Penn State University – School of Visual Arts

Fall 2016

ART 315 New Media Art: New Media Studio

Professor: Eduardo Navas (ean13@psu.edu)

Mondays and Wednesdays 2:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Office Hours: Mondays and Wedsnesdays , 10 AM – 11 AM, 206 Arts Cottage

 

Course Description

This is a studio art class that focuses on creating, authoring, exhibiting, and critically evaluating interactive multimedia artworks. The course explores experimental uses of new media in the visual arts with emphasis on integrating digital media with current studio practices in two-, three-, and four-dimensional art. In addition to the actual creation of new media artworks, the course will engage students in research methods to advance their skills in new media and help them to develop an understanding of the critical evaluation and assessment of new media artworks.

 

This course will explore the nature and potential of digital art through lectures, readings, demonstrations, studio practice, and critiques. Assignments will cover a range of digital multimedia applications in sound, image, motion, interactivity, interface design, and media authoring.

 

The course will culminate in a final multimedia authored project for presentation.

 

Class Structure

Class sections for the most part will be divided as follows: on Mondays, class will consist of discussion and lectures on material being researched for weekly and major projects. On Wednesdays, class will be a day of work and research. These activities may swap from week to week depending on holidays and other events that may come up. But for the most part, there should be ample lab time throughout the course. Check the syllabus for details as well as the weekly webpage resource which will be available online at the beginning of class. Students will be enhancing their technical skills according to the focus they choose for each of the four projects, but will be expected to gain basic skills in all the software and development tools discussed throuhgout the course. Students will meet with the instructor individually as needed. The students will turn in a total of four major projects.

 

 

Learning Outcomes:

  1. To understand how form and content are combined to communicate a message.
  2. To understand the basic history and theory that is relevant to art and visual culture.
  3. To acquire a basic understanding of conceptual models important in visual culture and especially new media.
  4. To gain practical knowledge of the different tools used for art practice in new media and their relation to previous developments.
  5. To produce critically engaged projects.

 

A Note on Plagiarism

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. A student who commits plagiarism will be reported to the office of the visual arts. The student¹s behavior will be taken very seriously and dealt with according to the guidelines provided by Penn State University – School of Visual Arts. To avoid plagiarism, please cite your sources when appropriate.

 

Academic Integrity Statement

University Policies and Rules Guidelines states that academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner. Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this principle. Consistent with this expectation, the University's Code of Conduct states that all students should act with personal integrity, respect other students' dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. Academic integrity includes a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others.

 

Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to acts such as cheating on exams or assignments; plagiarizing the words or ideas of another; fabricating information or citations; facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others; claiming authorship of work done by another person; submitting work completed in previous classes; and/or submitting the same work to multiple classes in which a student is enrolled simultaneously.

 

Accessibility Statement

Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. Every Penn State campus has an office for students with disabilities. The Office for Disability Services (ODS) Web site provides contact information for every Penn State campus: http://equity.psu.edu/ods/dcl. For further information, please visit the Office for Disability Services Web site: http://equity.psu.edu/ods.

 

In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, you must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation: http://equity.psu.edu/ods/guidelines. If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campus¹s disability services office will provide you with an accommodation letter. Please share this letter with your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early in your courses as possible. You must follow this process for every semester that you request accommodations.

 

Safety Information

Students in the School of Visual Arts may find themselves working in the shop or in their studios or classrooms using a variety of power and hand held equipment, which may cause injury. Students should use the shop only after having received an orientation in the use of such equipment and when supervised by faculty or shop personnel. Should any injuries occur, in the shop, studios, or classrooms in the School of Visual Arts please report them to Matt Olson, Shop Supervisor, Room 108-A Visual Arts Building, Phone: 814-865-3962, email: mjo5165@psu.edu.

 

 

Required Reading

Available at the bookstore:

Crow, David. Visible Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics in the Visual Arts. New York: Bloomsburry, 2016.

 

 

Suggested Reading

Not available at the bookstore:

Lupton, Ellen. Thinking with Type. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.

 

 

Course Requirements

Please note that final grades are dependent upon consistent performance in all course

requirements.

 

Grading

 

 

Total 100%

 

Grade Scale

Letter grade assignments are as follows:

 

 

Attendance

 

Office hours: Tuesdays, 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM.

 

Semester Schedule

Note that the class includes a series of short exercises, which are considered part of class participation. These exercises are designed to complement the successful completion of your projects. Lectures on history and theory will take place according to the students¹ needs to gain practical knowledge from week to week.

 

Week 1:

Monday, August 22, 2016

 

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

 

 

Week 2:

Monday, August 29, 2016

 

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Lab day

 

 

Week 3:

Monday, September 5, 2016

Labor Day, No Class

 

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

 

 

Week 4:

Monday, September 12, 2016

 

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

·       DUE: First class project | In-class critique

 

 

Week 5:

Monday, September 19, 2016

 

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Lab Day

 

 

Week 6:

Monday, September 26, 2016

 

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

 

 

Week 7:

Monday, October 3, 2016

 

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

 

 

Week 8:

Monday, October 10, 2016

 

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

 

 

Week 9:

Monday, October 17, 2016

 

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

 

Week 10:

Monday, October 24, 2016

·       Weekly Assignment critiqued

·       Begin online discussion of Crow¹s ³Chapter 3: Reading the Sign²

 

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

 

 

Week 11:

Monday, October 31, 2016

 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

 

 

Week 12:

Monday, November 7, 2016

 

 

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

 

 

Week 13:

Monday, November 14, 2016

 

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

 

 

Week 14:

Monday, November 21 2016

Thanksgiving

 

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Thanksgiving

 

 

Week 15:

Monday, November 28, 2016

 

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

 

 

Week 16:

Monday, December 5, 2016

 

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

 

 

Week 17:

December 12, 2016