Fundamentals of Art and Technology

Wed 9-12/1-4
112 S. Michigan Room 714

About the Course:
The Digital Arts half of this course is intended as an introduction to multimedia art making. Students will gain hands-on experience with common software tools, as well as becoming familiar with concepts particular to new media art.
The course will be divided into three units:
- Digital Reality will focus on using Adobe Photoshop as a tool to augment/distort/recombine visual documents
- Hyper-Narratives will explore Internet art making and non-linear approaches to narrative
- Interactive Interfaces will explore the possibilities of interactive art that is controlled by the viewer, as well as multimedia work that integrates images, sounds, and video.

Assignments:
Each of the three units will have a project. Although there will be opportunities for studio time during some class meetings, these projects are expected to be finished, significant pieces which will require production time outside of class. Projects will be critiqued in class.

In addition to the main projects, there will be “sketches” or exercises to be completed during class in order to learn to use the various software tools.

Some classes will have assigned readings which we will discuss as a group. Please do the reading so you don’t embarrass yourself when asked to comment on the material during discussion.

Lastly, each student will give a short presentation on an artist who works with technology. I will provide a list of suggested artists, although you may choose your own artists who are not on the list. Presentations should be 5-10 minutes in length.