VA 40 / ICAM 40
Introduction to Computing in the Arts
Winter 2004
Professor Adriene Jenik                 ajenik@ucsd.edu
Lecture: Mondays  5-6:50 PM (don't be late!)            Center Hall 214
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-3:30pm,   Studio 601 Visual Arts Facility (858) 822-2059

Teaching Assistants:
Matt Hope    mhope@ucsd.edu        Friday sections
Jorge Nava    genava@ucsd.edu        Wednesday sections
Joe Winter    jswinter@ucsd.edu        Thursday sections

Lab sections: AP&M B349
W    9-10:50am  &  11am-12:50pm
Th   9:30-11:20am  &  11:30am-1:20pm
F     9-10:50am  & 11am-12:50pm

Class Resource Web Page (COMING SOON!)

Course Discussion list (for online participation/dialogue)
http://webboard.ucsd.edu

COURSE OVERVIEW
Introduction to Computing in the Arts consists of  lectures and labs designed to immerse the student in the dynamic field of computing arts. The course seeks to provide the student with a historical, theoretical, aesthetic, conceptual and technical introduction to the challenges presented by the relatively recent collision of art, culture and computing power.

Thoughout the quarter, we will view a broad range of contemporary and historical work by artists who use the computer as subject matter, production tool and artistic medium (sometimes all at once). Lectures are organized around principle areas of inquiry and practice in the field and are intended to provide a framework for considering a wide range of digital and electronic artmaking. During weekly labs, students will be introduced to and have access to software and hardware tools and will be challenged to develop their creative and technical skills through the creation of art projects. Also during labs, students will discuss the required readings and publicly present and critique their art projects.

Inside and outside of class you will see and interact with artwork on CD-ROM, the Web and videos as well as other cultural artifacts of the digital age, from computer console games to online chat rooms.

CLASS REQUIREMENTS and EVALUATION
1. Art projects
        Project 1 = 10%
        Project 2 = 20%
        Project 3 = 20%
2. Final exam 25%
3. reading/participation in discussion (in lab and on-line) 15%
4. Attendance (lecture and lab) 10%

A (91-100) = excellent, B (81-90) =above average, C (71-80) =average, D (61-70)=below average, F (60 & below) =unacceptable

GRADING POLICY AND GENERAL RULES
All assignments must be turned in on time at the beginning of section. Failure to complete work on due date will result in a full letter grade reduction for each subsequent class in which project is not turned in. Final projects must be turned in on time to receive credit. No late final projects will be accepted. There is no make-up time for the final exam.

ATTENDANCE
In the case of an excused absence, student will provide a written excuse or a doctor's note. Student will be allowed one unexcused absence for a lecture and one for a lab during the quarter. After this limit, each unexcused absence will automatically lower your grade one half a letter grade. During lecture break, students must sign attendance sheet in order to receive attendance credit.

DISCLAIMER
In this class I reserve the right to show a broad range of course materials, some of which assume the audience to be adult in age and demeanor. Should you at any time in the course of the class feel offended by something you have seen or heard, we would appreciate you staying to be part of a dialogue. If you feel that you cannot stay, remove yourself from the classroom as discretely as possible. You may be asked to report on your response.

REQUIRED MATERIALS
backup media as required for backing up projects.

REQUIRED TEXT
DIGITAL ART by Christiane Paul, (2003 Thames and Hudson Ltd. London), 224pps
Additional On-line readings through hyperlinks on syllabus (below)
OPTIONAL TEXTS
Additional On-line readings through hyperlinks on syllabus (below)

ON-LINE JOURNALS & LISTSERVES TO SUBSCRIBE TO OR SURF
Rhizome
Telepolis
Ctheory
Nettime
RunMe

RECOMMENDED Art Sites
Zonezero
the Remedi Project
turbulence
ArtPort (Whitney Museum)
HorizonZero

Online Exhibition Archives
Beyond Interface
shockoftheview
Art Entertainment Network
010101
Digibodies

Net Animations/Design:
SuperBad
SiteSakamoto
PotatoLand
Omma

*If you have sites you think should be added to the above list, please pass them on to me so I can share them with the class



Course Schedule
Please note: this schedule is subject to revision and may be modified during the quarter.
Reading and viewing assignments are listed on date they are due.

*Works listed under "Screening/Surfing" followed by an asterisk means they are available for viewing in the Art and Architecture section of the Geisel Library.


Week 1. 01/05 : Introduction

Intro to me
Intro to you
Intro to course

Screening:
Video: The Machine that Changed the World
The Machine that Changed the World: Giant Brains

History of Computers
Timeline of Events in Computer History
Historic computer images
The Virtual museum of Computing

Computer Access/Cartographies:
Digital Divide Network
Mapping the Internet


Week 2. 01/12:  hypertext to net.art

Reading
Required:
DIGITAL ART by Christiane Paul, pages 66 - 124

Optional:
Introduction to net.art by Alexei Shulgin and Nathalie Bookchin
Why Have there been no great Net Artists? by Steve Dietz
Net.art in the Age of Digital Reproduction by David Ross
Interview with Jodi

Screening/Surfing
General Internet Information
A Beginners Guide to HTML
HTML Quick Reference

Hypertext, Hypermedia, & net.art
Mark Amerika, Hypertextual Consciousness 1.0
World's Largest Collaborative Sentence
Alexei Shulgin - Form Art and Others
Olia lialina, My Boyfriend came home from the War
Vuk Cosic, History of Art for Airports
Heath Bunting,readme.html_own, be owned or remain invisible
Lev Manovich, Little Movies
Shelley Jackson, A Patchwork Girl*
How to be an Internet Artist
Young Hae Chang
Hell.com
jodi.org

Archives & journals
Beehive
ebr - Electronic Book Review
revista electronica
Netartistas Latinoamericanos
Women's new media art gallery
 

Project 1: Hypertext artwork
due the week of 01/19 during lab section


Week 3. 01/19:
Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday - NO LECTURE (Home or Lab study)


Week 4. 01/26: Some Art/Computing History

Reading
Required:
DIGITAL ART by Christiane Paul, pages 7-65
Vannevar Bush, As We May Think (1945)

Optional:
Interview with Ellen Ullman
Grahame Weinbren, "The Digital Revolution is a Revolution of Random Access"

Screening/Surfing:
SIGGRAPH Early Computer Animation
SLIDES - Digital Visions
Grahame Weinbren, "Sonata"
Billy Kluver and Robert Rauschenberg, EXPERIMENTS in ART & TECHNOLOGY (E.A.T.)

!!!EXTRA CREDIT!!!
Attend at least one session or performance of POWERING UP/POWERING DOWN Festival
and write a thoughtful review (1-2 pages typed)
schedule of events:
http://www.teknikaradica.org/


Week 5. 02/02 - Telepresence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and other Immersive Environments

Reading
Required:
DIGITAL ART by Christiane Paul, pages 125-132 and pages 154-164

Optional:
Julian Dibbell, "Rape in Cyberspace"
Sandy Stone, Will the Real Body Please Stand Up?

Screening/Surfing
Telepresence Research, Inc.
The Telegarden
Jeffrey Shaw, ZKM video
Sheldon Brown, Mi Casa es Su Casa
Myron Krueger, "VideoPlace"
Char Davies' "OSMOSE"
MAUVE DESERT - by Adriene Jenik
RTMark
Brody Condon - Chinatown
Thomas Walizcy animations: The Garden, The Forest
Catherine IKAM - Portraits
Luc Courchesne - vision systems
Simon Penny (CAVE)
M.I.T. - Augmented Reality
Tamiko Thiel, Beyond Manzanar
Rebecca Allen, Bush Soul
Marko Peljan, Polar
Ageuda Simo

Project 2 - Virtual Environments
due the week of 2/16 during lab section


Week 6. 02/09: Computers & Music & Sound

Reading
Required:
DIGITAL ART by Christiane Paul, pages 132-137
John Cage quotes

Screening/Surfing:
Negativland
Modulations*
Craig Baldwin, Sonic Outlaws*
Ding An Sich, Cantos
John Klima, Glassbead
Noodle by Josh Portway
Beth Coleman
FreeRadio San Diego

Histories
Electronic Music Timeline 1
More Electronic Music Links

Institutions
CRCA
IRCAM
CNMAT

Contemporary Inventors/Composers
Miller Puckette, MAX and PD
Peter Otto, SPAT
David Rokeby The Very Nervous System
George E. Lewis
Ben Rubin, Listening Post
Golan Levin, Telesymphony
Pamela Z
Toshio Iwai
George Sarah

Popular Pioneers
Laurie Anderson, Puppet Motel*
Brian Eno
Public Enemy
djspooky.com

Distribution
MP3
i-Tunes
Boombox (go through On the Air)
RIAA  = Recording Industry Association of America
napster.com


Week 7. 02/16:
Presidents' Day - NO LECTURE (home study or lab)

AESTHETICS OF THE DATABASE , THE ALGORITHM & THE CODE
self-exploration of the following artists:

Jennifer & Kevin McCoy, Every Shot, Every Episode
George Legrady, Pocketful of Memories
Victoria Vesna, Bodies, Inc.
Perry Hoberman, BarCode Hotel
Lev Manovich, Soft Cinema
John Simon, Jr.
John Maeda
Amy Alexander
Mark Daggett, browsers
Lisa Jevbratt, 1:1
Mark Napier, Flag
Matthew Fuller


Week 8. 02/23: Networked Conceptions of Performance

Reading
Required:
DIGITAL ART by Christiane Paul, pages 165-173, and pages 189-195

Optional:
Scott Rosenberg, "Clicking for Godot"
Simon Frith, "LIVE! from my bedroom"

Screening/Surfing
Desktop Theater
Stelarc - Ping Body Performance
The Palace
Plaintext Players
Blasttheory - Desert Rain
SEEMEN
Survival Research Laboratories
Naomi Spellman, Jeff Knowlton
Keith Obadike
Cinema Performance
Electronic Disturbance Theater
Quake Friends
SnapMeat
Coco Fusco & Ricardo Dominguez, Dolores
Surveillance Cam Players
Guillermo Gomez-Pena

Institutions/Archives
Franklin Furnace
Digital Performance Archive
 


Week 9. 03/01: The Art of Play

Reading
Required:
DIGITAL ART by Christiane Paul, pages 196-211

Optional:
Mary Flanagan, The Sky is Falling: Why are Virtual Worlds so Desolate?
Game Theory
Ann Marie Schneider, Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons?
Amy Jo Kim, Ritual Reality: Social Design for Online Gaming Environments
Rhizome, Interview with Brody Condon

Screening/Surfing:
c-level, Tekken Torture Tournament,
Anne-Marie Schleiner, Madame Polly
Brody Condon & Anne-Marie Schleiner, Velvet-Strike
John Klima, Tierra
BlastTheory
Purple Moon, "Rockett's First Day of School"*
Toshio Iwaii, "Compositions on the Table"
Cory Arcangel
Natalie Bookshin, The Intruder
Sissyfight 2000
BabyWorld
Josephine Starrs & Leon Cmielewski, Dream Kitchen
Eddo Stern, Summons to Surrender
Eddo Stern, Shiek Attack*
Bang Bang (you're not dead?)
Blacklash
Alex Dragulescu, Suspended Gardens
memebots
 // LUCKYKISS_XXX > adult kisekae ningyou sampling ^_^
Lara Croft Stripped Bare

Industry Games
Myst*
Riven*
Bad Mojo*
TombRaider
Zelda
Tekkan
Ultima Online
Everquest
HalfLife
The Sims

Gaming Exhibitions/Archives/Resources
gameart SWITCH issue
SHIFT_CONTROL
GamaSutra

Final Project: Collaborative Final Project
due the week of 03/07 during lab section


Week 10. 03/07:  Artists Using Innovations in Science & Engineering as subject, tool, medium

Reading
Required:
DIGITAL ART by Christiane Paul, pages 212-end

Optional:
Politics of the Artificial by Victor Margolin
emergence: an active essay

Screening/Surfing
ActiveCampus
Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau projects
LifeSpacies
Creature Labs
Eduardo Kac
Heatseeking by Jordan Crandall
Adrienne Wortzel
Ken Feingold
Rachel Mayeri
Leah Gilliam
Critical Art Ensemble
Alex Galloway, Carnivore
Natalie Jerimijenko, One Trees, Feral Pets
Chris Csikszentmihalyi, DJ I-ROBOT
Marko Peljhan, MAKROLAB

Exhibitions/Archives
Paradise Now
ARS ELECTRONICA 99: LifeScience

Institutions
MIT Media Lab Research
CAL-IT2


 Final Exam: Thursday,  March 18, 7-10pm CH214
           bring 2-3 blue books & writing implement


Thank you for your participation and enthusiasm toward learning!