History and Theory of Digital Art



See university statements here.
History and Theory of Digital Art Professor Mark Amerika
Spring 2011
Tuesday/Thursday 3:30 - 4:45
VAC 1B23 (Digital Art Seminar Room)
email: Mark.Amerika@Colorado.Edu
Office Hours: By appointment
What It Is As part of our goal to seek other perspectives that will help us explore these exciting areas of study, we will engage ourselves with a provocative mix of readings, screenings, web-surfings, metro-region exhibitions, and in-class visitors throughout the semester. Visiting artists and exhibitions in the Boulder/Denver area this semester include:
  • January 20: CU Faculty Show (CU Museum exhibition opening) *
  • January 27: Illya Szilak (in-class) *
  • February 10: Jeremy Yuille (in-class) *
  • February 15: Norie Neumark (in-class) *
  • February 16: Steina (Denver Art Museum)
  • March 10: Blink! (Denver Art Museum exhibition opening) *
  • March 16: Charles Sandison (Denver Art Museum)
  • March 29: Shana Moulton (VAC auditorium) *
  • April 12: William Basinski (Communikey) *
  • April 20: Alan Rath (Denver Art Museum)
The schedule below is a "loose itinerary" of subjects we will visit on the way toward further artistic and intellectual stimulation. Be prepared for our schedule to occasionally go through changes, especially as we confirm dates for visiting artists.

Here is a tentative schedule of weekly events:

Tagging the Present  
Bling Bling Blogging
This course requires that you maintain and regularly post entries to class-specific blog. If you do not know what a blog is or have never started one before, look it up on Wikipedia.

You can get started at a popular spot like blogger.com which lets you start building and designing your own "blog" at their website if you want to do it the easy way.

Each week throughout the semester, YOU ARE REQUIRED to compose an entry to your "blog" detailing your thoughts about the various readings, art works, artists, theories, screenings, events, and classroom discussions you encounter over the course of the semester. Try and make at least two links to external sites from each of your main entries to help document your online research. Quote from these sites if possible. Each entry should be 400-500 words unless otherwise noted.

Feel free to embed digital images, YouTube or Quicktime movies, and any other useful media in your "blogs" in addition to your writing. If you have the inclination and/or are interested in proactively researching the phenomenon known as "video blogging" (where you script or improvise your reactions to the course material, videotape the response, and edit it into a video blog entry), feel free to discuss that with me before proceeding.

Keep in mind that these "blogs" need to be well-thought out subjective responses to various issues covered throughout the semester. You are also encouraged to express your own spontaneous artist theories that reveal your own personal writing style. Feel free to speculate and offer insights into how the work you are being exposed to this semester is starting to affect your own developing practice as an artist, writer, teacher, theorist, interdisciplinary media practitioner, performer, etc.

Since these will be online, that means they are "always already published" and, as such, are open to the public. Keep that in mind!

NOTE: Your weekly blogs are due at noon on Tuesday before class.

LINKS: You can check out Professor Steve Shaviro's blog here. To keep up with the latest in interdisciplinary media art practice, two blogs stand out: here and here too. Definitely view some of the episodes at this video blog site (and while you're at it, this one too). The theoretical concept of a video blog was first developed here.

If you look for it, you will find A LOT of blog art out there. For example, this exhibition at Alt-X.