A project that bridges your practice with the Internet
What is the significance of the open source studio to the creation of new media art? How has the Internet as a space for production altered the way you work, conduct research, engage in dialogue, share ideas, and collaborate? How has the idea of studying online in a studio course challenged and transformed your view of media art? And finally, how has communication, social interaction, and dialogue encouraged you to think differently about your artistic process? These are questions to consider in the creation of a final project for Open Source Studio: Internet Art & Culture.
Create a final project that utilizes the concepts, Web tools, 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, etc.) with the Internet. You can either create your work specifically for the Web, so that it can be viewed and experienced online, or it can be staged as an installation work. 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.
Essential criteria for the project:
- The project is to be created and exhibited on the Open Source Studio Website or as a physical installation.
- It is built with communications tools and software presented in OSS (though other tools can be considered)
- The work is interactive and involves the participation of the viewer.
- 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 net culture and net art.
- The work may have a live or performative component. If so, be sure you can the final outcome of the work is specifically made for the Web, not simply the documentation of a performance.
- 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 ideas in OSS.
- The work may be collaborative, the joint effort of more than one student.
- You may use any media that can be incorporated or embedded into the Web: video, sound, image, Google map, etc.
- You can situate your final project on the OSS site or your own Website.
- The work is not documentation, unless the documentation is integral to the work itself.
Presentation for Critique
Due: Wednesday, November 5th
Each student will prepare a brief 5 minute overview of their final project for group critique, showing specific elements of the work. Use the Project Page (in progress) for the presentation, as well as any other relevant materials drawn from your hyperessays, etc. Come prepared to present your work in a clear, concise manner, with online examples that illustrate the work and its ideas and execution. The purpose of the critique is to provide collective feedback towards the project’s final realization. All students need to participate in constructive critique of each others work.
Exhibition Graphic & Project Page URL
Due: Wednesday, November 5th
Each student will provide me with an exhibition graphic and URL to be included on the main interface of the class exhibition page as a button and link to your Project Page. Provide the graphic in .jpeg, .gif, or .png (depending on transparency). This logo or graphical button will be incorporated into the main exhibition interface. It is possible to provide a static image, or a gif animation. The graphics do not need to conform to any particular shape, however, if you want to use a non-rectangular shape, you will need to give me a transparent gif animation or .png file. Be sure the graphic is sufficient resolution, minimum 640 pixels wide. I will collect all the graphics and we will work on the page together during class.
Project Page
Due: Tuesday, November 11th for the exhibition
The Project Page is the main Web interface to your final project. Here is where you 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. Here is an example by Prakash Haridas, which takes you to his Home Page, where you will find a link on the main menu to the Project Page called “Welcome to the Subzone.” 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 is advised to incorporate the title of the work into the Project Page URL.
Exhibition
Tuesday November 11th – Wednesday November 12th. Exact times TBA.
The class will participate in a public presentation of works. The precise nature of the event/exhibition will be developed collaboratively by all of us. I will provide a starting point and some suggestions for exhibition ideas based on the specific projects as they are developed in the latter part of the semester. Generally though, I envision the final project as a public “information portal” and possibly a nexus of “DIY” activity for viewer-participation staged in the lobby of ADM. Since the works will exist primarily online, I envision minimal display requirements for the exhibition, primarily information that is posted either physically and/or virtually explaining how viewers can participate; where they need to go to access the work; how they can incorporate their mobile devices, etc. It is possible that a list of URL’s may be all that is necessary to serve as a portal into the third space where the exhibition takes place, such that the viewers would use their own mobile devices for purposes of accessing the work. We will discuss the possibilities and then organize the public showing together.
Process
The final project will be conceptually developed during the second half of the semester (as organized and mapped out in the Project Hyperessay, and produced during the final weeks.
Note: The completed project is due on Tuesday, November 11, for the exhibition. 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 – IV); (2) Presentation for Critique; (3) Project Page; (4) Completion of Work; (5) Final Exhibition. 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 the above essential criteria.