Spring 2019 Digital Studio: Distribution and Intervention
Professor: Margaretha Haughwout | Office: Little Hall 317 | Office Hours: Tues 3:30-5:30, Thursday 3:30p-4:30p (or by appt.) | Email: mhaughwout at colgate dot edu
Basics:
Meeting Time and Place:
Class: Tuesday & Thursday 9:20-11:10a, Little Hall Room 113 or Little Hall Room 208
Digital Connections:
Course website:http://beforebefore.net/digitalstudio/s19/
Tumblr site: https://digitalstudiospring19.tumblr.com/
Slack: digitalstudio2019.slack.com
skitch (free)
html editor (free - crimson editor is a good free one for windows try textmate or Sublime Text)
ftp client like filezilla (free)
Course Description
An introduction to digital art that covers a selection of digital art practices, including reproducible art, networked and telematic art, kits, multiples, fabrication, DIY, and interventionist practices. Students work with digital tools such as vector and raster programs, html and css, and fabrication to produce and distribute art that can operate inside and outside the gallery. The internet, for instance, is considered as a distribution platform and as a potential exhibition space. In working with existing media and technology such as surveillance, students employ "creative misuse" to make playful, humorous, and poignant contemporary artworks. Students are encouraged to explore concepts and programs beyond the basics; group and individual projects will require both rigorous concept development and proficiency in technology.
We consider these topics through creative projects, discussions, readings and studio time.
Objectives
To understand digital practice in relation to networks ... to understand some of the political, participatory, and social contexts for digital practice... understand the kinds of problems digital art and new media address, expose, complicate and solve ... seeing 21st-century art practice less as a thing & more as a process... acquire creative skills with code, fabrication, creative misuse, print, and data ... complicate the division between art and logic... connect a digital practice to relationships, networks, and systems beyond the screen ...
Assignment Descriptions & Grade Breakdown
/participation 17%. Your participation grade covers your attendance and your upbeat, dynamic engagement in classes and class activities. Major points for actively referring to specific excerpts from that week's reading! If you are generally quiet in class, or otherwise concerned about how I might perceive your engagement, come see me so we can strategize your participation so that it is comfortable yet challenging to you, and trackable for me.
Another note on participation: Learning digital tools and processes can be hard and sometimes intimidating. We have to ask questions, and yet for some reason we are scared to (why?). In this class I will reward you if you keep asking questions until you get it, and those of you who are eager to help your peers. We often need to hear something explained in a different way in order to understand.
A1. 15% Hello World!
A2. 15% Subvert a Site/ News Theater.
A3. 15% Seeding Action
A4. 20% Choose a project from a list of Options
A1-3 revision. 5% Revision A1, A2, or A3 based on the class crits.
A6. 13% Digital Response
We will use Tumblr in this class to share our work with one another, and to post 5 reading responses. Reading responses are due by the Friday after the reading is due, by 11:59p. Reading responses can be both visual and/or written. It must be clear that the text has been read; if the primary response is through visual material, consider adding bullet points that connect the image to the reading so it is clear your are grappling with the text. You can also upload audio recordings.
https://studioart100spring19.tumblr.com/ You may only submit one response a week, so budget your responses throughout the semester so that you aren't scrambling to complete your responses the last few weeks of class. Submit the Friday after the reading is due, by 11:59p.
Grading Rubric:
Conceptual: A good concept is a new perspective on a problem, a creative solution to a problem, and/or a deepening and complication of a problem. Good conceptual work draws from readings, class conversations and lectures, political savvy, and profound observation. In this course, try and look at things differently than usual, and explore what is means to be comfortably uncomfortable and uncomfortably comfortable. Cultivate a curiosity that makes you brim with ideas.
Technical: The technical is the steps we take to accomplish our vision or goal or concept. In this class we will spend a lot of time with code and other digital tools, which require a lot of attention to step by step processes -- this attention will impact your grade positively. Care, effort, attention and awareness of process are qualities of the technical.
Perceptual: Understanding formal visual aesthetics, social form, interactive aesthetics, and strategies for audience engagement with artworks are a part of this course. The care that you put into your work in the finishing stages is essential and reflects the level of importance you give to your work.
A -- Excellent. Student exhibits exemplary conceptual, perceptual and technical ability with assignments, and in class. Student demonstrates a close engagement with artworks and readings reviewed in class. All work is lucid and engaging.
B -- Good. Student completes assignments, and demonstrates a creative grasp of most of the main aspects of each lesson, but not all. Is able to express ideas well.
C -- Satisfactory. Student completes the assignment but may lack enthusiasm or drive to push the work into a detailed conceptual or perceptual space. Student does not demonstrate knowledge of readings, lectures or other visual material. Problems exist in student's work, or the work is underdeveloped.
D -- Unsatisfactory. Student does not complete the work as assigned. Substantial problems exist in student's work.
F -- Fail. Student does not submit work, or work is below unsatisfactory level.
Readings:
The readings for this course are made available through the course website or handouts
Don't forget to hit the Resources page frequently for technical tutorials, howtos, etc.
Requirements, Policies, and Thoughts on being 'present'
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- You are required to attend the Picker Gallery Opening on January 24th, Prof. Brynn Hatton's talk, "Not Here to be 'Recognised': Vietnam, Aboriginal Black Power, and the Australian State" on Feb 06; Ken Landauer's talk "Functure" on March 06; Digital Futures on March 27; Gregory Shollete and Chloë Bass' talk "Art as Social Action" on March 28th; some part of Grafters X Change: Branches and Networks on March 29th and 30th (10-4 each day); One of the Paul Catanese "Century of Progress/Sleep" performances (April 4, 5 & 6, 700 pm, April 6, 200 pm matinee, Ho Tung Visualization Lab, Ho Science Center, Room 401; Margaretha Haughwout's "Sowing Against Systems, Branches vs Networks, Unearthing Slowness" on April 17th; Ara Merjian's "Prehistory, Primitivism, and the Aesthetics of 'Contamination': Pier Paolo Pasolini and Arte Povera" on May 01. All times are 4:30 in Golden Auditorium unless otherwise specified
- We will have one required field trip to Mass MoCA, date TBA in Week 1. We will leave campus at 8:00am and return in the evening.
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- Class attendance is mandatory. 3 unexcused absences will result in a 10% reduction of your overall grade. 6 missed classes will result in a fail. 3 lates equal one absence.
- We will frequently use digital devices in this class, which means the temptation for distraction will be high for all of us. At the same time, we will often be learning technical processes that require our full attention in order to master. Use the SelfControl app by Steve Lampert to limit possible distractions. If I see social media or phones in active use 3 times during the semester, this counts as an absence, which is sad times. I will also begin to collect phones at the beginning of class.
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- If your life takes a difficult turn, seek out resources and be proactive. Things only become more difficult if skipping classes becomes the operative means of coping. Communication is key. - If you are an athlete, be organized and communicate. Give each of your professors a schedule at the start of the term, and discuss how any absences will be addressed.
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Learning and Support
We all learn in our own ways. While many different kinds of engagement with the course material are required, some of us will move through this class more conceptually, some more perceptually, others more technically, still others more rationally. Some will process the material in solitary ways, while others may be quite vocal. I expect to see visual, auditory, and linear learners. Please talk to me as soon as you can about the ways I can support your learning modes. If you do not have a documented disability, but feel you need some help, do remember that the Center for Learning, Teaching and Research is available to you (http://www.colgate.edu/centers-and-institutes/center-for-learning-teaching-and-research). Your success in this class is important to me.
Email Netiquette
Netiquette, Noun: 1. The social code of network communication. 2. The social and moral code of the internet based on the human condition and Golden Rule of Netiquette. 3. A philosophy of effective internet communication that utilizes common conventions and norms as a guide for rules and standards.
In your subject header, include a couple of words about your question/comment -- ie:
subject: Digital Studio assignment question
Allow for a 24 hour response time from the professor (if it is urgent, please put URGENT in the subject header for quicker response time)
One Other Thing
This syllabus is subject to change at the professor's discretion.