ARTH/AMST 3570 –
History and Theory of Digital Art Professor
Dennis
TTh 12:30-1:45
pm kelly.dennis@uconn.edu
OAK 267 Office
Hours:
Th 2-4 pm in AB
207
And by appointment
Mode
of Address: Please address me as Professor Dennis or Dr. Dennis. Thank you.
Course
Description
This upper-division art history course investigates the role played by
digital and electronic technologies in art and art making and the attendant
impact on received modes of art’s production and reception. Most of the digital
communications technologies in use today had their beginnings in Cold War era
American military. But even in the earliest days at Bell Laboratories,
programmers and inventors sought to make art with computers.
How does art that utilizes or produces forms that are alterable,
copied, or obsoletized by hard- and soft-ware upgrades affect longstanding
ideals about authenticity, uniqueness, and materiality? How do we understand
the public sphere for digital and Internet art’s reception? How have artists
internationally responded or adapted these technologies to confront and
negotiate U.S. imperialism? Finally, how might artists maintain a critical
stance while utilizing military, corporate, and consumer technologies to
produce their art?
Students in this
class will study:
· Histories of the
computer and contested beliefs and ideologies surrounding its uses and social
and cultural value;
· Art historical
precedents for digital art;
· Histories of
digital art as tool, medium, and practice;
· The ways that
digital art and online can curating generate and inform visual literacy;
· The roles played
by digital art in representing and negotiating race, class, gender, and
national identity.
Outcomes
By the end of the course students will demonstrate a familiarity with
and an understanding of various kinds of digital art production and consumption
as well as various genres of digital art and spheres of its cultural influence.
Reading
· As indicated AND
LINKED on the syllabus or available
HuskyCT.
· NB: Many of the assigned links will have additional
source links that although not listed or explicitly required will nonetheless
add to your knowledge of and familiarity with issues, topics, and
controversies. Such additional knowledge will be essential to your curatorial project
research as well.
Requirements and Grading
Participation 10%
Midterm exam 15%
Blog posts 30%
Final exam 15%
Final Project + Oral Presentation 30%
Participation + Attendance Policy: Class
preparation and participation. Please come to class having done the assigned
readings and being prepared to discuss them in class.
It
being flu season, however, in the interests of not spreading flu and other
contagion, if you are seriously ill please do not come to class.
Instead, send me an email notifying me of your illness and drink lots of fluids
and/or contact the infirmary.
·
Students will post a
250-300 word post on the assigned reading by Tuesdays at 11:00 am.
At least one comment/reply per
week on other students’ posts is also required over the course of the
semester. A reasonable level of academic decorum and etiquette is expected.
Examinations: The midterm and final examinations
will be “open note” as will any quizzes. The exams will consist of a series of
image essay analyses and short and long essay questions that test your comprehension
of assigned reading, lecture, class discussions. Any student with a cell phone
left “on” will be dismissed from the exam and given an F.
Final Project
Curate an online exhibition of digital art on a web platform of your
choice (excepting those that require passwords in order to be viewed, such as
Wix, Tumblr or a dedicated blog site are good options). Develop a research
strategy by looking at the various online exhibition links and locating others.
Choose 5 works of digital and/or Internet art by 5 different artists and
develop a uniquely designed web “exhibition” that has the following components:
1.
A theme or subject of your choice, for example,
GirlzOnly, Eracism, HackArt, VirtualBodies, Networked Socialism, Internet
Activism, OBN, etc., which you define and justify as the basis for an online
exhibition.
2.
A 5-7-page curatorial statement situating your
exhibition within general developments in digital/Internet art as well as those
of your chosen exhibition subject/theme. Be sure to emphasize and discuss the
characteristics of selected works that justify their inclusion, e.g., visual,
conceptual, interactive, historical, programmatic, etc. At least half of your statement should be
devoted to discussing each of the works chosen for your exhibition. This
statement can be creatively designed using web- or software of your choosing.
At minimum, it should be a slide show on Flickr or a dedicated Tumblr, or other
easily accessible and linkable feed (i.e., not your personal Tumblr account,
but one dedicated to the curatorial project). Warning: the professor does not
provide technical assistance; experiment at your own risk but know that the
results MUST be legible and posted by the assignment due date! Whatever site
you utilize, students and faculty must be able to access and view your
exhibition and your curatorial statement without signing up for membership: It
needs to be readily accessible to the professor and other students in the
course via a link posted on the designated assignment page.
3.
Figure Citation: Though your figures must be
visible in your online exhibition, external links to each of the selected works
(clicking on these links should open a new window; be sure your links are still
active before the assignment due date!).
4.
Bibliographic
Citations: At least 6 references and links to online sources—essays, reviews,
exhibitions, of which at least 3 sources are permalinks to peer-reviewed
articles on JSTOR, ProjectMUSE, Academic Premier, or other library databases
that you draw upon and cite in your curatorial statement (clicking on these
links should preferably open a new window).
In addition to curating and creating this online exhibition and
curatorial statement, you will also be making a 5-minute presentation of your research and present your online
exhibition in class during the last two weeks of the semester. These
presentations should be specific about your research project, process, and
results, and should clearly articulate what your exhibition contributes to our
understanding of digital and/or Internet art.
Course
Policies
·
In order the pass the course, all assignments must be completed
and submitted by their due dates.
·
Any instance of plagiarism will be taken seriously and dealt
with in accordance with the UConn Student Code. A plagiarism tutorial on the
HuskyCT site must be completed.
·
Unplugged
Classroom: This is an upper-division art history course developing critical
viewing, reading, and thinking skills through discussion of images, texts, and
historical events. Because attending to lecture, looking at the projected
images and films, and taking notes on both already involves significant
multitasking, and because any unauthorized recording of class
constitutes an infringement of the professor's intellectual property, this is
an unplugged classroom environment: Cell
phone, laptop, and iPad use are not permitted in class. Per the UConn
Student Code, cell phones must be turned off completely, not left
in “standby” or silent mode. The instructor is responsible for having a cell
phone on standby in case of official UConn Emergency Alert text messages and
will communicate any emergency procedures and instructions to students.
·
Students are responsible for all information in this syllabus.
Student
Accommodation & Services
If you have a
physical or learning disability, either hidden or visible, which may require
classroom, test-taking, or other reasonable modifications, please see me as
soon as possible. If you have not already done so, please be sure to register
with the Center for Students with Disabilities at http://www.csd.uconn.edu/.
From the Dean of
Students: Final Exams
“Attention Students: Final exam week for Fall 2018 takes place from Monday, Dec 10th
through Saturday, Dec 15h. Students are required to be available for their exam during that time.
Students must visit the Dean of Students Office if they cannot make their exam.
The DOS will give the student his or her instructions thereafter.
“Please note: vacations, previously
purchased tickets or reservations, weddings, and other large or small scale
social events, are not viable excuses for missing a final exam. Please
contact the Dean of Students office with any questions. Thank you in advance
for your cooperation.”
Student
Support Services (SSS)
Student Support Services offers services to support your academic work
such as study skills workshops, time management, mentoring, and tutoring. SSS
is located in the Rowe CUE Building, 231 and they can also be found online at
cap/uconn.edu/sss and contacted at x64030 or cap@uconn.edu.
Student
Counseling and Health Services
Throughout any given semester, health-related issues may arise.
Students should know and use the resources available at the Counseling &
Mental Health Services as well as at Student Health Services to stay healthy in
mind and body.
Sexual
Violence and Title IX
As
a faculty member, I am deeply invested in the wellbeing of each student I
teach. I am here to assist you with your work in this course. If you come to me
with other non-course- related concerns, I will do my best to help. It is
important for you to know that all faculty members are mandated reporters of
any incidents of sexual misconduct. That means that I cannot keep information
about sexual misconduct confidential if you share that information with me. The
University website http://sexualviolence.uconn.edu provides information
regarding Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence, and Stalking Awareness, as well
as confidential reporting, counseling, and medical access. The Title IX
Coordinator, Elizabeth Conklin, can also help you access other resources on
campus and in the local community. You can reach Elizabeth at x6-2943 or
Elizabeth.Conklin@UConn.edu, and her office is on the first floor of Wood Hall.
The Dean of Students Office can help students connect to resources for
financial, emotional, health and other challenges.
The
student sexual misconduct policy is in the Student Code, which can be found at
http://community.uconn.edu under Appendix B. There you will find the policies,
definitions, procedures and resources related to sexual misconduct and Title
IX.
RESOURCES
:: Digital Art Sites + Exhibitions:
This
list is intended to provide a starting
point and is by no means exhaustive. Students are welcome to add to the links
list on the course website. Every effort has been made to provide updated
links; however, some 404ing is inevitable in the ephemeral world of digital
art! Additional resources are on the New media art wikipedia page.
· Eyebeam
· Adaweb
Schedule of Lecture + Reading
WEEK 1 – Digital
Histories
T Aug 28 – Introduction
Read:
Th Aug 30 – What
is Digital Art?
Read:
Watch
Post:
· What do you
expect to learn about “digital art” in this class? What do you think digital
art is? Are your ideas any different after today's reading and viewing?
Identify one “new” thing the reading or video brought to your attention;
identify one thing addressed that you already knew. Are you convinced by
Antonelli's argument? Why or why not? DUE THURSDAY AT 11AM on HuskyCT
WEEK 2 – Histories of Technology in Art
T Sept 4 – The early 20th c. and historical
avant-garde
Read:
· Pam Meecham, et
al, “From the machine aesthetic to technoculture,” in Modern Art: A Critical Introduction, 109-35 [HuskyCT]
· Lev Manovich,
"New Media from Borges to HTML,” in The New Media Reader[HuskyCT]
Skim:
· John Dixon,
“Futurism and the Early-Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde,” Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theater, Dance,
Performance Art, and Installation (The MIT Press, 2012), 47-71. [HuskyCT]
Th Sept 6 – Performance and Video Art
Read:
· Marshall
McLuhan, The Medium is the Message (1964),
Wardrip-Fruin and Montfort, eds, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, pp. 13-25
WEEK 3 – Military Technologies
T Sept 11 –
Computer Histories
Screening: Imitation Game,
2014
Read:
Skim:
Th Sept 13 –
Internet Histories
Read:
· Richard T.
Griffiths, History of the Internet, Internet for
Historians (and just about everyone else), Chapters 1-5
Skim:
WEEK 4 – Ghosts in the Machine: Other Histories
of Technology
T Sept 18 – Screening:
Hidden Figures, 2017
Read:
· Tara McPherson,
“U.S. Operating Systems at Midcentury: The Intertwining of Race and Unix,” The Visual Culture Reader, 3rd
ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff (Routledge 2013) HuskyCT
Th Sept 20
Read:
· Sadie Plant,
“ada,” Reading Digital Culture, ed. David Trend, Malden, MA and Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing, 2001, 14-16 [HuskyCT]
· Lily Rothman, “Remembering the Apollo 11 Moon
Landing with the Woman Who Made It Happen,” Time, 20 July 2015
WEEK 5 – Net.art
T Sept 25
Read:
Skim:
· Julian
Stallabrass, “Can Art History Digest Internet Art?” Internet Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce (London:
Tate Publishing, 2003), 8-15, 24-59 [HuskyCT]
Th Sept 27 – Glitch Art
Read
· Michele White,
“The Aesthetic of Failure: Confusing Spectators with Net Art Gone Wrong,”
85-113. In The Body and the Screen:
Theories of Internet Spectatorship, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006
[HuskyCT]
WEEK 6 – Social Networks:
Participatory Culture + Public Space
T Oct 2 –
Read
· Steve Silberman, We’re Teen, We’re Queer, and
We’ve Got E-mail,” Reading Digital Culture, ed. David Trend, Malden, MA and
Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2001, 221-4 [HuskyCT]
Th Oct 4
Read
· Amanda Hess, “Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the
Internet,” Pacific Standard magazine, PSmag.com 6JAN2014
· Catherine Buni +
Soraya Chemaly, “The Unsafety Net: How Social Media
Turned Against Women,” TheAtlantic.com 9 OCT 2014
· Rob Horning,
"Social Media Is Not Self Expression, http://thenewinquiry.com/blogs/marginal-utility/social-media-is-not-self-expression/
· Ana MarÃa Munar,
Digital Exhibitionism: The Age of
Exposure [Culture Unbound, Volume 2, 2010: 401–422.
Skim
· Iona
Literat,"The Work of Art in the Age of
Mediated Participation: Crowdsourced Art and Collective Creativity,” International Journal of Communication 6
(2012), 2962–2984.
WEEK 7 – Midterm Exam
T Oct 9 –
Reading Day.
Th Oct 11 –
Midterm on HuskyCT – Class does not meet.
WEEK 8 – Gaming
Art
T Oct 16 –
Read
View
· GTA5 official
trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvoD7ehZPcM
Skim
· Lisa Nakamura, Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game:
The Racialization of Labor in World of Warcraft, Critical Studies in Media Communication
26:2 (June 2009), 128-144.
· Sherry Turkle,
“Video Games and Computer Holding Power,” 499-513. In The New Media Reader, ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Nick Montfort
(Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003 [HuskyCT]
Th Oct 18
Read
· Laura Miller,
“Women and Children First: Gender and the Settling of the Electronic Frontier,”
Reading Digital Culture, ed. David
Trend, Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2001, 214-21 [HuskyCT]
· Leah Burrows, Women remain outsiders in video game
industry, BostonGlobe.com 27JAN2013/accessed 30JAN2013
· Keith Stuart, “Zoe Quinn: ‘All Gamergate has done
is ruin people’s lives’,” TheGuardian.com 3DEC2014
· Soraya Nadia
MacDonald, “’Gamergate’: Feminist video game
critic Anita Sarkeesian cancels Utah lecture after threat,”
WashingtonPost.com 15OCT2014
· Katherine Cross,
“We Must Dissent: Intel Bows to
Gamergate Campaign to Silence Feminist Video Game Critics,”
Feministing.com 6OCT2014
WEEK
9 – Surveillance Art
T 10/23
·
Mark Graham, Neogeography and the Palimpsests of
Place: Web 2.0 and the Construction of a Virtual Earth, Oxford
Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK [2008, 2009]
·
Ed Pilkington, “Tim Berners-Lee: Encryption cracking
by spy agencies ‘appalling and foolish’,” TheGuardian.com 7NOV2013
Th Oct 25 – Right to be
forgotten
Read
· “Google
receives 2.4m requests to delete search results,” Irish Times 27FEB2018
View
Skim
WEEK 10 – CyberFeminisms
T Oct 30 –
Read
· Claire L. Evans,
“’We Are the Future Cunt’: CyberFeminism
in the 90s,” Motherboard.com 20 Nov
2014
Th Nov 1 –
Skim
· Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science,
Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s,” 28-37. In Reading Digital
Culture, ed. David Trend, Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2001.
[HuskyCT]
WEEK 11 – Digital
Art Activism + Hacktivism
T Nov 6
Read
· Natascha Sadr
Haghighian and Ashley Hunt, Representations Of The Erased, No
Matter How Bright the Light, the Crossing Occurs at Night, Exhibition Catalogue, Kunst-Werke,
2006
Skim
· Nicholas
Mirzoeff, “The Drowned and the Sacred: To See
the Unspeakable,” How to
See the World, Aug 29, 2015
holographic performance 11/8. UCHI seminar room,
4th floor Babbidge Library, 4-6 pm
Th Nov 8
Read
Callas in Concert, holograph with live symphony orchestra, Jorgensen,
6:45
WEEK 12 – Curating
Digital Art: Museums, Curating, and Conservation in the Digital Age
T Nov 13
Read
·
Rivets + Denizens: Collaborative
Curatorial Models in Theory and Practice [SWITCH online
journal #27]
View
Skim
Th Nov 15 –
Read
·
Christiane Paul, Flexible Contexts, Democratic
Filtering and Computer-Aided Curating: Models For Online Curatorial Practice (short version:
full-version pdf)
WEEK 13 – Thanksgiving
Break
WEEK 14 –
Student Presentations
Nov 26-28
WEEK 15 –
Student Presentations
Dec 3-5
FINAL PROJECTS are due by on Friday, December 7th
at noon. Projects must be “live,” accessible, and linked from the HuskyCT
posting as directed.
FINAL EXAM:
TBA. Check
Peoplesoft/registrar for updates—then let me
know…
