syllabus

class 1
introduction
(presentation - requires Flash Player 7, use arrow keys to navigate)
Introduction and overview to the themes of the class including wireless networks and emerging forms of public art practice.


class 2
investigation
: hertzian space (presentation)
Lecture and discussion about Hertzian space. The class will focus on cellular netoworks, as an example, and include a survey or projects examining and utilizing cell phones.

Due: and Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects (London: Birkhäuser, 2001)p. 15-43.

class 3
investigation
: hertzian space
lab
Bring your cell phones to class for an in-class exercise.

Due: Read Fiona Raby + Ben Hooker. Project #26765-FLIRT: Flexible Information and Recreation for Mobile Users (London: Royal College of Art, 2000).

class 4
investigation
: hertzian space
Meet with Susan Schwartzenberg + Peter Richards (confrimed) of the San Francisco Exploratorium to discuss their current project exploring technology in urban space. Wifi workshop with Jonathan Foerster (confirmed). Bring a can with a metal end (at least 2" in diameter) to make your own wifi transmitter.

class 5
investigation: hertzian space
lab
PDA demo with software. Wardriving exericise.

class 6
investigation:
hertzian space
Visit Rick Prelinger's Archive (confirmed). Guest lecture on technology and the landscape. Followed by urban walk.

Due: Read William Mitchell, "Wireless Bipeds " in Me++ (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003) p. 41-62.

class 7
investigation: hertzian space
In class lab, mapping wardriving exercise. Discussion of reading (assigned Feb. 8).

class 8
investigation
: hertzian space
In class lab, mapping wardriving exercise. Discussion of reading.

Due: Read William Mitchell, "Electronic Mnemotechnics" in Me++ (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003) p. 113-129.

class 9
investigation
: locative media (presentation)
Lecture and discussion about locative media + projects (GPS, geo-caching).

Due: Presentation of wardriving exercises.

class 10
investigation:
locative media
In-class lab using GPS.

Due: Read Pall Thayer "On narrative, abstract and location: A few words on lacation-based data in art" (Creative Commons, 2004). Available on Pall Thayer's web site:http://this.is/pallit/

class 11
investigation:
locative media
In-class lab using GPS. Guest lecture by Michelle Kasprzak via video conference (confirmed).

Due: Presentation of locative projects.
Review http://michelle.kasprzak.ca.

class 12
intervention: mapping (presentation)
Lecture and discussion about mapping in art practice.

Due: Guy Dubord "Theory of the Dérive" (International Situationiste #2, 1958). Also republished at nothingness.org. Simon Sadler, "A Passion for Maps" in The Situationist City (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998)p. 82.-91.

class 13
intervention: mapping (presentation)
Lecture and discussion about mapping in art practice.

Due: Simon Sadler, "Making Sense of Psychogeography" in The Situationist City (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998)p. 76-81 and "Drifting as a Revolution in Everyday Life" in The Situationist City (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998)p. 91-95.


class 14
investigation:
urban investigation in social science research (presentation)
Due: Read Francois Maspero and Anaïk Frantz, Roissy Express: A Journey Through the Paris Suburbs (London: Verso, 1994) p. 105-107 and Setha Low, On the Plaza: The Politics of Public Space and Culture (Austin, U of Texas Press, 2001). p. 162-167, 178-179

class 15
intervention:
probes
Guest lecture Eric Paulos (confirmed).

Due: Read Eric Paulos, "Our Emergent Urban Computing Landscape: Familiar Strangers" in Receiver #10, 2004. and Anne Galloway "Mobility as world-building/technologies at play" in Receiver #10, 2004.


class 16
intervention:
probes
Lecture and discussion about artists that have inserted objects inro the urban landscape as a means of artistic research.

class 17
student presentations
Students will present work on an artist, artistic group or theme to the class that is relevant to their final project

class 18
spring break

no class

class 19
spring break

no class

class 20
intervention:
tour
A discussion of the strategies of the tour from the Dadaists in Paris and the Fluxus in New York to Michelle Teran's serveillance walks and Kate Pocrass' Mundane Journeys. Guest lecture David Pinder (confrimed).

Due: Read Francesco Cerari "Anti-walk" in Walkscapes (Barcelona: Gustavo Gili, 2002) p. 68-94. and Robert Smithison, "A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic New Jersey" in Jack Flam ed. Robert Smithson: The Collected Writings (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996) p. 68-74.

class 21
student presentations
Final project proposals due. Students will present a proposal of their final project for the semester to the class.


class 22
intervention:
performance (presentation)
Lecture and discussion on tactics of performance in public space using new media.

Due: Read Pete Gomes, “ WYSIWYG” (Receiver #08, 2004).

class 23
lab
tutorial

class 24
intervention:
performance
Guest lecture Jane McGonigal (unconfirmed) on performative gaming in public space. Meet in San Francisco.

Due: Read Jane McGonigal, "A Real Little Game: The Performance of Belief in Pervasive Play."  Digital Games Research Associaton (DiGRA) "Level Up" Conference Proceedings.  November 2003


class 25
student presentations
Review of progress on final projects.

class 26
lab
tutorial

class 27
no class meeting.

class 28
individual critiques

class 29
Final review.

class 30
Final review.