John Slepian

It could be said that time-based media is the default art medium of the 21st Century. Screens and projections are everywhere from cell phones to the sides of buildings, video installation has become one of the most prominent media in museum and gallery exhibitions, performance art is now so established that performance artists like Marina Abramovic have museum filling retrospectives, and interactivity, electronic and otherwise, has become commonplace even in commercial galleries. Throughout this course, we will study not only the history of time-based media as a gallery art form, but also some of its most important themes. During the semester students will create a series of video, installation and performance works. This is a critique focused rather than technical instruction based class. Prerequisite: Some experience with basic video production and editing tools (your phone and iMovie are fine) and at least one studio art course in any medium.

Proceeding from the premise that the ideas behind a successful artwork should be intimately related to its materials, this course will investigate three of the most significant characteristics of digital media. We will work with a wide variety of tools that allow for the creation and manipulation of various media, including bitmap and vector images, 2D animation, and sound. Students will create a series of conceptually based digital artworks, culminating in an interactive multimedia final project. Readings will include essays by diverse authors such as Richard Wagner, Walter Benjamin, Norbert Weiner and Nam June Paik.

The contemporary practice of art is less and less dependent on any particular disciplinary skill. Nonetheless, making art is very much still a rigorous process. It depends on highly developed critical, sensory and communicative skills. This studio art course is an introduction to some of the basic questions a contemporary artist must answer: What rules will guide the making of my work? What forms and materials will be best for what I wish to express? How can my work metaphorically embody my ideas? We will answer these questions and more through a series of collaborative and individual projects, readings and viewings, and frequent group critiques--the process of critique itself being one of the foundations of a successful art practice. Some familiarity with an art medium could be helpful, but is not necessary.