syllabus
sept_8
introduction: foundations in digital imaging
Introduction to the class. Lecture and discussion about digital media and
photography. Exercise using selection tools in Photoshop.
sept_15
foundations in digital imaging: serial logic
Defining everyday practice. Review of related work and overview
of Assignment 1. Discussion of assigned reading. Questions: Airyka Rockefeller
and Elizebeth Kitaen. Exercise in creating slide shows in Flash.
Due: Read Lev
Manovich, “What is New Media,” in The Language of New Media.
(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001) 18-61. Also published as "New Media:
a Users Guide." See http://www.manovich.net/
sept_22
foundations in digital imaging: input/output
Visit to Urban
Digital Color/Gallery 16 to meet with Griff Williams, owner, artist
and curator. Meet at 1616 Sixteenth Street in San Francisco. Afternoon session
at the San Francisco campus. Exercise in scanning using Photoshop, levels,
and color manipulation. Discussion of assigned reading and related work.
Questions: Sage Corson and Ruth Dickson.
Due: 2-5 minute presentation using Flash "slide presentation"
with ideas + images for assignment 1. Present your rules for your "daily
practice" as well as examples of images you have created that follow
them. Read Geoffrey
Batchen, "Ectoplasm: Photography in the Digital Age", Carol Squires,
ed., Overexposed: Essays on Contemporary Photography (New York: New Press,
1999), pages 9-22.
sept_29
foundations in digital imaging: input/output
Guest lecture Susan
Schwartzenberg. Lecture and discussion of related work using photography
in public space. Student presentations of Assignment 1.
Due: Assignment 1
oct_4, 7:00 PM
Mitchell Schwarzer (highly recommended)
Timken Lecture Hall, San Francisco campus
In his provocative new book, Zoomscape: Architecture in Motion and Media
(Princeton Architectural Press, 2004), visual culture theorist and CCA professor
Mitchell Schwarzer argues that our perception of buildings, cities, and
landscapes have been fundamentally altered by transportation and camera
technologies. A book signing follows the event.
oct_5, 7:00 PM
"Monuments and Noplaces: The Past, Present, and Future of Land Art"
(highly recommended)
Lecture Timken Lecture Hall, San Francisco campus.
During the late 1960s, a number of artists left the white cube of the gallery
to work within and with the landscape. Today, a new generation of artists
continues to reshape our perceptions of natural terrain. This panel stages
a dialogue between past and present land art practices. The evening will
include presentations by artist Nancy Holt and Matthew
Coolidge, director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation, with a
discussion moderated by critic and historian Julian Myers. Cosponsored by
the Herringer Family Foundation.
oct_6
foundations in digital imaging: high + low res
Lecture on resolution and related work. Discussion of the assigned
reading. Questions: Allison Brinkley and Erin Trujillo. Entropy exercise
using compression formats in Photoshop.
Due: 2 minute presentation for rush. Read: Walter
Benjamin,” The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,”
in Illuminations. (New York: Schocken Books,1968) 217-251.
oct_13
process: from conceptual art to code: rule based practice
Lecture on the connections of conceptual art practice and digital media.
Discussion of assigned reading. Questions: Sean Jerd. Demonstration of quantitative
palettes in Photoshop (histogram, gradient map). Instructions exercise,
using code to create images.
Due: 2 minute presentation for rush (entropy exerise). Be prepared to describe
why you chose your image and what process you used to degrade it. Read Christiane
Paul, Digital Art. (London:Thames + Hudson, 2003) 6-25.
oct_20
process: from conceptual art to code: rule based practice
Lecture on the database, metadata, keyword search and related
work. Introduction to Dreamweaver + HTML, exercise creating web pages.
Discussion of assigned reading. Questions: Bronwyn Hughes and Alexis Tjian.
Due: 2
minute presentation for rush (daily practice + ideas about assignment 2).
Read Lev
Manovich, “The Database,” in The Language of New Media. (Cambridge:
MIT Press, 2001) 218-243. Also published as "Database as a Symbolic
Form " See http://www.manovich.net/
oct_23-24
23-24 distributed
form: network practice conference UC Berkeley
George Legrady_Sat_3:55
Casey
Reas_Sun_2:45
David Crawford_Sun_10:30
oct_27
process: from conceptual art to code
Guest lecture Ken
Goldberg. Discussion of discussion distributed form : network practice
conference. Student presentations of Assignment 2.
Due: Assignment 2. Post a paragraph on each speaker or panel from the distributed
form : network practice conference, critiquing the work they presented.
nov_3
device: exploring new platforms for photography
Lecture and discussion on current projects using locative media, sms (short
message service), and gps. HTML workshop. Discussion of assigned reading.
Questions: Lea Zalinskis, Ned Brauer, and Kyle Garner.
Due: Read Anthony
Dunne + Fiona Raby. Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects
(London: Birkhäuser,2001)15-44. Also review Ljunblad,
Hakansson, Gaye + Holmquist, “Context Photography: Modifying the
Digital Camera Into a New Creative Tool” (Goteborg: Future Applications
Lab, Victoria Institute, 2004).
7:00 pm_Andrea Zittel (highly recommended)
Lecture Timken Lecture Hall, San Francisco campus.
Making art, design, and life inseparable, Andrea Zittel transforms things
necessary for everyday living into modular aesthetic experiments. Home furniture,
clothing, and food all become sites of investigation to better understand
human nature and the social construction of needs. Her work examines the
gray area between freedom, which can sometimes feel too open-ended, and
security, which may easily turn into confinement. Zittel was included in
the 2004 Whitney Biennial and Documenta X. She has had solo exhibitions
at SFMOMA; Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Galleria
Massimo deCarlo, Milan.
nov_10
device: exploring new platforms for photography
Guest lecture Anita
Wilhelm. Exercise using mobile phones. Discussion of assigned reading.
Questions:Eve Hammer. HTML worskshop using Dreamweaver.
Due: Assignment 3 proposal posted to the class blog. 2 minute presentation
for rush (Ned, Dan, Sean, Ruth, Beret)
Read articles from Vodaphone's Receiver Magazine:
Pete Gomes, “
WYSIWYG” (Receiver #08, 2004).
Usman Hacque, “Invisible
Topographies” (Receiver #09, 2004).
Eric Paulos, “Our
Emerging Urban Computing Landscape – Familiar Strangers“ (Receiver
#09, 2004).
nov_17
No official class meeting. Those students that are interested may meet in
the classroom with Dan and Kyle for extra help with Photoshop.
Due: Go to Rebecca Bollinger exhibition, Rena
Bransten Gallery. Post 1-3 paragraph review on class blog.
nov_24
compression and extraction: time and photography
Lecture and discussion on the ways in which photographers have
often manipulated the margins of the photographic frame, using the image
to offer multiple interpretations of time. Discussion of assigned reading.
Questions: Beret Olsen and Dan Cassidy. Review of resolution, scanning,
and printing. Workshop with Mik. Introduction to layers and file browser.
Due: 2 minute presentation for rush. (Allison, Kyle, Alexis, Eve, Lizzi,
Sage, Lea). Read Mitchell
Schwartzer "Photography" in Zoomscape: Architecture in Motion and Media (New York: Princeton
Architectural Press, 2004) p 165-205.
dec_1
compression and extraction: time and photography
Meet at the Exploratorium
at 9:00 am. Guest lecture by film curator Liz Keim on the still image in
film. Afternoon rush and review of Flash on buttons and motion tweening.
(SF campus).
Due: Work on final projects.
dec_8
Morning discussion with Anita Wilheim + Eric Herrarte on mobile camera phone
project. The rest of the class will be a work session. Desk critiques of
individual students work in preparation for the final review.
Due: Prepeare thoughts and insights on mobile phone project. Work on final
projects.
dec_15
Final review with invited guests. (Ann Chamberlain, Jordon Geiger,
Susan Schwartzenberg, and Rachel Strickland)