Penn State University - School of Visual Arts
Fall 2015
A&A 211Y: Introduction to Digital Art and Design Criticism
Professor: Eduardo Navas (ean13@psu.edu)

Mondays & Wednesdays 9 AM - 11 AM

Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 12 - 1 PM, 206 Arts Cottage
Please contact at: ean13@psu.edu

Syllabus:
Online
PDF

Project 1: Analysis of new media art/design project 25%
Project 2: Analysis of second new media art/design project 30%
Project 3:Production of new media art/design project (by students) 35%

Research Methodology

 

ASSIGNMENTS WEEKLY SITES

Week 17

December 16, 2015
Due: Final Project.

 


Week 16
Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Project 3 in class presentation, Part 2 | Make adjustments to final project and prepare for final submission, due on December 16.

Monday, December 7, 2015
Due: Project 3, Production of new media art/design project (by students), 35% | In class Presentation, part 1

 


Week 15

Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Lab day work on final project

Monday, November 30, 2015
Read and be ready to discuss:
Special Talk by Joseph Julian | Eduardo Navas, "The New Aesthetic and The Framework of Culture," Media N Journal, http://median.s151960.gridserver.com/?page_id=93

 


Week 14

Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Thanksgiving

Monday, November 23 2015
Thanksgiving

 


Week 13

Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Due: Proposal for Final project
Lab day work on Project 3 | Post comments on Angel forums

 

Monday, November 16, 2015
Due: Third Weekly Assignment | In class critique of Assignment


Week 12

Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Lab day, work on Third Weekly Assignment due on Monday, November 16 | Post on Angel forums.

 

Monday, November 9, 2015

Read and be ready to discuss:
Raymond Williams, "Isms," pp.125, "Liberal," pp. 130 -132, "Materialism," pp. 146 - 149, "Media," 151 - 152 | Eduardo Navas, "Electronic Literature and the Mashup of Analog and Digital Code," Dichtung Digital: http://www.dichtung-digital.org/2010/navas/navas.htm | Go over selected works of media art and design.

 


Week 11

Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Read and be ready to discuss:
Raymond Williams, "Hegemony," pp. 99 - 100, "History," pp. 101 - 102, "Individual," pp. 114 - 118, "Industry," 118 - 120 | Roland Barthes, "The Third Meaning" (PDF) | Go over selected works of media art and design.


Monday, November 2, 2015
Guidelines for Project 3 released: Production of new media art/design project (by students) In class discussion of material from October 28 | Lab day, work on Third Weekly Assignment due on Monday, November 16 | Giorgio Agamben, "What is an Apparatus," (PDF) | Post on Angel forums.

 


Week 10

Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Third Weekly Assignment released, due on Monday, November 16
Read and be ready to discuss:
Discussion for this session to take place online. Questions on the material will be posted on a forum before class begins. You can then take the class time to respond to the questions.
Raymond Williams, "Expert," pp. 86 "Exploitation," pp. 86 - 87, "Fiction" pp. 90 - 92, "Genius," pp. 98 - 99, "Labour," pp. 127 - 130 | Go over selected works of media art and design.

Weekly Project 3, due November 16, 2015
Develop a concept for a project on which you would like to work under an ideal situation. The project is open to your interest. It can be a story, a game, a website, a film, a video, an art performance, etc. For ideas on different subjects, you can consult the online resources listed on the syllabus and on the webpage resource. There are three parts for this assignment.

Part one:
Your basic concept should initially be written in under 150 characters (similar to Twitter--but you don't have to upload it to Twitter).

Part two:
Develop your concept at length in no more than 250 words.

Part Three: Develop an image/design that represents your idea to the best of your abilities. (The image/design could be a collage of preexisting images, if so, you need to provide a list of sources.)

Upload to the corresponding Angel forum for discussion.

 

Monday, October 26, 2015
Due: Project 2, Analysis of second new media art/design project, 25% | Class Critique

 


Week 9

Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Lab day, work on Second new media art/design project due on Monday, October 26 | Post on Angel forums

 

Monday, October 19, 2015
Read and be ready to discuss:
Raymond Williams, "Culture," pp. 49 - 54, "Elite," pp.72 - 74, "Ethnic," pp. 78
Roland Barthes, "The Rhetoric of the Image," (PDF) | Go over selected works of media art and design.


Week 8

Wednesday, October 13, 2015
Second Weekly Assignment on Data Analytics due | Online critique of weekly assignment | Go over selected works of media art and design


Monday, October 11, 2015
Finish Lecture on Myth and Postructuralism | Lab day, work on Weekly Analytics Project | Go over selected works of media art and design.

 


Week 7

NOTE: The order of activities for this week have been switched. You are not expected to have read the material assigned for this week by Monday, October 5. However, you should read it by Wednesday, October 7 in order to contribute to the weekly forum on time.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Lab day work on Weekly Analytics Project | Post comments on Angel forums

 

Monday, October 5, 2015
Read and be ready to discuss:
Raymond Williams, "Career," pp. 19 - 20, "Class," pp. 26 - 34 | Roland Barthes, "The Tour de France as Epic," pp. 122 - 133, "Electoral Photogeny," pp. 181 - 183

 


Week 6

Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Guidelines for Project 2 released, due on October 26
Release of second weekly project on Data Analytics due October 13
Read and be ready to discuss:
Roland Barthes, "Myth Today," pp. 215 - 274 | Introduction to Data Analytics and Data Visualization | Go over selected works of media art and design

 

Monday, September 28, 2015
Due: Project 1, Analysis of new media art/design project 20%
Discussed In class


Week 5

Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Lab day | work on Analysis of new media art/design project due on September 28

Monday, September 21, 2015
In class discussion of material from September 16, 2015 | Go over selected works of media art and design

 


Week 4

Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Read and be ready to discuss:
Discussion for this session to take place online. Questions on the material will be posted on a forum before class begins. You can then take the class time to respond to the questions.
Raymond Williams, "Communication," pp. 34 - 35 "Consumer," pp. 42 - 43, "Communism," pp. 37 - 39, "Socialist," 223 - 228
Roland Barthes, "Toys," pp. 59 - 61, "Wine and Milk," pp. 79 - 82. "Steak-Frites," 83 - 85.

 

Monday, September 14, 2015
First Weekly Assignment due
| online critique of weekly assignment |
Go over selected works of media art and design | Lab day: post comments on Angel forums.

 


Week 3

Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Read and be ready to discuss:
Raymond Williams, "Bourgeois," pp. 14 - 16, "Capitalism," pp. 17 - 19, "Commercialism," 34 - 35 | Roland Barthes, "Criticism Blind and Dumb," pp. 29 - 31, "Operation Astra," pp. 41 - 43 | Go over selected works of media art and design.

 

Monday, September 7, 2015
Labor Day, no class


Week 2

Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Go over selected works of media art and design | Lab day: post comments on Angel forums | Work on weekly assignment.

 

Monday, August 31, 2015
Guidelines for Project 1 released, due on September 28

First Weekly Assignment due on, Monday, September 14, 2015:
Choose any of the short essays by Roland Barthes, or one of the entries by Raymond Williams so far discussed, and write a 500 word critical reflection in which you go over the main points, then focus on one point of interest to you and discuss how it may be at play in current times. You may choose an essay or entry that has not been discussed, but you need to notify the instructor of your selection. You will share your brief analysis on Angel and other participants will provide critical feedback.

Read and be ready to discuss:
Raymond Williams, "Introduction" in Keywords, pp. xxiii - xxxvii, "Aesthetic," pp. 1- 2, "Art," pp. 9 - 11 | Roland Barthes"s "In the Ring," pp. 3 - 14, "The Writer on Vacation," 22 - 25

 


Week 1

Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Lecture on History of Art, Media and Design, Part 2: Discussion of semiotics, structuralism, post-structuralism in relation to art and design | Go over selected works of media art and design | Begin online discussion on Angel.


Monday, August 24, 2015
Introduction to Class | Lecture on History of Art, Media, and Design

 

 

Resources used throughout the semester

http://digicult.it
http://eliterature.org/
http://www.electronicbookreview.com/
http://furtherfield.org
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/mediaartnet/
http://netartreview.net
http://netart.org.uy/latino/
http://netescopio.meiac.es/en/index.php
http://neural.it/
http://newmediafix.net
http://norient.com/en/
http://rhizome.org
http://turbulence.org
http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/Artport

 


Week 11

Projects that look like "The Real Thing"

Hell's Club Mashup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QajyNRnyPMs

Foucault and Giddens Action Figures
http://www.theory.org.uk/action.htm

Theory Trading Cards (not real)
http://www.theorycards.org.uk/main.htm

Theory Trading Cards (actually printed):
http://www.theory.org.uk/david/theorycards.htm

Black People Love Us
http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/

The Museum of Jurassic Technology
http://mjt.org/

The Yes Men NY Times:
http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/newyorktimes
New York Times Hoax - The Yes Men Fix The World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoZQNgAnvqs

HAVIDOL: Female Testimonial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQw_cdhXGco

 


 

Week 6 - 8

Sites for the Week of October 11, 2015

Infographic of Pulp Fiction in Chronological order
http://visual.ly/pulp-fiction-chronological-order

Infographic of Memento
http://www.thehighdefinite.com/2012/02/the-timeline-for-memento/

Best Infographics of 2015
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-infographics-2015

Signage in the film Alien:
http://deadlystream.com/forum/topic/2866-background-detail-in-sci-fi-movies/

Timeline Visualizations
http://hyperstudio.mit.edu/blog/blog-research/timeline-visualizations-a-brief-and-incomplete-teleological-history-part-1/

Building & Breaking: An Analysis of Bastion's Storytelling
https://aclockworklion.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/building-breaking/

Storytelling in Digital Marketing:
http://blog.visme.co/visual-storytelling-digital-marketing/

Big Data and Semiotics:
https://rwconnect.esomar.org/big-data-semiotics-big-answers-powered-by-meaning/

Visualization of an digital ecosystem http://www.slideshare.net/mrskilton/visualization-of-an-digital-ecosystem-capgemini-m-skilton-v1

Semiotics A Method of Analysis:
http://www.slideshare.net/arinkheder/semiotics-32935341?next_slideshow=1

 


Week 3 & 4

Sites for the Week of September 7, 2015

Selected Artists:

Own or Be Owned, or Remain Invisible
by Heath Bunting
http://www.irational.org/_readme.html

They Rule by Sosh On
http://www.theyrule.net/

B.A.N.G Lab
http://bang.transreal.org/

I Know Where Your Cat Lives
by Owen Mundy
http://owenmundy.com/site/i-know-where-your-cat-lives

 

Selections from Media Art Net:
List of works
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/artprojects/
General Arts
by Daniela Alina Plewe, et. al.
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/GeneralArts/html/credits.htm
Cyborg
http://www.cyborg.com.hr/

 


Week 2

Sites for the Week of August 31, 2015

Selections from Turbulence:

Solitaire
by Helen Thorington, M.R. Petit and John Neilson
http://turbulence.org/archives/98.html

Loose Ends/Connections
with 8 musicians and others
http://turbulence.org/archives/98.html

Ebb and Flow
by Sonya Allin, Jesse Gilbert and Nina Sobell
http://turbulence.org/archives/98.html

 

Netartreview archive selection:

General Archive:
http://netartreview.net/logs/backlog.html

Archived Reviews:
http://netartreview.net/logs/2003_02_02_backlog.html
Direct Links:
Superbad:
http://superbad.com/
Disco:
http://www.subculture.com/disco/index.html
A is for Apple:
http://www.aisforapple.net/

Archived reviews:
http://netartreview.net/logs/2003_02_09_backlog.html
Direct Links:
Works by Michael Mandiberg:
http://www.afterwalkerevans.com/
http://www.aftersherrielevine.com/
Appropriation of Mandiberg:
http://www.aftermichaelmandiberg.com/
Hektor:
http://hektor.net/
Ascii Art for the Blind
http://www.ljudmila.org/~vuk/ascii/blind/
Kraftwerk:
http://www.kraftwerk.com/

 


Week 1

Sites for the Week of August 24, 2015

Selections from Turbulence:

North Country: Part 1
by Helen Thorington and Eric Schefter|
http://archive.turbulence.org/Works/Thorington/nc/index.html

North Country: Part 2
by Helen Thorington
http://archive.turbulence.org/Works/Thorington/nc2/index.html

The Grimm Tale
by Marianne Petit with John Neilson
http://turbulence.org/archives/96.html

The Sad Hungarian
by Nick Didkovsky and Tom Marsan
http://archive.turbulence.org/Works/sadhungarian/index.html

 

Selections from Whitney Artport:

Peter Horvath
http://artport.whitney.org/gatepages/september03.shtml
(Personal Site):
http://www.peterhorvath.net/

Mark Napier
http://artport.whitney.org/gatepages/february04.shtml

CODeDOC:
http://artport.whitney.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions.shtml
Casey Reas:
http://reas.com/