Course Description

Art and Technology is a lecture course conceived to provide a context for the development of art and its interrelations with technology. Students explore the definition of multimedia and its evolution toward what is currently known as hypermedia. Special emphasis will be placed on the creation and transformation of technology used in the twentieth century, such as radio, television, computers, the Internet, and networked environments. Developments will be related to historic art movements.

The main objective of this class is to expand the students' creativity through experimental and non-traditional projects. Another important objective is to expand the artistic and technological references the students will be using in their future professional and artistic careers.

Process and Strategy

The class will be divided into two main areas. The first half will be devoted to understanding the evolution of technologies currently used in the Art World.

In the second half we will explore the particularities of eclectic artistic creations: artists, examples, movements, contextualizing the processes in a historical frame.

There will be a different assignment for each class, where the students will apply the concepts presented during the previous session, and a group critique in order to solve any misunderstandings and conflicts.

Readings / assignments / requirements

Required readings:

New Media in Art - Michael Rush, Thames&Hudson

Create your own blogs for the class using blogger.com. In these blogs you will be posting your assignments and comments. Your blogs will be the equivalent of your journal for the class. They will need to be updated 1 day before the class and they will be graded. I will be checking these blogs using turnitin.com in order to track your evolution during the sessions, and also as a way to know that you are reading and exploring all the files I will be presenting. You can post any comments on your blogs, be aware these blogs will be public and accessible to everyone in the class. You are expected to visit and comment on the blog entries of your class mates. If you have your own website, you can install an open source blog and keep your comments in it.

Make sure you check and empty your ut webmail account regularly. We will use Blackboard permanently to post the grades, assignments and and to communicate with the entire class.

Short readings will be distributed throughout the semester. Most of the information will be provided by the teacher or will be found freely online. Critiques will frequently be initiated from various topics covered in the readings. In order to participate effectively you will need to have read the required texts and be able to articulate your responses to them within the context of class discussion and critique. We will watch plenty of excerpts from movies and documentaries during the class that will also be considered as part of the material for the class.

Grading 

There will be several projects throughout the course, including papers, assignments, and others. Each one of them will be a part of the final 80% of the grade. The final project will be 20% of the total grade. If necessary I will do some pop quizes, depending on the students' participation and motivation, and depending on how certain sessions work, I might add an extra work not listed in the syllabus. The grades posted on BlackBoard may not reflect the final grade on SpartanWeb.

Possible last-minute changes

Although unlikely, it is possible that last-minute changes might be made to the dates for all assignments or class meetings, excepting only the final exam. In this unlikely event, I'll make all possible efforts to inform students with sufficient lead-time.

I reserve the right to modify this syllabus for any reason at any time.