Introduction

Description

Week 1: January 14 – 20

Overview of course concepts, topics, syllabus, Website, and the overall Open Source Studio (OSS) approach to networked, collaborative studio art and performance. Setup WordPress accounts and review the OSS User Manual blogging techniques.

Assignments

Due Next Week: January 21 (Open Source Studio)

1 – Reading

Sida Vaidhyanathan (2012). “Open Source as Culture/Culture as Open Source“ in Mandiberg, M. (Ed.). The Social Media Reader. New York: New York University Press.

Access to this reading requires a password provided in class. Once you link to the “Protected Readings” page, you will be able to access the pdf file for download.

Be prepared to discuss the essay in class and see WordPress assignment below.

2 – Using WordPress

Become familiar with the OSS class site and your own site in WordPress:

3 – Micro-project I:  Video Double

Using your Webcam, create an approximately one minute video double of yourself that constructs your “artistic alter ego.” See the following for further description and instructions for the creation of the video and uploading it to Vimeo:

 

Outline

Hyperlecture Week 1: Introduction

Introductions

Review everyone’s background, interest in media, experience with performance, reasons for taking the course.

Be sure and check your NTU email on a regular basis for announcements, questions, and general communications. Also, please provide me with your mobile number in case I need to contact you quickly. I will give you mine as well.

What is a Webcam?

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In understanding how the the Webcam becomes an instrument for artistic work and performance, we ask the following questions:

  • What is the role that the Webcam plays in our everyday communications?
  • How does the Webcam alter our social relations?
  • How is the Webcam used creatively?
  • What are the implications of the Webcam connected to the network?

Art of the Networked Practice

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What is meant by art of the networked practice?

This is the medium I teach at ADM and it is art that is created specifically with the network in mind, not just art that is documented online. What does this imply? We will spend the rest of the semester asking this question.

Overview of my networked practice:  Zakros InterArts, my online portfolio and presentation of one of my works, Mori: An Internet-Based Earthwork.

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Reportage from the Aesthetic Edge, this is my life online, where I record my writings, ideas, and sketches for projects, all organized and archived as a database. This is an essential aspect of the art of the networked practice, learning to use the network for research, learning, teaching, archiving, documenting and producing art.

I also consider writing to be an essential part of my practice as an artist, and the medium of WordPress enables me to integrate all the media as part of the act of writing-composing-creating words, images, sound, and the moving image.

Key question about the social implications of the network: how might a deeper understanding of Internet art, performance and its practice enhance our understanding of the impact of tele-communications in our everyday lives and global culture at large. The following two works demonstrate ways to think about performance and social interaction across distances collapsed by communications technology, opening up a new sense of space that I refer to as the “third space,” the space of networked social relations.

Kit Galloway & Sherrie Rabinowitz, Hole in Space (1980)

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Kit Galloway & Sherrie Rabinowitz were early pioneers of Internet art and performance dating back to the 1970s, before the Web even existed, let alone laptops, smart phones and social media. They founded the Electronic Café in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, which was the prototype of the cybercafe. Note in the photo above, from 1984, how old-fashioned the technology seems as compared to today, but essentially they were doing the same thing: establishing a network of social relations as a way to bridge individuals and communities.

Their early Internet installation, Hole in Space, demonstrates the idea of collective engagement in the third space, in which distances are collapsed and the audience-participant becomes the performer. While not using a Webcam, the cameras connected by satellite link represent the same idea: a lens that collapses distances when connected to the network. It was one of the first times that a real-time networked artwork was created.

Annie Abrahams, The Big Kiss (2007)

How does geographical separation mediated by telecommunications effect intimacy, a sense of closeness to others? Can we still achieve intimacy in the third space despite physical separation? What happens when the Webcam collapses distances? Do we feel further apart or perhaps closer? How does the Webcam impact your relationship to others? How does this work by Annie Abrahams open up possibilities to address our telematic culture in new and performative ways?

We are fortunate to have Annie Abrahams as our virtual visiting artist this semester. She will be creating a new work for our upcoming symposium, Art of the Networked Practice. At the end of March, her piece will be performed by students in Media & Performance. Save the Date: Tuesday, March 31, 7:30 – 8:00 pm!

If we visit her Website, you can see how an Internet performance artist organize their life and work online.

Open Source Studio Orientation

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For the first week we will become oriented to the Open Source Studio (OSS) approach to online, collaborative study. OSS utlizes the live Adobe Connect Web-conferencing classroom environment for remote teaching. I will be in my studio in Washington, DC during part of the semester and classes will be held live over the Internet.

We are also using the content management system WordPress, in which each student will have their own Website. All of the student sites are brought together and aggregated into the class site, which we are looking at right now.

It is important to become acquainted with this system of online study, in which we will use Adobe Connect and WordPress and an assortment of Web tools to create an online “virtual studio” that we will all participate in throughout the semester.

While we will hold the first four weeks of the semester at ADM in the traditional physical classroom, the following five weeks will take place completely online: using Adobe Connect for live weekly online seminars. The WordPress site will be used to research and document our ongoing work throughout the semester. I will return to ADM for the final four weeks of the semester to complete the course.

The OSS User Manual includes detailed information about the concept and process of this experimental online e-learning initiative.

The Journal

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Although we are focused on electronic media and the use of online tools, the traditional journal is essential to the artistic practice and integrates well with the use of all forms of media. It is the ultimate “mobile device,” portable wherever we go, no electricity, plugs, or technology, except a pen and paper. Here is how I want everyone to incorporate the journal into the course:

  • Always bring your journal to class, meetings, Skype sessions, etc.
  • Take regular notes during class, and especially during critiques
  • Each day you begin note taking, date the entry with the month/day/year so it easy to reference
  • Take notes in your journal when you are doing the readings and looking at artworks
  • I urge you to carry the journal wherever you go and use it, make it your best friend
  • You can use the journal for other classes if you like, it doesn’t have to be exclusive to Media & Performance
  • When you work online, reference your journal for ideas, brainstorms, etc.
  • The more you give to your journal the more it gives back
  • I will review journals at the end of the semester to see how it was used and integrated into your work and a portion of your grade will be based on the effective use of your journal

Online Technique: The Class Site and User Accounts

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Before beginning our work with WordPress, here is a brief look at Internet Art & Culture from last semester, where you will find examples of projects, posts, and research assignments. Once everyone is all setup in WordPress, our Media & Performance class site will be similarly populated with avatars and posts.

Unlike the written journal, your Website is part of a network of sites so everyone can see each others work and ideas. In this sense, OSS is a collective project, in which the sharing of ideas and work is essential to your growth as an artist.

Be sure you are able to navigate the OSS class site. We will briefly review the site, including the online syllabus, assignment scheduling, hyperlectures/hyperessays, project assignments, avatars, Flickr Feed, recent posts, Twitter feed, as outlined in Syllabus & Project Assignments and Class Site of the User Manual. We will also setup student accounts in WordPress, create an avatar in Photo Booth, fill out all profile information, as described in Setting up the Student Site in the User Manual.

Here is a breakdown of our preparation for using the OSS WordPress system:

  • I create a WordPress site for each student to understand the multi-site concept
  • From the email notification received, login to the site
  • DO NOT change email address in your profile, ever!
  • Fill out profile information: Name, Bio, Website, etc. (this can be updated later)
  • We will create an avatar using Photo Booth: choose an effect, and shoot a photo, export to your hard drive
  • Create a Gravatar by signing up at Gravatar.com, use the Photo Booth image as your avatar
  • Soon your avatar will show up on the class site
  • Go to Dashboard/Post/Categories
  • Create a category called DA9005 (slug is lower case da9005)
  • Create another category called Research (slug is lower case research)
  • Assign DA9005 as the parent category
  • Create another Category called Micro-Project (slug is lower case micro-project)
  • Assign DA9005 as the parent category
  • Create a post, add Photo Booth image with the “add media” button, write short description of yourself below the photo
  • Assign Research as the category
  • Create two or more tags based on keywords from the text
  • Assign the Photo Booth image as the featured image
  • Publish the post
  • Check the class site to see that the post has appeared on the main feed in the center column
  • Click reply on another student’s post and write a comment
  • Approve incoming comments on your Dashboard/comments

That is in essence is how the OSS WordPress system works, designed as a collaborative workspace for individual sites aggregated into the class site. You can see how powerful it is when we use the WordPress multi-site system to aggregate everyone’s work and make it available for all to see.

Here are some additional advanced setups for WordPress:

  • Rename Site Title and Tag Line in Settings/General
  • Change Permalink Settings to “post name” in Settings/Permalink
  • Go to Appearance Menu and create a new menu called OSS Header Menu
  • Linkback: Open Links in the left sidebar and type in the URL to your class site (http://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/2015-da9005/), type the name of the class (Media & Performance) in the Link Text and save menu
  • If you are interested in a new theme to to Appearance / Theme and choose a theme. Only those in this list are available within OSS
  • To customize the theme, go to Appearance / Customize: change color palette, header by adding an image from your library or uploading new one (you will probably spend the rest of the semester customizing your theme)

Always refer to the OSS User Manual for additional help. Just click on the “Open Source Studio” button in the upper left hand corner of your site, and then click on User Manual, divided into (1) Virtual Classroom in Adobe Connect; (2) Virtual Studio in WordPress. See the table of contents on the right sidebar.

About the Course

Review the About page, where you will find course essentials, contact information, URLs, grading, rubrics, class participation, etc., all located on the About page.

The Course Syllabus & Project Assignments

I want to be sure that everyone knows how to follow the class Syllabus and Project Assignments. I just want to remind everyone again that in the syllabus, all assignments in a given week of the syllabus refer to the following week.

Note that each week the syllabus is divided into the following sections:

  1. Summary: a short description of the week’s topic and concepts, week number, and dates.
  2. Assignments: the various research and project assignments are listed with links to readings and complete descriptions of all assignments in the “Project Assignments” section.
  3. Lecture Notes: this is where the week’s lecture is written out. Here you will find works that we are studying and you can use the notes for your research critiques.

Note that the assignments refer to the next class with specific due dates indicated.

Each week will be working on the following types of assignments:

  1. Readings: most weeks include one or two readings that will prepare everyone for writing assignments and the study of art projects.
  2. Research Critiques: these are written assignments in which you will research and analyze an art project before it is discussed in class. I will assign specific works for each student and you can refer to my lecture notes to support your research.
  3. Micro-Projects: I have assigned short projects that introduce everyone to various techniques and concepts explored in the course. The micro-projects will help you prepare for your final project at the end of the semester.
  4. Group Projects: There will be two collaborative group projects, one of which will be a new performance work under the direction of visiting artist Annie Abrahams.
  5. Project Hyperessays: these assignments are specifically designed to help each student work through the final project. The three Project Hyperessays (concept, technical realization, conclusion) will help keep projects on track and develop an effective work process.
  6. Final Project: each student will develop and complete a final performance which will be presented at the conclusion of the course. The final project is intended to introduce you to the conceptualization and creation of an original performance work.

Assignment for Next Week

We will conclude by reviewing all assignments for next week so that everyone understands the syllabus format.