Professor: Eduardo
Navas (eduardo@navasse.net)
History of Digital Art is a survey class that offers
participants an opportunity to examine the humanistic aspects of contemporary
digital art. Through readings and direct interaction with digital media and
digital artists, the class will develop an appreciation of the ways in which
the interface between human beings and technology has been historically
constructed and is subject to critical investigation. The goal of the class is
to prepare each student so that she or he may engage with digital media in a
way that is ever more historically and socially relevant.
Students will address the ways in which digital
technologies transform artistic practices such as museum display, the writing
of art criticism, the definition of works of art, changing role of the artist
and the changing space of the art studio. More important, however, by engaging
with digital works of art students will learn to think critically about
technology and its engagement with culture at large. They will be encouraged to
think about the political, economic and social impact of digital technologies.
This humanistic approach to technology makes this course particularly useful to
students of art history, philosophy, comparative literature, art education, and
the visual/plastic arts. A significant portion of the course will be devoted to
the ways in which art on the Internet and digital art in general challenge the
integrity of categories such as race and national identity.
Class will consist of
lectures and discussions of works that are important in the history of digital
art. Students will be assigned
readings that will complement in-class lectures. There will be two major papers, the first around the middle
of the term, and the second at the end.
For each paper students will need to write concisely about works of art
and topics and themes discussed in class throughout the term. Students will be
expected to post reactions to in-class discussions on an Angel forum created
specifically for the class. Forum
postings will be considered part of your class participation.
Learning Outcomes:
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.
Internet Art by Rachel Greene
Digital Art by Christiane Paul
The Postmodern
Condition: A Report on Knowledge
by Jean-Francois Lyotard
Available in the
bookstore.
Recommended:
New Media Art by Mark Tribe & Reena Jana
Available online at https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/New+Media+Art
Digital Culture by Charlie Gere
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, 2:15 to 4:15 by Appointment.
Semester Schedule
Check Angel for
PDFs as noted in the schedule below.
Also make sure to purchase the required books when they become available
at the university bookstore. Also,
there will be more readings in additions to the basic ones below. Check
Syllabus link on Angel for updated reading materials.
Week 1:
Introduction | Brief
overview of the History of Digital Art
Lecture on Modernism,
Postmodernism and New Media
Week 2:
Thursday, January
17, 2013
Lesson online
Complete assigned
reading plus online material available on Angel and answer and discuss
questions available on Angel Forum for the readings below
Read:
David Hopkins, ³The
Politics of Modernism: Abstract Expressionism and the European Informel,² After
Modern Art: 1945 2000, pp. 5 34 (PDF)
David Hopkins,
³Postmodernism: Theory and Practice in the 1980s,² After Modern Art: 1945
2000, pp. 197 231 (PDF)
Fredric Jameson ³Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic
of Late Capitalism,² (PDF)
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, January 18, to
Wednesday, January 23, 2013.
Week 3:
Thursday, January
24, 2013
Read:
Internet Art, ³Introduction,² pp. 8 28
Digital Art, ³Introduction,² pp. 7 25
(PDFs available on
Angel until you acquire your own copy)
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, January 25, to
Wednesday, January 30, 2013.
Week 4:
Read:
Jean Francois Lyotard,
The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, pp.vii - 67
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, February 1, to
Wednesday, February 6, 2013.
Week 5:
Finish discussing
Fredric Jameson and Jean-Francois Lyotard.
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, February 8, to
Wednesday, February 13, 2013.
Week 6:
Thursday, February
14, 2013
Bily Kluver, ³Four
Selections by Experiments in Art and Technology,² in The New Media Reader, pp. 211 226 (PDF)
Vannevar Bush, ³As we
May Think² in the New Media Reader,
pp. 35 48 (PDF)
Read:
Bily Kluver, ³Four
Selections by Experiments in Art and Technology,² in The New Media Reader, pp. 211 226 (PDF)
Vannevar Bush, ³As we
May Think² in the New Media Reader,
pp. 35 48 (PDF)
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, February 15, to
Wednesday, February 20, 2013.
Week 7:
Thursday, February
21, 2013
Midterm Essay
Released
Read:
Internet Art, chapter 1: 31 72
Digital Art: Chapter 1: 27 65
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Monday, March, 11 to Wednesday,
March 13, 2013.
Week 8:
Thursday, February
28, 2013
Midterm Essay Due
Lecture on Media
Art: Postmodernism and Posthumanism
Week 9:
Thursday, March 7,
2013
Spring Break
Week 10:
Read:
Internet Art,
Chapter 2: ³Isolating Elements,² 73 116
Digital Art, Chapter 2: ³Digital Technologies,² 67 138
Answer questions available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, March 15 to Wednesday, March 20, 2013.
Week 11:
Thursday, March
21, 2013
Read:
Jean Baudrillard
³Precession of Simulacra² (PDF)
Jean-Francois Lyotard
³What is the Postmodern?² The Postmodern Condition, pp. 71 82
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, March 20 to Wednesday,
March 28, 2013.
Week 12:
Read:
Internet Art, Chapter 3, ³Themes in Internet Art,² 119 168
Week 13:
Thursday, April 4,
2013
Final Essay
Guidelines Released
Read:
Internet Art, Chapter 4, ³Art for Networks,² 173 - 212
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, April 4 to
Wednesday, April 10, 2013.
Week 14:
Thursday, April
11, 2013
Read:
³Introduction² and
Cartographic Imaginaries,² from Latin American Identity in Online Cultural
Production, by Claire Taylor and Thea Pitman
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, April 12 to
Wednesday, April 17, 2013.
Week 15:
Read:
Digital Art,
Chapter 3, ³Themes in Digital Art,² 139 - 246
Answer questions
available on Angel. Discussion takes place from Friday, April 19 to
Wednesday, April 16, 2013.
Week 16:
Thursday, April
25, 2013
Final Lecture
Week 17:
Final Essay due