Photoshop Project

This project is based on the theme of Cyborgs. For our purposes, this can be thought of as anything that fuses the organic with the technological.

You will illustrate/comment on/otherwise refer to some manifestation of this cyborg theme by creating Photoshop collages that combine multiple image sources into a single composition. These image elements may be appropriated, or created by you, or any combination of the two. Take good advantage of the scanner and digital cameras.

Some details: collages should should be done at 300 DPI, at least 8x10" so that they can be printed out. Depending on your experience level with Photoshop, there is a sliding scale of how much I will expect from you, based on how you rated yourself in the survey. If you are a total beginner who rated yourself "1", I will expect only a single collage from you. If you rated yourself higher, you will need to create a series of images, with the minimum number corresponding to your self-rating number.

Some further inspiration can be found here.

Class Presentation

Each student will give a presentation in class of an artist who works with technology. You should research your subject both on the web and at the Flaxman Library. Presentations should be 5 - 10 minutes long, and should focus on 3 or 4 specific works of art by that artist. Please have images prepared to illustrate your presentation, either in the form of websites you have bookmarked or images that you have scanned and saved on CD or the class server. Some questions to consider:

• What tools or materials does the artist use?
• What are the main themes of the artist's work?
• What is unique or particularly interesting about the work?
• What political, theoretical, or social ideas does the artist draw upon?
• How do the artists themselves describe their work? Do you agree with that viewpoint?
• Does the artist successfully achieve what they are trying to do?

You may choose an artist from the list below, or you are welcome to present an artist of your own choosing, as long as their work has a significant relationship to technology. When you have selected your subject, please email me to reserve that person.

• Jeffrey Shaw
• Char Davies
• Eduardo Kac
• Zoe Beloff
• Tiffany Holmes
• Nam June Paik
• Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
• David Rokeby
• Camille Utterback
• Toni Dove
• Stelarc
• Jason Salavan
• Institute for Applied Autonomy
• Golan Levin
• John Klima
• Paul Catanese
• Ken Rinaldo
• Mark Napier

2nd Project - Hypertext/Dreamweaver

For this project, you will create a hyper-narrative on the web, with content that in some way draws on your own life experience.

Note that this is a very open-ended conceptual guideline: your "narrative" may be experimental or unconventional, and the connection to your own biography may be fictionalized, altered or abstracted. Think about interesting non-linear ways to tell a story - think of Sunshine69's use of characters, contents of pockets, locations, and the calendar. Also, since we are working from a visual arts context, your imaginitive use of images will be important.

Projects should comprise a minimum of 12 web pages, linked together.