DM 2014

Lalya Gaye

PLAYING GAMES

This is an under-graduate/graduate level research class composed of students from both Fine Arts and Design Divisions at RISD. The overarching research goal of the project is to provide Hasbro with creative inspiration on the development of a next generation game in the spirit of "Cranium". The class will investigate the concept and practice of play in various societal, familial and generational contexts, and will specifically study and create new games that encourage positive, creative interaction between participants. Through a series of guest lectures and directed exercises, students will be exposed to historical and cultural thinking about games and the psychology of play: competition; collaboration; self-image; imagination; expertise. Those concepts will be investigated further through a variety of design projects aimed at re-thinking "games", as well as creating new modes of play. How do we use games socially? How we devise new games that will allow families, groups of friends or relative strangers to build positive relationships and mutual appreciation? How can individual players feel like connected and valuable contributors within the social space created by the game? How can a game create a dynamic and inventive environment that reflects changing aspects of contemporary culture? Working individually and in collaborative groups, students will be involved in concept development with an emphasis on generating multiple rougher concepts as opposed to a single polished prototype. Thorough design process documentation culminating in the preparation and delivery of a professional corporate presentation will be required. However, the design specifics stipulated by the corporate partner is minimal, and students will be encouraged to approach this project in a spirit of experimental, innovative creativity.<br> Interested students should contact Lalya Gaye lalya.gaye@gmail.com Due to the limited class size, students should submit a written paragraph specifying his/her interest in taking for this course. Please include summer telephone contact information.

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 4890

Kelly Elizabeth Dobson

TEXTILE FUTURES

This course will explore the intersection of textiles and emergent technologies anr processes towards new ways of creating, defining and experiencing textiles. Students will learn about the current climate of future textiles in practice, concept and theory; and will develop their own ideas towards a major project. This project may be a finished piece, a researched proposal, or a prototype of a new approach to textiles as explored through digital media or new material technologies. Projects may explore new hypothetical technologies (i.e., nanotechnology), new integrated media / textile spaces that include interactivity, experimental textile-based installation work, advanced material and production processes, as well as exploring the functionality of textiles as a protective, responsive and informational medium. The traditional aesthetic and emotional qualities of cloth and craft will be considered as a touchstone in informing and contextualizing the work in the 21st century.

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7001

Rafael Abram Attias

INTERACTIVE TEXT-INTERACTIVE SOUND ANDIMAGE EMPHASIS

The course has an Interactive Sound and Image Emphasis. In this class, students experiment with text, visuals, and audio composition in the digital realm, placing emphasis on the effect and meaning transformation that occurs when texts are combined with visuals and audio material. Students that are interested in digital illustration, animation, experimental installations and other new forms of digital art are encouraged to take this class. Each student works on a semester-long project, as well as a series of assignments that balance conceptual concerns with artistic expression. This course introduces the student to narrative and non-narrative experimentation with language in digital space, presented as fine art practice. Creation of elaborate imagery and animations with digital tools such as Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Flash and Final Cut as well as the basics of audio production, recording, arranging and sequencing with programs like Pro Tools and Ableton Live and other basic analog recording techniques. The course balances conceptual concerns related to content and structuring methodologies with artistic expression. Specific aesthetic histories are explored tracing the use of text in artistic practice including Concrete Poetry, the texts of Kurt Schwitters, Russian Constructivist posters, Fluxus poetic works, The Dada and Surrealist Word/Image, Magritte, Jenny Holtzer, Ed Ruscha, Barbara Kruger as well as other contemporary practitioners.

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 7009

TBD

EXPERIMENTS IN OPTICS

This class will serve as an interface between the new technologies of digital media, and the old technologies of optics. New digital technologies will be given alternative possibilities with the addition of specific projection apparatus (in terms of both projection optics and projection surfaces), plays with reflection (such as the construction of anamorphic cylinders, zoetropes, and other optical devices), and in the fabrication of project specific lenses. Given the hands-on nature of the glass department, the actual making and/or subversion of traditional optics is possible. The class will encourage collaborative work between students of varying experience levels and will foster the incorporation and dialogue between students of the two differing areas of expertise.

Semester:Winter [2009-2010]

DM 7021

Peter Rogers Segerstrom

INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE PROGRAMMING

This course will teach basic programming concepts with a focus on processing and web-based applications. Beyond basic cross-language technical skills, the course will also ground software practices in a critical context to examine how and why contemporary artists choose to use software, how software written by artists gets used and disseminated via the web, and how software practices intersect with traditions of performance art and public art. Students will create case studies of software-based art projects to gain greater understanding of the social, political and technological forces at work in software development. The course will explore variables, functions, data structures, loops, conditionals, web architectures -- and various approaches to the software development process -- iterative design, debugging, unit testing, usability. Students will collaboratively experiment with different programming languages such as ActionScript, PHP and Processing along with XML and mySQL data sources to develop web-based software projects. No prior programming experience is necessary. Restricted to Graduate, Senior Digital Media Majors can take this class as a NODE.

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 7026

Eric Joshua Forman

PHYSICAL COMPUTING

This class is a practical hand-on exploration of physically interactive electronics for the artist/designer. Students will learn how to interface objects and installations with the viewers body and ambient stimuli such as motion, light, sound, or intangible data. Integration with traditional and experimental materials will be covered, along with how low-cost and environmentally progressive strategies such as hacking and re-using existing technologies. Starting with the basics using the open-source Arduino platform, the class will move through electrical theory, circuit design, microcontroller programming, sensors, and complex output including motors, video, and intercommunication between objects. Along side this rigorous technical focus will be discussion and critique of the conceptual basis and real-world experience of students work. Engagement with art historical and theoretical context will also be encouraged. Estimated Cost of Materials: $200

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7028

Rafael Abram Attias

SOUNDMARKS: SOUND DESIGN FOR VISUALMEDIA

This class will cover the fundamentals of digital audio composition, production, recording, arranging and sequencing, as well as the implementation of video, and reactive/interactive visualization. The class will consist of one semester-long project as well as a series of short-term assignments. Students will explore how to manipulate physical space with the creation of installation environments that will appeal to the viewer's entire sensory experience. Using digital studio tools like ProTools, Ableton Live and other audio programs as well as motion graphic software such as Final Cut and Flash, students will learn how to capture, manipulate, mix and optimize audio and visual material for final production. Analog and digital technologies will be explored tracing the use of sound and installation art as a sensory experience and connective instrument. We will review specific histories including the works of Maryanne Amacher, the Baschet Brothers, Alvin Lucier, Bruce Nauman, Hans Jenny, Phil Kline as well as other modern day practitioners. Permission of Instructor Required Course Level: Senior, 5th-year, Graduate

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 7035

Clement Stephane Valla

3D MODELING FOR ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS

Digital 3D modeling is a versatile tool that can be used by painters and printmakers to create perspectival imagery, by sculptors to manipulate form, by architects and interior architects to mockup spatial ideas and explore materiality, and by film and video artists to quickly create animations. This course is an introduction and an overview of 3D modeling for artists and designers. The course will look at various 3D modeling techniques as well as different methods of outputting or presenting 3D models, including rendering images, creating animations, or using fabrication techniques such as lasercutters and rapid prototyping machines to produce physical models. The main goal of the course is to help students develop a working methodology for integrating 3D modeling into their own practice, through a series of exercises. One of the main ideas that will be explored in the course is the versatility of 3D modeling. Students will be encouraged not only to explore 3D modeling as it relates to their own discipline, but to explore digital modeling as a bridge to other disciplines and as a new way to explore space and spatial representations. The course will not focus on a single software, but will examine the relative strengths of various 3d modeling packages, including Maya, 3Ds Max, Rhinoceros 3D, and Google Sketchup. The course is open to both beginners and students with experience in 3D modeling looking to expand and diversify their skills. Qualities as NODE for D+M majors.

Semester:Winter [2009-2010]

DM 7037

Lalya Gaye

SOUND,MEDIA, URBAN SPACEPLAYFUL INTERACTIONS

This studio-based course explores the relationship of urban space, media and sound. Through literature seminars, group activities and individual projects, it investigates the role of sound for interaction with everyday objects, urban architecture, people, media devices and networks, and allows for a new perspective on playful interactions in and with our media-saturated cities. Some questions raised during the course are: What are the temporal, spatial and aesthetic qualities of sound in urban space? How can we orchestrate, tune, sonify or silence the complex multi-sensory environment of the city? Can we play the media city like a musical instrument? How can sound facilitate or disturb navigation and orientation in urban space? Can we invent alternatives to speakers or headphones for sound output? What role does sound and music experienced in public space play in the cultural identities of cities? Are there different modes of listening? How does sound relate to and shape our perception of scale, speed and rhythm in architecture? After a brief introduction to the physics of sound and acoustics, the class will look at upcoming areas of research, art and design dealing with sound, media and urban space, such as Sound Studies, Locative Media, Sonic Interaction Design and Mobile Music. The field of Sound Studies explores the history and contemporary status of sounds, such as church bells, skateboards, foghorns, highways, cell phones. There is also a growing interest in the intersection of architecture and sound. Locative Media is a form of digital media with a sense of place and a direct connection to urban space. Sonic Interaction Design is concerned with the exploitation of sound as one of the principal channels conveying information, meaning, and aesthetic/emotional qualities in interactive contexts. The field of Mobile Music explores how we can take advantage of our urban mobility to make, experience or share sounds or music. An important part of the class will consist of practical outdoors sessions in the urban environment (e.g., sound walks, sonic playtable, interaction re-labeling) that will highlight how we interact with urban space and media via sound. Critical discussions of these will be conducted in class in the light of selected short readings, as well as presentations of key examples of works from the fields and histories of sound art, media art and public art. Finally, students will conduct mini-projects in which they will develop their own concepts and question, challenge, disturb and play with the role of sound in urban media interaction. Projects can be very low-tech or not use technology at all; therefore no technical skills are required. In terms of course requirements, students are expected do a short oral presentation in a session of choice (in pairs); to complete one short written reflection text upon the practical exercises; conduct a mini-project individually or in pairs; and write one short essay at the end of the course about their project and how it relates to the fields of Sound Studies, Locative Media, Sonic Interaction Design and/or Mobile Music.

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 7039

Kelly Elizabeth Dobson

OUTER SPACE, INNER SPACE

New digital media possibilities are changing the way small-scale spaces are designed to function. In recent proposals for the interior design of NASA's newest lunar modules, for example, elements such as interactive sensate support furniture and interpersonal mediated communication design are emphasized. New digital media technologies have roles in the ways people experience their personal boundaries, extensions, voice, and community. Artists, activists, architects, furniture designers, industrial designers, apparel designers, and wearable computation designers address issues of personal space and agency and connection. In this course we will investigate personal, political and psychological roles of various personal and community spaces. We will use the Digital + Media Special Projects Room as a studio and center for the course, both for developing and building projects that help facilitate and articulate experiences through different forms of personal architectures and apparatuses, and as a meeting and discussion and critique space for community events occasioned as part of the process of the course. We will focus on research, prototyping, discussion and production of projects. Topics will span the areas of art, architecture, furniture, design, engineering, social theory, activism, and critical cultural production. The course is designed as part seminar (1/3) and part studio (2/3), with three or four material+technical workshops that can be open to interested parties in the wider RISD and MIT communities. The course will involve a NASA architect as visitor, as well as participants from MIT. We will look at previous NASA projects as well as artists' and designers' work addressing personal space. We will form a community around contemporary investigations of personal space and the wider political and community aspects of its forms and expressions -- building, investigating, and iterating together with the objective focus on critical and reflexive research and invention, and the sharing of ideas and perspectives. Restricted to Seniors and Graduate Level students.

Semester:Winter [2009-2010]

DM 7100

Clement Stephane Valla

DM CONTINUUM STUDIO 1

This is an introductory course to ground incoming Digital + Media students in the vocabulary of multiple practices within digital media. A core component of the DM curriculum is that students achieve a high level of dexterity in bridging physical and computational media, enabling and fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration. This course involves a rigorous, hands-on approach to developing a thorough understanding of computational media as it applies to individual creative practice. Students are introduced to a core set of methodologies and technologies from basic electronics and programming to interaction design to installation, and are encouraged to brea comfort zones and practice through experimentation. Restricted to Digital + Media Majors

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 7101

Paul Allen Badger

BODY ELECTRIC

The human body is a site for electronic measurement and surveillance for many purposes. Medicine, security, and law enforcement are the major players but many other fileds including sports, bio-feedback therapies, and a nascent field called affective computing also benefit from the use of electronic biometric tools. tThe human body is also a site for electrical stimulation, again mostly by the medical profession but also for purposes of psychotherapy and meditation, torture - and its strangely related twin - erotic pursuits. Artists invesigating their own bodies as sites for artwork have a rich and long tradition dating from the 1960's with ritualistic, conceptual, and feminist experiments by Schwartzkogler, Burden, Acconci, Chicago, Schneeman, and Finley, to name only a few. More recently, the concept of cyborg influences the body art in the work of such artists as Orlan, Stelarc, Steve Mann, and Arthyr Elsenaar. We take a look at some of this tradition and also explore the new tools (and data sources) to see what they have to offer artists. This includes relatively cheap and available sensors for such human parameters as heartbeat, muscle tone, skin resistance, and breath. We examine technologies such as muscle stimulation and possibly, turning images into electrical potentials, to be sensed by through the skin (and recognized as images!), which already has been done by both scientists and artists. If funds permit, eye tracking and/or brainwave sensors, which tend to be more expensive and sophisticated, could be investigated. Readings include selections from Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish, Rosalind Picard's Affective Computing, and Uncle Abdul's Juice: Electricity for Pleasure and Pain.

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7102

Catherine D'Ignazio

DIGITAL MEDIA GRADUATE SEMINAR/TUTORIAL

This course explores the theoretical issues surrounding new media arts practice. Students conceptualize and discuss their studio-based work produced in other classes and their ongoing practice. Readings in critical cultural theory, media art theory, semiotics and other areas further ground the conceptual approach of students in the Digital Media department to advanced digital arts practice. Students develop a paper that discusses a series of artists works related to their own art practice as well as observe other related works and documentation/URLs. The course also provides a space to build a context for the student's work in terms of other media art practice. The class is a mix of individual meetings and group critiques. Some lecturers from Liberal Arts, and/or visiting critics may also become involved with this class in terms of critical/research aspects. This class also helps inform the development of the written thesis. This is course is reserved for and required of Digital Media majors May be repeated for credit with exception of final semester.

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7103

George W Fifield

DIGITAL MEDIA PERSPECTIVES:HISTORY OF MEDIA ART

In this historical survey, we analyze the aesthetic conventions, narratives, and formats of works in new media. We examine the impact digital technologies and new media have had on existing media, as well as the ways in which new media function as a unique system of communication. While investigating the aesthetic conventions, economic conditions and infrastructures that affect the production of new media, we address the social and political contexts in which new media are disseminated, interpreted and privileged. We make connections across decades by focusing on the recurring themes of language, futurism, simulation, hyper-reality, transnationality and information. Restricted to and Requirement for Digital Media majors

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7104

Daniel J Peltz

LECTURE SERIES SEMINAR

This series presents a set of lectures by prominent individuals exploring Digital Media as a creative, expressive tool. Every other week the class meets and talks about the lectures and discusses additional related readings. Students write a paper on a related topic and/or put into context their own work in relation to one of the visiting lecturer's talks. This short written paper is to be 2400 words + references and is expected to articulate the salient issues discussed in one of the lectures and/or is to articulate some important aspect of the lecturer's work. Individual meetings are also facilitated that provide feedback on student work. The class meets in a wired classroom and views additional work via the internet. In addition to the written paper, each student introduces a discussion related to a specific lecturer by presenting an oral report on a related reading or website material. Approximately 3 students present these reports each week (when the class meets outside of the RISD Auditorium). The class then discusses the presentation of the visiting artist/critic. This course is reserved for and required of Digital Media majors only May be repeated for credit

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 7119

Catherine D'Ignazio

MEDIA,PERFORMANCE,EXPERIENCE

This course is a production seminar for graduate students who want to explore performative and experiential elements in their work, including live art, participatory aesthetics, theatrical spaces and objects, interaction design and networked performance. It is structured as a series of short lectures, in-class collaborative projects, and workshops that cover contemporary practices in performance, with a focus on the distribution of the work through its various media representations. The main production emphasis of the course is the realization of a performance project completed independently or in collaboration with other students. Discussions focus on the role of spectacle, participation, and interactivity with special consideration given to the role of the body and the site of the work. This seminar is useful both for students who consider themselves "performers" and also for those who are creating experiential objects, environments or systems, and who need to think about movement, gesture, and the subtleties of timing, body and interaction. Course Level: Graduate

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 7152

Daniel J Peltz

RESEARCH PROJECT

This class takes the form of a series of individual meetings to explore work related to a particular research project. The student may work on their own project or work with the lecturer to facilitate a particular research venture as part of a team. The student develops a proposal for an individual or a team based project. They then work independently or in selected groups. This class also facilitates group meetings and class critiques. Restricted to Senior, Fifth-year, Graduate; Elective 2009SP Section 01: GIS: Extrapolating the Personal to the Social: Section 02: Research Project: Performance Contact the department for complete topic descriptions

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7197

Jennifer A Liese

DIGITAL MEDIA THESIS PREP

In "On Permission to Write", essayist Cynthia Ozick distinguishes between the "good-citizen writer" and the "shaman-writer" The first, she says, writes dutifully; the second, "obsessively", "torrentially", and most crucially, with self-given permission. For artists and designers who have, by and large, favored visual over written expression, obsession and torrent probably come more naturally in the studio than on the page. This course seeks to bring that same uninhibited, exploratory, and illuminating sensibility to the thesis, to suggest that writing is not a duty, but rather can be integral to studio practice. We will look at writing about one's work -- its art-historical, theoretical, and personal sources; its form and process; its motivation; its interpretation -- as a kind of translation from form to language (one that can be as individual and authentic as our chosen materials). The course will include writing exercises designed to help us think more deeply and coherently about our work and ideas, as well as discussion of assigned readings. The readings are exclusively written by artists and designers: criticism, manifestos, journal writings, and artist interviews?a selection intended to suggest that in permitting themselves to write, artists and designers establish artistic agency, lineage, and history itself through that writing. Fall 2009 replacement for Thesis Project.

Semester:Fall [2009-2010]

DM 7198

Jennifer A Liese

DIG MEDIA GRAD WRITTEN THESIS

This seminar includes intensive group writing sessions. Individual meetings also will be conducted to support each student in assembling a comprehensive written thesis. Centrally our task together is to understand and evaluate actual studio work and to communicate this clearly and effectively within a comprehensive document. To accomplish this we will address: thesis rationale, development of concepts, source material, context relevant philosophical, aesthetic and theoretical issues as well as working process. Structure, layout, documentation, and the mechanics of formatting will also be explored in depth. This course is reserved for and required of 2nd Year MFA Digital + Media majors

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7199

Kelly Elizabeth Dobson

THESIS PROJECT

This course supports the practical, conceptual, theoretical and historical development of the M.F.A. thesis (exhibition and written document). Students are required to work independently and in individual consultation with their thesis committee to develop and finalize the thesis exhibition and written document for presentation at the end of the year. The exhibition and written thesis should articulate one's personal studio art / design practice in an historically and theoretically informed context. Formal group critiques are required at the midterm and end of the semester. A major final critique with visiting critics is held in the context of the final MFA Exhibition. The accompanying written thesis is expected to be of publishable quality and is also placed within the public sphere through electronic publication and filing with the RISD Library. Final submissions for this course include the presentation of a final exhibition, submission of the final written thesis, and timely completion of work for preliminary deadlines throughout the semester (draft theses, exhibition plans and press materials). Please see Digital + Media Thesis Timeline for a clear sequence of required deadlines. Please refer to the Digital + Media Thesis Guidelines and Policies for clarification of the goals and expectations of the RISD D+M MFA.

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]

DM 7538

TBD

DIGITAL + MEDIA THEORY

As critical phenomenology, the aim of this course is to influence two acts, how to see and how to critique digital media, as extension of unresolved conceptual and aesthetic problems and as catapult for entirely original practice and possibility. The approach is the ?theoretical crit? that students write each week in response to readings, methods, problems, and works closely explored. As in contemporary art, new media?s objects and theories are becoming increasingly interdependent. Thus, rather than using theory to evaluate artwork, we examine both work and theory, coming to contemporary, formal, critical, and instrumental voice through which to respond to assumptions and aspirations of each. This course is a requirement for Digital + Media majors.

Semester:Spring [2009-2010]