Integration
Week 2: January 23 – 29
The blurring of traditional boundaries between disciplines – such as the arts and sciences – or between discrete media. A discussion of 19th and 20th Century developments in the integration of the arts and technology, beginning with the work of composer Richard Wagner and his idealized notion of the Gesamtkunstwerk (Total Artwork), followed by Bell Labs engineer Billy Klüver, who catalyzed the integration of art and engineering in the 1960s with the formation of E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology).
Interactivity
Week 3: January 30 - February 5
The reciprocal exchange between the viewer and the artwork, the ability to manipulate media and objects intuitively and with immediacy. This topic explores the evolution of the technical, aesthetic, and cognitive concepts behind human-computer interactions, and their influence on the art, design and application of interactive media. Beginning with the fundamentals of cybernetics as conceived by engineer Norbert Wiener in the late 1940s, we will discuss subsequent scientific breakthroughs in human-computer interaction including Douglas Engelbart's oNLine System and the invention of the mouse. We will then explore parallel cybernetic and interactive tendencies emerging in the arts during the 1960s through the writings and work of John Cage and Roy Ascott.
Hypermedia
Week 4: February 6 - 12
The non-sequential linking of information, events, and discrete media. A discussion of the evolution of hypermedia and the non-linear association of information resulting in the collapse of traditional spatial and temporal boundaries. We will begin with Vannevar Bush's seminal investigation into the concept of the hyperlink through his design of the Memex in 1945, the prototypical multimedia workstation. This will be followed by Ted Nelson's coining of the term hypertext in the early 1960s, in which non-linear associative thinking was applied to human-computer interaction, concluding with Alan Kay's creation of the graphical user interface and the first hypermedia system for a personal computer at Xerox PARC in California in the 1970s.
Immersion
Week 5: February 13 - 19
The experience of entering a multi-sensory representation of three-dimensional space. An exploration of the evolution of virtual reality and 3D virtual space: multimedia as an immersive experience that engages all the senses. We will overview the research of pioneering VR artists and scientists dating back to the 1950s, including Morton Heilig, Ivan Sutherland, Scott Fisher, Jenny Holzer, Jeffrey Shaw, and Char Davies, who pioneered the tools and aesthetics of virtual reality, stereoscopic imaging, and telepresence, leading to the creation of digital, immersive environments.
Interview with Chip Lord
Week 6: February 20 - 26
There will be no regular class as I will be attending the College Art Association Conference (CAA) in Los Angeles. However, class will view my Adobe Connect online interview with Chip Lord at CAA, either live (February 24 at 1:00am SGT) or from the recording. Students will look at the work of media collective Ant Farm, co-founded by Chip Lord and Doug Michaels in San Francisco in 1968.
Ant Farm: The Media Collective
Week 7: February 27 - March 5
Linking the Chip Lord interview to our study of the integration of the arts and forms of collaboration, we will look in depth at how Ant Farm pioneered the interdisciplinary fusion of media art, performance, spectacle, and sculpture in such iconic works as Media Burn, Cadillac Ranch, and the Eternal Frame. We discuss the historical importance importance of media collectives and experimentation in the 1960s and 1970s.
Telematic Art
Week 8: March 13 - 19
Telematic is a descriptive of art projects using computer mediated telecommunications networks as their medium. Telematic art challenges the traditional relationship between active viewing subjects and passive art objects by creating interactive, behavioural contexts for remote aesthetic encounters. We will investigate the history and evolution of telematic art as an emerging artistic medium. We will have as our guest speaker, the British artist Paul Sermon, a pioneering network artist.
Network Culture
Week 9: March 20 - 26
We will explore network culture through the work of three contemporary media artists who will be presenting keynotes and new Internet performance works at the upcoming Art of the Networked Practice Online Symposium. These artists include: Matt Adams, co-founder of Blast Theory, Annie Abrahams (Internet performance artist), and Jon Cates (Glitch artist). We will investigate how media artists have approached the network as a medium and platform for artistic expression, interaction, cultural investigation, and live performance.
Art of the Networked Practice Online Symposium
Week 10: March 27 - April 2
There will be no class this week, instead students will attend online and participate in two days of the three-day Art of the Networked Practice Online Symposium via Adobe Connect, which has as is theme: “Social Broadcasting: An Unfinished Communications Revolution.” The events take place at ADM 3/29 (8pm-11pm), LASALLE 3/30 (8pm-11pm), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicageo 3/31 (11pm-2am). To Login: https://connect.ntu.edu.sg/thirdspacenetwork/ Select “Guest, ” type your name, “Enter Room” See Website for scheduling additional information: https://thirdspacenetwork.com/symposium2018/
Independent Research I
Week 11: April 3 - 9
Each student will choose a historic or contemporary media artist not discussed in class to carry out independent research that draws from our study of new media history, theory and its concepts and forms. The artist can come from any country and culture so long as their work is tied to new media practices. The artist and their work should be relevant to our study of multimedia concepts and paradigms (i.e. integration, interactivity, hypermedia, immersion, collaboration telematics etc.) and the Hyperessay should explore in detail how their work demonstrates interdisciplinarity through the integration of art and technology.
Independent Research II
Week 12: April 10 - 16
Students will share their OSS research methodologies for feedback and analysis.