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CTC 1000-01
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Introduction to Computation focuses on computational techniques, methods, and ideas in the context of art and design. Studio projects first center on the design of algorithms then shift to involve computer programming and scripting. Critical attention is given to code as a body of crafted text with significant aesthetic, philosophical, and social dimensions, as well as the tension, conflict, and potential possible when computation generates, informs, or interacts with drawings, materials, forms, and spaces. Historical and contemporary works of computational art and design will be presented and assigned for analysis. This course is open to students of all majors and is designed for those with little or no experience in programming. In order to conduct work in this course, students will need a laptop computer. Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00
This course fulfills one of two core studio requirements for the CTC Concentration.
Requirement | CTC Concentration
Elective
CTC 1547-01
UI/UX DESIGN
SECTION DESCRIPTION
U/I - U/X interfaces are applied towards several digital graphic formats: smart phone ios/Android; tablet/watch; Windows OS/Mac OS; or custom sized interfaces for products like ATM machines or car dashboards. The instructor's professional design practice currently focuses on UI/UX design and future forecasting towards corporate strategies to best take advantage of the digital transformation many large corporations are being faced with at this time. Students learn methodologies and tools around smartphone app design development. Areas of design process include: research and app concept definition; conduct low-fidelity brainstorming and exploration around the users; future forecasting through speculation of user stories; journey mapping explorations; develop app aesthetic, develop navigation systems; develop app branding; and at the end build high-fidelity prototypes incorporating app navigation interaction. No prior knowledge of UI/UX development is required. Students build working prototypes of cellular interfaces that function and navigate. Coding experience is not necessary for this course and will not be taught. Students that have coding experience that may use those skills for app prototypes developed along with Adobe XD.
Requirements: a laptop running Adobe Creative Suite and a RISD student Adobe Cloud.
Elective
CTC 2000-01 / DM 2000-01
AMBIENT INTERFACES: ACTIVATED OBJECTS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is a practical and conceptual exploration into electronic sensors, processors and actuators in the context of interactive art and design. Students will turn everyday objects into ambient interfaces or "responsive systems" that respond to the conditions of the human body, data networks, and the environment. Contemporary works of art and design - from kinetic sculpture and sound art to installation, architecture and product design - will be examined through readings and presentations. Open source hardware (Arduino) and software (Processing) will be taught along with the fundamentals of electronic circuitry. Emphasis is given to the development of creative projects (individual or collaborative), followed by an iterative implementation process (planning, prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining). The course is structured around a series of tutorials and exercises, culminating in a final project. Students also present work-in-progress and prototypes during class reviews to receive qualitative feedback from the class and the instructor. Participants will engage with physical computing conceptually and technically in their studio work and are encouraged to leverage their individual backgrounds to excel in the respective context. Prior experience with electronics and programming is recommended but not required.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00
Elective
CTC 2000-02 / DM 2000-02
AMBIENT INTERFACES: ACTIVATED OBJECTS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is a practical and conceptual exploration into electronic sensors, processors and actuators in the context of interactive art and design. Students will turn everyday objects into ambient interfaces or "responsive systems" that respond to the conditions of the human body, data networks, and the environment. Contemporary works of art and design - from kinetic sculpture and sound art to installation, architecture and product design - will be examined through readings and presentations. Open source hardware (Arduino) and software (Processing) will be taught along with the fundamentals of electronic circuitry. Emphasis is given to the development of creative projects (individual or collaborative), followed by an iterative implementation process (planning, prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining). The course is structured around a series of tutorials and exercises, culminating in a final project. Students also present work-in-progress and prototypes during class reviews to receive qualitative feedback from the class and the instructor. Participants will engage with physical computing conceptually and technically in their studio work and are encouraged to leverage their individual backgrounds to excel in the respective context. Prior experience with electronics and programming is recommended but not required.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00
Elective
CTC 2012-01
GENERATIVE SYSTEMS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Generative Systems is an interdisciplinary course designed for students from all majors and varying levels of technical ability, inviting them to develop analog and digital generative systems for their own art and design projects. Students will follow online tutorials as part of their assignments, while the instructor will provide guidance and problem-solving support to ensure students' success. The course is an opportunity for students to explore tools based on their interests, such as Unity, Unreal Engine, Rhino/Grasshopper, SideFX Houdini, Blender geometry nodes, html/css/javascript and p5.js, model training and advanced generative A.I., and Photoshop scripting. Topics encompass randomization & noise, recursion, cellular automata, particle systems, agents, GANs, Diffusion models, LLMs, and more. Featuring guest critics from Generative A.I. research labs, the course enriches students' understanding of the field while delving into a global history of generative art and design, from ancient North African fractal architecture to modernist movements like Neoconcretismo and Nove Tendencije, ultimately showcasing contemporary artists, designers, and tool builders.
Estimated Materials Cost: $100.00
Elective
CTC 2257-01
DRAWING WITH COMPUTERS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Exploring the question, "What if my computer made my drawings for me?" this course investigates the use of computational methods for creating drawings. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Mark Wilson, Vera Molnar, and Harold Cohen’s work with AARON, a life-long software that crafts significant art pieces, we will explore the historical and practical aspects of coding as a creative tool. Students will research the origins of computational making, learn basic scripting for artistic aims, understand generative drawings' material outputs, and participate in hands-on projects to foster innovation and exploration in computer-assisted drawing.
Elective
CTC 3002-01
COMPUTATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND CULTURE INTERDISCIPLINARY CRITIQUE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Computation, Technology, and Culture Interdisciplinary Critique is an advanced course for juniors, seniors, and graduate students who have already demonstrated a high level of commitment to pursuing art/design work that involves computational platforms, software systems, and digital technologies, and which explores associated histories, theories, and practices. In this course, students work on an individual project that incorporates research and theoretical exploration of a topic of their choice, with the aim of producing a refined body of work or large scale piece that advances their understanding of and practice with computation and technology. Students regularly meet individually with faculty and receive feedback in recurring group critiques. Additionally, seminar discussions are held focused on pertinent readings, screenings, and lectures. Successful completion of any CTC course or equivalent coursework is preferred, but not required.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00
Requirement | CTC Concentration
Elective
DM 2039-01
IMMERSIVE SPACES
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course explores the relationships between new media languages and physical space. Building from the history and aesthetics of installation art and relational theater and based on conceptualizations such as "Relational Architecture" by Lozano-Hemmer and the "Poetics of Augmented Space" by Lev Manovich, we will learn to leverage interactive and audiovisual elements in order to design spatial experiences that are media-rich, relational, and responsive. We will use software, video-projectors, sensors and VR equipment, and explore emergent techniques including video-mapping, computer vision and augmented reality. We will learn to deploy not only vision, but also hearing and haptics to create immersive and multi-sensory environments. Class is comprised of lectures, hands-on workshops and individual projects. Students will gain a deep understanding of topics of spatial thinking and user-generated experiences related to space, as well as a theoretical and critical understanding of the history of installation and interactive arts. Although not a prerequisite, basic coding or scripting knowledge (Processing, javascript, or MAX, Touch Designer, etc.) is recommended.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00
Elective
DM 2256-01
ART AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
"Art is either plagiarism or revolution" - Paul Gauguin. This studio course explores how AI’s rapid progress is challenging artists today. As we work with these exciting, terrifying new tools, we’ll discuss how artists have responded to transformative media of the past like the camera, the television, and the internet. How can we comment on the ethical concerns of AI technology? Should we change how we think about creativity? And who will the machines replace?
Students will experiment with new tools as they are released throughout the semester, as well as interview machine learning researchers and digital artists. Authors include: Walter Benjamin, Ray Kurzweil, Harold Cohen, N. Katherine Hayles, and Ted Chiang. No coding experience is required.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00
Elective
DM 2258-01
CAMOUFLAGE AS A PRAXIS: NOW YOU SEE ME NOW YOU DON'T
SECTION DESCRIPTION
‘Camouflage as Praxis: Now You See Me Now You’ is a course exploring the forms, uses, and potentials of camouflage (or invisibility) as a strategy deployed by marginalized communities in the face of dominant hegemonies that seek to detect and disempower us. Grappling with the nuanced politics of representation and carefully unpacking the potential pitfalls and advantages of visibility, this course asks students to confront their own relationships with being in/visible, and create work from this place of definition/obscurity.
The course considers various figures such as the undercommons (Fred Moten & Stefano Harney), Ditto (the formless pokémon), Banksy (the anonymous artist), and cuttlefish (camouflaging cephalopods), among others, to uncover what it means to cover and make visible what it means to be invisible. Readings include excerpts from Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility, For Opacity by Edouard Glissant, and Undrowned by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
While course content will focus on film/video, animation, photography, and installation works, this course is interdisciplinary, and invites creative practitioners and scholars from all backgrounds and disciplines to consider how concepts of il/legibility apply to their chosen disciplines.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00
Elective
DM 3104-02 / SOUND 3104-02
SONIC PRACTICES
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Sonic Practices is a graduate-level research group focused on acoustic, electronic, and/or computer-based means of sound production and reception. Participants explore audio culture and technology while developing experimental approaches to composition, performance, recording, and/or listening. Areas of investigation include, but are not limited to: audio programming languages, embedded/mobile computing for sound and music, spatial audio, sound synthesis, audio electronics, sonification and auditory display, electroacoustic music composition and improvisation, field recording and soundscape studies, sound installation and performance, and sonic interaction design. Each semester, course content changes in response to a new unifying theme upon which students base individual and team-based research projects. Meetings consist of discussions, workshops, critiques, and collaborations that support students' individual inquiries, the exchange of ideas, and the exploration of research methodologies.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 - $200.00
Elective
DM 4534-01
ENTANGLEMENT STUDIO
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This graduate-level research studio explores concepts of entanglement through collaborative and cross-disciplinary artistic practices. We’ll be guided by critical texts and creative prompts, considering mycelial webs and rhizomatic thinking, quantum theory and intra-action, symbiogenesis and extended cognition, hydrocommons and queer ecologies, ecomedia and extractivism. We’ll learn from artist collectives around the world who engage conceptually and practically with entanglement and ecological relations through digital media, transdisciplinary practices and collective authorship. Participants will initiate cross-disciplinary dialogue with someone in a related field or practice, and will follow their own lines of inquiry to support creative work. Final projects will be research-based artistic engagements with entanglement (“research” casts a wide net here, referring to an array of embodied, scientific, theoretical and communal practices) and can be in participants’ media of choice. Thinking and making will happen independently, collaboratively and interstitially throughout the semester.
Elective
DM 7100-01
DM GRADUATE STUDIO/SEMINAR 1
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This combined studio and seminar forum for Digital + Media first year students supports the exploration of theoretical, social, material, technical and contextual research and concerns in new media arts practices during the first semester of the D+M MFA program at RISD. Students are introduced to a core set of methodologies and technologies from basic electronics, programming and interaction design to installation, and are encouraged to break comfort zones through experimentation. Students conceptualize and discuss their work and ongoing practice. The course is a mix of group discussions, individual meetings, required lecture and workshop series, and group critiques. The technical workshops are opportunities for students to experiment and test out aspects of their research in order to develop a sound practice. Guest lecturers and visiting critics may join during other portions of the class time on occasion.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 - $300.00
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Students.
Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media
DM 7103-01
MEDIA PERSPECTIVES: HISTORY OF MEDIA ART
SECTION DESCRIPTION
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.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Graduate Students.
Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media
DM 7108-01
DM GRADUATE STUDIO/SEMINAR 3
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The course supports the exploration of theoretical, social, material, technical, and contextual research and concerns in new media arts practice during the final semester of the DM MFA program. It is a combined studio and seminar forum for Digital + Media second-year students. (Students conceptualize and discuss their work and their ongoing practice and thesis process). The course is a mix of individual meetings, group discussions and group critiques. Guest lecturers and visiting critics will also become involved with this class in terms of critical/research aspects. Each student will practice articulating their art process and work towards their thesis and will contribute to the dialogue concerning the research and work of their classmates.
Estimated Materials Cost: $100.00 - $300.00
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Graduate Students.
Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media
DRAW 1114-01
INDEPENDENT DRAWING PROJECT
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The goal of Independent Drawing Projects is for students to develop a distinct, carefully conceived, and self-directed body of works through a process of investigation, critical assessment and production. Through a rigorous studio practice, students are expected to identify and develop their own conceptual interests and material approaches. Individual and group critiques support, facilitate, and intensify this process. While drawing concentrators will be given priority, interested students outside of the concentration and beyond the sophomore level may take this course. For the drawing concentrator, the work created for the Independent Drawing Project serves as the culmination of the Drawing Concentration program.
Elective
DRAW 1123-01
DRAWING: BODY ACTION MARK
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course will focus awareness on the intertwined connections between the drawing BODY, ACTION and MARK. In this course, we will move our bodies in directed and experiential ways, sensitizing our bodies and minds to the possibilities of drawing as an embodied action. Embodied drawing practice focuses on drawing as a physical act, inviting awareness of the sensation and intelligence of the drawing body as a catalyst for practice. Through experimentation with embodied movement, action and making, students will experience their own drawing process as meaningful engagement with action. Studio experimentation and research will investigate the formal possibilities of ACTION as movement in time and space, then move to a critical consideration of ACTION in context and as methodology that can both contain and generate meaning. Course methodologies may include: process-focused practice; mindful investigation of movement; individual and collaborative studio experimentation and performance of drawing. Areas of study may include: motion visualization; algorithmic and choreographic approaches to action-based generative composition; body and technology; artistic action as meaningful methodology in social and cultural context.
This course will comprise of in-class studio exercises, slide/video presentations, critiques, short readings and discussions. Through these diverse modes of learning, students will have the opportunity to engage with foregrounding concepts and direct experiences of an embodied approach to drawing practice, focusing on the experience and potential outcomes of drawing as action in context. Students will also engage in independent research to be shared with the class, broadening the array of work we critically engage with. Independent studio research will be ongoing throughout the course, and will culminate in self-directed Midterm and Final Projects.
Elective
FAV 2454-01
VISUAL MUSIC
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is designed for students with any level of musical experience to explore music composition and the creation of experimental films based on music. During the course, students will experiment with various approaches including sampling, field recording, sound synthesis, ensembles and altered instruments. This will be complimented by strategies for creating animation, experimental film, and video based on music composition. Along with weekly experiments and workshops, students will create a short experimental film based on music they create.
Elective
FAV 5100-01
FILM PRACTICES
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In Film Practices, students learn 16mm film processes, skills, and techniques - as a material and conceptual foundation necessary for every time-based practice. Exposure, focus, depth of field, and basic editing strategies are explored as tools for becoming fluent in the language of cinema. Students will build an understanding of the various meanings conveyed by aesthetic decisions regarding composition, movement, and editing. Through individual and group projects, screenings, in-class assignments, and readings, students will explore key concepts in material-based filmmaking to build, expand, and deepen their time-based practice.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $220.00
Deposit: $150.00
Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.
Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video
FAV 5100-02
FILM PRACTICES
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In Film Practices, students learn 16mm film processes, skills, and techniques - as a material and conceptual foundation necessary for every time-based practice. Exposure, focus, depth of field, and basic editing strategies are explored as tools for becoming fluent in the language of cinema. Students will build an understanding of the various meanings conveyed by aesthetic decisions regarding composition, movement, and editing. Through individual and group projects, screenings, in-class assignments, and readings, students will explore key concepts in material-based filmmaking to build, expand, and deepen their time-based practice.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $220.00
Deposit: $150.00
Please contact fav@risd.edu for permission to register.
Major Requirement | BFA Film/Animation/Video