| ART
282 Introduction to Art & Technology Fall 2002 |
UMBC Visual Arts Department |
| Go directly to the schedule. | Timothy Nohe Assistant Professor of Visual Arts, Office hours: Thursday, 11AM - Noon, FA 342 nohe@research.umbc.edu |
Course
Description and Objectives:
This course offers
a foundation for working with computers in the visual arts by
situating the tools in Art History and Culture. Students will
create art forms such as World Wide Web pages, digital images,
2-dimensional animations, and digital 35-mm film output. It must
be emphasized that ART 282 is not a software-training course.
Students will build critical and conceptual flexibility by engaging
new tools and concepts that have emerged in contemporary visual
culture, the sciences, and telecommunications. The computer shall
be explored both as a construct laden with intellectual and cultural
histories and as a tool for artists in an Intermedia practice.
No previous experience with computers is required; however, ART
210 Visual Concepts is required as a prerequisite and you
must be a declared Visual Arts Department major. Please note that
students must adhere to the policies of the Visual Arts Department
and the University Computing Service regarding the Macintosh and
SGI computer labs. Failure to do so will result in the student
losing access to the ECS and Visual Arts Department Labs.
The
Lecture & Lab Format:
The Lectures
will emphasize technology as a product of human cultural and will
examine technology as produced by particular historic contexts.
The computer will be examined as an extension of the body, senses
and the mind. We will examine artistic practice within particular
historical contexts, from early 20th century artists to today's
media hackers to demonstrate the way art influences both technology
and culture. New and emerging artworks such as interactive performance,
hypertext, sound and multi-media installation, virtual reality,
body modification, artificial life and robotics will be presented
to the class during lectures. Informed engagement with art historical
and contemporary developments shall be key to developing creative
flexibility and critical thinking skills.
Lab exercises with tools and interfaces will explore concepts
surveyed during lectures. The basics of the operating systems
for Macintosh and UNIX platforms, and file management, file formats,
RAM, bit depth, color, resolution, etc. will be instructed in
lecture and in lab sections. Students will apply their technical
and conceptual skills to a variety of outputs including World
Wide Web pages, digital image photomontage, 2-dimensional animation,
and slide projection works. Members of the class will also be
required to participate in discussions of topics and texts introduced
or assigned in lectures, labs, and through virtual forums.
Requirements:
1. An active
UMBC email account (all communications with Teaching Assistants
and Faculty will use this address)
2. 4 Assigned Projects
3. Lab Exercises -- take-home and in-class assignments
4. Participation -- Discussion, in lab and through email
5. Attendance
Projects
& Grading:
Students
will be graded by letter, A - F, on all collected or evaluated
work. Work must be completed on time and in full satisfaction
of each project goal. Late work (assignments handed in after the
start of in-class critique sessions) will be automatically downgraded
by one letter grade. An Incomplete can only be assigned to students
with a passing record unable to complete work due to some unforeseeable
serious illness or personal tragedy. Non-allowable excuses include
foreseeable job assignments or work from other courses. Students
must assume responsibility for preparing all necessary incomplete
status paperwork for faculty signature and for submission to the
department.
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| A | Well above the expectations of the course. Outstanding participation, attendance, and mastery of tools and conceptual skills. A student producing work in the top 20 % of his or her class. |
| B | Above average assignments and mastery of tools, materials and concepts. |
| C | Average execution of assignments, participation and attendance. |
| D | Well below average work, attendance and participation in critiques. |
| F | Unsatisfactory work, attendance and participation in critiques. |
Attendance:
ART 282 is
a very demanding course. Please note that three or more unexcused
absences from lecture or labs may result in failure. The faculty
and Teaching Assistants will pass out attendance sheets at the
start of every lecture and lab. Two unexcused late arrivals or
early departures will be marked as the equivalent of one absence.
Absence from a class is not an excuse for skipping a tutorial,
reading assignment, or project. You are fully responsible for
completing work.
Readings:
Critiques
will frequently be initiated from various topics covered in the
text. In order to participate effectively you will need to have
read the text and be able to articulate your response to it within
the context of class discussion and critique.
Supplementary
Texts:
"Dreamweaver
4 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide," J.
Tarin Towers, Peachpit Press
"HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition: Visual QuickStart
Guide," Elizabeth Castro, Peachpit Press
"Learning the UNIX Operating System, 4th Edition," Jerry
Peek, Grace Todino & John Strang, O'Reilly and Associates
"The Little Mac Book (Little Mac Book, Ed 6)," by Robin
Williams, Peachpit Press
"Photoshop 6 for Windows and Macintosh Visual Quickstart
Guide," by Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas. Peachpit Press
Supplies:
Zip disks (UMBC Bookstore)
SCHEDULE
Please note: this schedule is subject to revision and may be modified
during the quarter.
Reading and viewing assignments are listed each week.
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August 28 - September 9 Lab Projects Labs: Logging in to ECS 336, using Webmail and Pine for email, creating text pages in Dreamweaver. Assignment 1: Dreamweaver "chance operations" poetry, due in lab, September 9, submitted on ZIP Disk. Readings: Xerox packet #1 Online Tutorials:
Assignment URLs:
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October 21th Lecture: Cinema, Digital
Cinema, and Interactive Video Screenings:
Early Cinema Technology: Artists: Digital Cinema,
Tech and Research: |
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September 9th Lecture Practicum: FTP, UNIX, Dreamweaver Assigment 1 is due in labs Take home: Online Tutorials: Forwarding Your UMBC Email to hotmail, aol, yahoo, etc. The directory and naming structure of your WWW site. Screen: Lecture URLs:
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October 28 One-on-one Midterm Review of Assignment 1, 2, 3. All works to be presented during scheduled critiques with Professor Nohe and your Teaching Assistant in ECS 336. |
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September 16th Lecture Practicum: Getting your website online. The "public" nature of your academic computer accounts. Fetch + basic UNIX skills. Lecture 2 Notes In Lab Tutorial: Text-based WWW publication, 3 pages minimum, linear, hypertext, or META driven. Publish the www pages at userpages.umbc.edu. Screenings: Hypertext Founder's
URLs: |
November 4th Assignment 4: Final Project: Part One, due November 18, consists of a proposal submitted online, which frames your "Post-Human" photomontage project. Part Two consists of a photomontage to be projected as a 35mm slide during the final critiques during the lecture on December 9. Tiff files are due to your Teaching Assistants by December 2. Lecture Notes:
pdf file The Bionic Body PBS Scientific American Frontiers The
Afghan Explorer Cindy
Jackson |
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September 23 Lecture Practicum: The Photoshop 6 Interface, layering, saving, file types, bit depth Labs: Introduction to Photoshop, downloading images via the World Wide Web In Lab Assignment: "Exquisite Corpse" collage, 640 x 480 pixels, 72 dpi, JPEG format digital image in 24 bit RGB color. Body sections determined by TA. Screen Online Readings: Tutorial URLs: Exquisite Corpse: Culture Jammers: |
November 11th |
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September 30 Assignment 2 -- "Intervene in History" using Photoshop as a "photomontage" tool. Due online, October 15. 24bit RGB image saved in JPG format, 640 x 480 pixels, 72 dpi maximum resolution. Screening: Tech: |
Lecture: An Introduction to Traditional and Computer Graphic Animation Assignment 4 Project Proposal due online. Further description of Final Projects: "The Posthuman" 35mm slide output. Technical handouts supplied in lecture Screenings: Online Tutorial: Vector and Raster
Graphics: Vector & Raster
(bitmap)
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October 7th Lab: Photoshop layer control for animation design + GIF animation with Imageready Upcoming: ®™ark at UMBC, November 13, 2002, FA 215, Free Hour, 1:00 - 2:00 PM — attendance required for ART 282. Screenings: |
December 2nd Assigment 4:
Post-Human Tiff files due to Teaching Assistants in lab. Game Typology:
Artists: |
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October 14th Screening: Assigment 2 is due in lab Assignment 3 : "Billboard"
assignment. 3 animated or static billboards to be posted to your gl
WWW sites by Midterm, October 28. Billboards should be placed in the
context of a page, which may be appropriated from other sources. Work
with concepts drawn from the lectures on "photo truth" and
"culture jamming". |
December
9th Lecture: Screening of Post-Human Projects in FA 215 |
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