The Art in the Digital World 2+1
Teacher: Avram Horea
Aims:
This course offers a close look at the most representative artistic manifestations, theoretical contributions and forms of spectatorship in the field of digital media. Although it follows a loosely historical approach, the course is structured thematically, covering various topics, contexts and practices of digital art, from video installations to mobile interactive systems, and from Virtual Reality to (Post) Internet Art. We will explore how digital media redefine to a great extent the means and the meaning of contemporary art, the ways to conceive and develop the artistic discourse, artwork’s relationship with location, as well as the artists’ and participants’ ways of engagement through interactivity, variability, dynamic forms, democratic access and collaborative processes. This course will provide students with advanced knowledge about the history and theory of digital art practice and will prepare students to develop analytical skills, critical thinking and communication abilities in this field.
Topics:
1.Introduction, Course description, Vocabulary and main concepts of digital art; What is new media?
2. Early video art: screen, space, and the body / Nam June Paik and Wolf Vostell, Woody Vasulka. Early installation art: Bruce Nauman, Dan Graham, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Peter Campus.
3. Kinetic Art and cybernetic art of the 60s and 70s / László Moholy-Nagy, Nicolas Schöffer, Desmond Paul Henry, Roy Ascott, Sigma, Sherban Epuré
4. From the white cube to the black box: Experimental documentary and narrative video John Smith, Harun Farocki, Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno; Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Mathew Barney.
5. Multi-screen installations and the fragmentation of perception / Julian Rosefeldt, Ragnar Kjartanson, Douglas Gordon, Isaac Julien, Hito Steyerl
6. Digital performance; Interactivity and corporeality / Paul Sermon, Rafael Lozanno Hemmer, Olafur Eliasson, Romy Achituv & Camille Utterback, Klaus Obermaier, Troika Ranch, Adrien M & Claire B, fuse, Kotki Visuals.
7. Found footage and the remix culture Chris Marker, Christian Marclay, Jeremy Borsos, Douglas Gordon, A-li-ce, kinema ikon, Alexandru/Sándor Antik.
8. Sound art & data visualization Ryoji Ikeda, Carsten Nicolai, Janet Cardiff, Cătălin Crețu, Susan Philipsz, Randomform, dslx
9. Immersive art: from IMAX cinema to Virtual Reality and virtual exhibitions / Char Davies, Luc Courchesne, Jeffrey Shaw, Workspace Unlimited, TeamLab, Aaron Bradbury, Mihai Grecu, Oscar Raby, Nicola Plant.
10. Augmented Reality and Ubiquitous computing; from immersion to mobility / Jeffrey Shaw, Tamiko Thiel, Adrien M & Claire B, Zach Lieberman, Julian Oliver, Mark Skwarek and Sander Veenhof, Adrian Grecu, John Craig Freeman and Will Pappenheimer
11. Digital hybridity: Internet and TV as resource; Vaporwave and digital animation / Jon Rafman, Ubermorgen, Zbigniew Rybczynski, Arthur Jafa, Ondrej Zunka, Cool 3D World, Milo Targett, Laurie Rowan, Taietzel Ticălos.
12. Glitch art; Error as artistic strategy / Pipilotti Rist, Mathieu St-Pierre, Systaime, Nia Burks, Yann le Guennec, Cory Arcangel, James Connolly.
13.(Post) Net art: internet as medium; NFT / Crypto Art /: Olia Lialina, Vuk Ćosić, Jodi, Heath Bunting, Alexei Shulgin + Beeple, Ondrej Zunka, Michael Marczewski, Peter Tarka, Blake Kathryn, Aeforia, Alima Lee, Harm van den Dorpel
14. New Media Art Institutions & Festivals. Course evaluation and conclusions