on the work’s completion and exhibition are all elements of the grade for the final project. The final project is the summation of what you have learned in the course and incorporated into a work, as well as your ability to address and incorporate key concepts.

Past Projects

Internet Art & Culture: fall 2014 exhibition: mediations + empowerments

mediations-empowerments_2

Media & Performance: spring 2014:

Diana Toh, Virtually Awkward: A 24 Hour Live Manifestation in the Third Space

Diana_1072100_10152373058706303_3389853634950853304_o

Diana Toh’s Virtually Awkward took place in April, 2014 in the ADM Lobby. This 24-hour marathon performance involved a third space interaction between Diane, her friends, colleagues, and complete strangers from all corners of NTU and the Internet. In the photo above, she is engaging with a class at ADM and Phyllis Hecht (my wife) in Washington, DC, while speaking and texting and tweeting as non-stop digital native actions, a display and critique of life in the digital fast lane.

Diana_1978389_10152371739936303_2512248482356462826_o

More projects to be documented.

 

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