Digital Arts and Cultures in a Postmodern Context
Level 1
Tutor: Dr Anna Notaro, Room E 12.21; 024 631 1440; A.Notaro@let.ru.nl
DESCRIPTION
We are living in a unique moment in
history in which all forms of cultural production and distribution are becoming
based on computer technologies. This increasing dependence on images for
information and images as knowledge necessitates visual and digital literacy,
as well as a technological, cultural literacy
We will examine the basic history of the
computer and computing in the arts, theories and trends in media art and
digital culture. We will study artists who use the computer as a medium, tool,
or subject matter, screening work from the web, video and film. As we examine
work in a variety of forms (net art, digital video and audio, interactive
works, animation, hypertext documents, etc.), we will contextualize the
concepts through readings available mostly on-line.
Course
Aims:
By the end of this course it is expected
that students will be able to:
-
demonstrate a
critical understanding of the development of selected digital art forms in
their historical, cultural and institutional contexts;
-
undertake close
analysis of a range of digital ‘texts’
and, where appropriate, to relate them to their contexts;
-
demonstrate a
familiarity with some of the most important critical terms and concepts used in
the discussion of the ‘new media’
Class time will
be divided between discussions, screenings of artwork, movies and presentations
of assignments. No computer expertise is
required. Although there will be frequent assignments requiring access to
the World Wide Web. The language of the course is English, however the tutor
will consider with some degree of flexibility any arising difficulties.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Assignments: Students are to do ONE
(or more if they wish to) of the assigned activities indicated for each session
and to report to class by making use of the in-class computer. Students’
reports can be written in Dutch or English. Assignments count for 20% of the
grade. It is strongly advised that students work in groups of 3-4.
Final Essay (2000/2500 words essay):
The essay gives you the opportunity to explore a topic of your choice in depth
among the ones addressed in the sessions, (due on June…, noon, in the Digital
Culture box, located in the Department Office). The essay should be well
written and coherently organized. Make sure to give sufficient support for your
argument in the form of quotations or examples, do not “drop” quotes or images,
and cite your references. It can be written in Dutch or in English. Please consult the tutor before deciding
to write your final essay in English.
The essay counts for 80% of your final grade.
It is essential that all work is presented according to the conventions set out
in the ‘Schrijfwijzer Algemene Cultuurwetenschappen’ (for English speakers see
‘How to write good essays’
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/index.html and ‘MLA Essay writing Guidelines’
http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/mla.html ) Attention should
be paid to these conventions because essays that are presented incorrectly
might lose marks. Any essay returned after the deadline will be penalized (For essays returned 1-2 days after deadline
1 mark is detracted, from 3 to 5 days delay, 2 marks are detracted, essays
handed in 5 days after deadline are not
accepted) unless medical evidence is presented to the
tutor. To be granted an extension
students should contact the tutor by email at least 1 week before deadline.
For each class you are asked
to read a theoretical article, to critically assess web sites, to do the weekly
assignments, to do the optional reading, if you wish to know more about that
topic. Don’t get discouraged, but try and come to terms with complex ideas.
Please bring your questions to class, together we will make sense of complicated
theories.
After reading the article
once, take note of the concepts and / or foreign terms that you do not
understand. Read a second time following the advice below:
Above all be proactive, creative, critical and open
minded: try and establish connections among the diverse issues you come across
and make explicit the reasons on which your evaluations are based. In matters
of culture there are no easy answers, but that is no reason to stop asking
questions!
This course outline is
available at:
Week 1 Course Introduction
Course Overview + discussion
of main aims & assignments
Week 1 What is Digital
Culture?
Screening:
extracts from The Net (1995) more on
this movie at
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113957/
- Run the following tutorial: ‘Searching the World Wide Web: a basic tutorial’
http://www.tilburguniversity.nl/services/library/instruction/www/onlinecourse/
Assignments:
1) Visit the ‘what is a
computer’ section of the Cyberworld online exhibition at
http://projects.powerhousemuseum.com/universal/what_is_a_computer.htm
(view also the ‘related web sites’ at the bottom of page); report to class
2) Visit the ‘Digital Culture’
section of the Cyberworlds online exhibition at http://projects.powerhousemuseum.com/universal/digital.htm,
(also the ‘related web sites’) report to the class.
3) View the following on the
history of the Web and report to class
http://www.sr.net/srnet/enteringwww/guide.01.html
http://www.sr.net/srnet/enteringwww/guide.02.html
http://www.sr.net/srnet/enteringwww/guide.03.html
http://www.sr.net/srnet/enteringwww/guide.04.html
4) Read ‘A Short History of
the Internet’ at http://w3.aces.uiuc.edu/AIM/scale/nethistory.html,
report.
Week 2 From Modernism to Postmodernism
(optional) Defining
Postmodernism
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0242.html
(optional) F. Jameson,
Synopsis of his ''Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late
Capitalism'' http://ssr1.uchicago.edu//PRELIMS/Strat/stadd.html
Assignments:
1) On the basis of Klages’
reading, compile a list of ‘key words’ which characterize
Postmodernism/postmodernity and bring it to class for collective discussion.
2) Visit the ‘Everything
Postmodern’ page at http://www.ebbflux.com/postmodern/ Evaluate the web site critically: is it helpful
in order to better understand what postmodernism is? If any, which pages/links
in the web site you find most useful? Is really ‘Everything’ postmodern today,
as the web site’s name would lead us to believe?
3) Can you think of any
examples of ‘postmodern texts’, either in written of visual form, i.e. a novel,
a movie etc? Try and explain, in writing, what it is that makes them postmodern.
Report to class.
Week 2 Virtual
Communities
(optional) Howard Rheingold,
‘Daily Life in Cyberspace’ in The Virtual
Community. Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, 1993 available online
at
http://www.well.com/user/hlr/vcbook/index.html
Assignments:
1) Formulate a question regarding
any of today’s readings. This question should address a central issue and
should be phrased in such a way as to encourage class discussion. Post your
questions on Blackboard, a few will be selected for class discussion
2) Find out more about one of
the most popular chat programs on the web,
icq, by visiting its web site at
http://web.icq.com/ Download the program and join if you wish. (alternatively,
use msn messenger or yahoo messenger).Write a short account and report to
class.
Week3 Online Identities
(optional) Sherry Turkle, ‘Constructions and
Reconstructions of the Self in Virtual Reality, 1996, available online at http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/constructions.html
Assignments:
1) Formulate a question
regarding any of today’s readings. This question should address a central issue
and should be phrased in such a way as to encourage class discussion. Post your
questions on Blackboard, a few will be selected for class discussion
2) Look at online dating site
www.match.com (or search in Google for
‘online dating’). Think about what are the qualities that personal descriptions
and photos are meant to represent. Are they truthful representations of
people’s ‘real’ identities?
2) Visit the personal web
page of Julian Dibbell at http://juliandibbell.com
(click on ‘This Boy’s Life’). Assess the page: which are the elements that you
find particularly significant? Think about how your own personal web page could
look like, which hyperlinks would you include, what kind of information would
you like a reader/viewer to know about your/Self? You might like to try and build
your own personal home page, the
following could be useful
http://www.pagetutor.com/pagetutor/makapage/
Week 3
Virtual Reality
Screening: extracts from BBC
Documentary on Cyberspace
Extracts from ‘The Animatrix
(2003) more on this at
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328832/
(optional) Michael Heim, The
Essence of VR’ in The Metaphysics of
Virtual Reality, 1993
1993
Assignments:
1) Formulate a question
regarding today’s reading. This question should address a central issue and
should be phrased in such a way as to encourage class discussion. Post your
questions on Blackboard, a few will be selected for class discussion
2) Visit the ‘simulation and visualisation’ section of the Cyberworld
online exhibition at
http://projects.powerhousemuseum.com/universal/simulation.htm
(visit also related links, bottom page). Report to class.
3) Visit the following
website and choose a topic of your choice among the ‘Application’ list to know
more about the practical applications of Virtual Reality in that field. Report
to the class.
http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/knowledge_base/onthenet.html
Week 4 Literature in the Digital Age
Read the following sections:
Introduction, The Hypertextual and the Virtual, Modes of Representation,
Hypertext and The Future of the book.
(optional) K. Phelps, ‘Story
Shapes for Digital Media’ at http://www.glasswings.com.au/modern/shapes/
View: Nick Montfort, The Girl and the Woolf http://beehive.temporalimage.com/archive/41arc.html
Ana Maria Uribe, http://beehive.temporalimage.com/archive/41arc.html
Assignments:
1) Choose any of the
following examples of hypertext fiction/digital narratives, write a short,
critical account of the piece you have considered and report to the whole
classroom
http://192.211.16.13/curricular/panopticon/student_projects/fiction/thread.htm
http://rtis.com/reg/roundtop/sunrise1.htm
http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/roarofdestiny/theroar.html
http://users.rcn.com/rick.interport/lies/lies.html
http://users.aol.com/ibar88/private/story/index.htm
2) Having read Phelp’s ‘Story
Shapes for different Media’, answer, in writing, the following questions: which of her story shapes do you find most
attractive and why? Does her own narrative fall within any of the ‘shapes’ she
has identified? Report to class.
3) Visit the digital pages of
the British Library at http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation3.html
Click on ‘Leonardo’s notebook
and reflect, in writing, upon the significance of making available on the web
such great books. Report to class.
4) Visit the Het Geheugen van
Nederland at
http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/gvnnl/all/index.cfm
And reflect, in writing, upon
the significance of preserving national cultural memory by using the web.
Report to class.
Week 5
Photography
in the Digital Age
Presentation
by the digital photographer Eric Kellerman, more about Eric’s work at http://www.erickellermanphotography.com/bioinfo.html
http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jeanine/digital_photo.html
(optional) Jos de Mul ‘The virtualization of the world view: The end of photography and the return of the aura’ (available from tutor, request a week in advance)
Assignments:
1) Formulate a question
regarding today’s readings. This question should address a central issue and
should be phrased in such a way as to encourage class discussion. Post your
questions on Blackboard, a few will be selected for class discussion following
the presentation by the photographer Eric Kellerman
2) If you own a digital
camera, take 2 pictures of your best friend and/or fellow student, one should
be truthful to the ‘original’ the second
‘re-touched’ it. What are his/her
reactions to your manipulation of his/her image? Report to the class by showing
us the 2 pictures.
3) Read about the new
SenseCam at http://www.gizmo.com.au/public/News/news.asp?articleid=2694
and reflect, writing, about
the consequences of wearing a similar camera 24 hours a day!
Week 6
Computer Games
Screening: extract from Tom Raider (2001) more on this movie at
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146316/
Reading:
T.
Friedman ‘ Making Sense of Software: Computer Games and interactive Textuality
at http://www.duke.edu/~tlove/simcity.htm
Assignments:
1) read M. Ward, ‘Being Lara
Croft, or, We Are All Sci Fi
http://popmatters.com/features/000114-ward.html
try and sum up the author’s main argument about the Lara Croft phenomenon in
the movie and in the video game. Report to class.
2) read about the pacaman phenomenon
at http://www.pacmanhattan.com/
And at http://www.webwereld.nl/nieuws/18475.phtml
What is the significance of
playing a video game in the street? Report to class.
3) download and play the
following http://www.makewish.org/site/pp.asp?c=cvLRKaO4E&b=64401
And reflect on the
significance of producing a video game for a ‘good cause’. Report to class.
4) Check out the latest video
games releases at http://uk.gamesdomain.yahoo.com/
Read a few reviews and then try and write a review of your favorite video game.
Report to class.
Week 6 Cinema
& Special Effects
Screening:
extracts from S1mOne (2001) more on this movie at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258153/
Assignments:
1)
http://www.apple.com/trailers/ http://movies.yahoo.com
Does the
availability of longer trailers on the internet help the cinema industry? Would
you be more encouraged to go to the cinema? Express in 300-400 words your
thoughts and report to class.
2) Provide an answer to the
following questions and share it with the whole class: What effect does the proliferation of special effects have upon
contemporary cinema? In what ways has it hurt or improved films? What are your
favorite special effects in films? It might be helpful to visit the ‘Digital
Visual’ page http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english197/Schedule_files/DigitalImage/Digital.Image.html
Report to class.
3) Discuss some of the
implications arising from the birth of the ‘digital star’ as discussed in A.
Ndalianis articles, refer to the Tomb
Raider movie screened in previous session and to the Lara Croft’s home page
http://www.firefurnace.org/tombraider/
Report to class.
4) Find out more about the
phenomenon of (short) movies (or music videos) based on video games by visiting
the following web sites. Report your findings to class.
- http://www.redvsblue.com/ (click on video archive to watch old clips)
- http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/fine_arts_rebel_thug
(music video by rapper Chuck D created
using software of the video game Quake II, click on ‘watch film’)
- http://www.machinima.com/ (to know more
about how to create your own ‘machinima (machine-cinema, i.e. cinema generated by
video games). Also you can view the machinima film festival 2003 at http://www.movingimage.us/machinima/
Week 6 Cyber-bodies
Screening:
extracts from Blade Runner (1992)
Assignments:
1) Visit http://www.brmovie.com/What_is_BR.htm
to know more about the movie, but is it just a movie or there is more to it
than that? Report to class.
2) Try and answer any of the
questions about Blade Runner included
at
http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english122tg/BladeRunner.htm
3) Find out more about the
history of cyborgs and report to class
http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/courses/warner/english122tg/bodylanguage.html
4) Visit
the home page of Prof. Kevin Warwick
http://www.kevinwarwick.com/
The
first academic to have a silicon chip implanted in his arm! Browse and report
to class your findings
Week 7
Digital Art
Reading: J.A. Labadie, The New Media Soup: Some thoughts on newer technologies and the visual arts
http://moca.virtual.museum/jal1_02.htm
- Visit http://www.judymalloy.net/newmedia/
click on ‘classic web works’ view
Molissa Fenley http://www.diacenter.org/fenley/mapindex.html
- Click on ‘Links to New Works’ and view the following:
Tracey Benson, Stuart Bailey and Estelle
Ihasz
http://www.ccas.com.au/culdesac/idh.htm
view J. Loseby’s sketchbook, http://www.rssgallery.com/sketchbook.htm
click on ‘textual tango’, ‘cyberfish’ and
‘deathoftheself’
Assignments:
1)"Visit"
any two of the world's major museums, select from the following list:
http://www.museoscienza.org/english/Default.htm
http://www.louvre.fr
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
http://www.metmuseum.org
compare and
contrast it with the
2) View Stelarc
‘Prosthetic Head’ Exhibition and read article+ Artist’s bio at http://www.acmi.net.au/7E8A5C8E6F304A839116C3C74F81440C.htm and Stelarc’s home page http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/ Try and
answer the following question: What is Carnal Art? (a few clues at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/transcript/volume2/issue2_2/orlan/orlan.htm Can you establish any links with the idea of
the ‘Cyborg?
Week 7
Music sharing & copyrights issues
http://www.dunkingbirdproductions.com/pages/article5.html
(optional)
For the Napster
phenomenon see
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010312&s=moglen
and D. J. Carr, ‘Ripped, Mixed-Up and Burned’ at
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020624&s=carr20020613&c=1
(optional) to know more about
the latest examples of electronic music check out the following web sites: http://www.nanoloop.de http://www.littlesounddj.com http://www.8bitpeoples.com http://www.markdenardo.com http://www.nullsleep.com
Assignments:
1) Check out the following
two websites for the contemporary debate about legal file sharing. What, in
your view, are their main differences about music sharing and copyrights on the
internet? Write down your conclusions and report to the class.http://www.eff.org/
http://creativecommons.org/
2) Check out the following
two web sites and share with the class your reflections on the political uses
of internet http://www.adbusters.org/home/
http://www.moveon.org/front/
3) Check out the following,
especially the ‘video ,‘visual’ and one of your choice from the ‘articles’ section
at http://www.illegal-art.org/index.html What is this web site’s position on the issue
of making art available on the internet and copyright law? Report to class.
FINAL ESSAY DUE JUNE 20th
Course Text Book:
D.
Further Readings/Viewing
What follows below is just an
indication of some of the books and electronic texts that might be helpful in
writing your essays.
Digital Culture (general)
Bolter, J.D. ‘Degrees of
Freedom’ at
http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~bolter/degrees.html#internet
Comolli,
J‑L. (1980) "Machines of the Visible" in T. de Lauretis and S.
Heath (eds), The Cinematic Apparatus,
Doezema,
M. "The Clean Machine: Technology in American Magazine Illustration",
Journal of American Culture, 11,
Winter 1988, pp. 73‑92.
Darley A.ed. Visual Digital Culture,
Druckrey T. ed. Electronic Culture: Technology and Visual
Representation, NY, Aperture 1996
Feldman, T. An Introduction to Digital Media,
Hershman, L. (ed.)
Clicking In: Hot Links to Digital Culture
Kantaris, G.
‘Avant-gard/Modernism/Postmodernism’ 1997 at http://www.cus.cam.ac.uk/~egk10/notes/postmodernism.htm
Lovejoy, M. Postmodern
Currents: Art and Artists in the Age of Electronic Media,
Lunenfeld, P. Snap-to-Grid:
A User's Guide to Digital Arts, Media, and Cultures, MIT Press, 2000
Manovich, L.The Language
of New Media,
MIT Press, 2001
Morse,
M. Virtualities,
Moser, M.A. (ed.) Immersed
in Technology ,
MIT, 1996
Mul, J. de, De draadloze
verbeelding: een virtuele blik in de toekomst van de beeldende kunsten. In:
Zijderveld, A. (red.), Kleine geschiedenis van de toekomst, Kampen 1994
(http://www.eur.nl/fw/hyper/home.html)
Murphie A. & J. Potts, Culture and Technology, Macmillan, 2003
Odin Jaishree K. ‘Computers and Cultural Transformation’ at http://www.hawaii.edu/aln/cul.htm
Odin Jaishree K. ‘Electronic
Revolution’ at
http://www.hawaii.edu/aln/lit_imp.htm
Poster, M. ‘Postmodern
virtualities’
http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/writings/internet.html
(This essay appears as
Chapter 2 in his book The Second Media Age (Blackwell 1995)
Rush, M. New Media in Late
20th-Century Art D. Trend ed. Reading Digital Culture,
http://beehive.temporalimage.com/archive/31arc.html
Sarup, M. & T. Raja eds. Identity Culture and the Postmodern World
1996
Trend D. ed. Reading Digital Culture,
Photography
Barthes, `The Photographic
Message' in Image, Music, Text,
Barthes, R. (1993) Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography,
trans. R. Howard,
Burgin, V. Thinking Photography,
Crimp, D. (1980) "On the
Photographic Activity of Postmodernism", October, 15, Winter
Jay, M.
"Photo‑unrealism: The Contribution of the Camera to the Crisis of
Ocularcentrism" in
Krauss,
R. (1982) "Photography's Discursive Spaces: Landscape/View", Art Journal, Winter, pp. 311‑319
Lister, M. (1995) The Photographic Image in Digital Culture,
Routledge
Lury, Celia, Prosthetic Culture: Photography, Memory and
Identity,
Mitchell, W.J.T. (1992) The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the
Post-Photographic Era,
Manovich Lev
‘Postmodernism and Photoshop’
http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=628&text=1644
Petro, Patrice ed. Fugitive Images: From Photography to Video,
Mul, J. de,’ Naar een modale fotografie’. In: FotoNet
nr. 3, 1995
Pinney, C. (1992) "The
Parallel Histories of Anthropology and Photography" in E. Edwards, ed., Anthropology and Photography 1860‑1920,
Price, M. The Photograph: A Strange, Confined Space
CUP
Scharf, A. (1974) Art and Photography
Sontag Susan, On
Photography,
Szasz, F. M. and Bogardus, R. F. "The Camera and the American Social
Conscience: The Documentary Photography of Jacob A. Riis",
Wartofsky, M. W. (1980)
"Cameras Can't See: Representation, Photography and Human Vision", Afterimage, 7, 9.
Wells, L. (1996) Photography: A Critical Introduction,
Routledge
check out the following
article at
http://sandra.oundjian.com/content/papers/thesis/chapter3.htm and bibliography
at:
http://sandra.oundjian.com/content/papers/thesis/biblio.htm
See also the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Photography links at
http://nmaa-ryder.si.edu/collections/exhibits/helios/resources.html
and http://hyperart.com/
Postmodernism
Brooker, Peter & Will
Brooker (eds), Postmodern After-Images. A Reader in Film, Television and
Video.
Docherty, Thomas (ed), Postmodernism.
A Reader.
Downing D. and
Erwin, T. `Modern Iconology,
Postmodern Iconologies' in David Downing and Susan Bazargan (eds.) Image and Ideology in Modern/Postmodern
Discourse (Albany: SUNY Press, 1991)
Friedberg A. Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern,
U of
Harvey, D. "Modernity
and Modernism" and "Postmodernism"
Fredric
Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The
Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
Verso, 1991; 2 sections from Chapter 1 available online at
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/jameson.htm
Levin,
D. M. (1988) The Opening of Vision:
Nihilism and the Postmodern Situation,
McRobbie
A. Postmodernism and Popular Culture,
Routledge, 1994
Sarup, M. & T. Raja eds. Identity Culture and the Postmodern World
1996
Sim, Stuart
(ed.), The Icon Critical Dictionary of Postmodern Thought,
Smelik, Anneke, ‘Carrousel der seksen; gender
benders in videoclips. In: R.
Braidotti (red.) Een beeld van een vrouw. De
visualisering van het vrouwelijke in een postmoderne cultuur. Kampen: Kok
Agora, 1993: 19-49. Nederlandse versie: http://www.deamerikaan.nl/amerikaan/html/contributions.jsp?diarynumber=2908&number=9137
English version (article on
gender bending in videoclips)
http://www.deamerikaan.nl/amerikaan/html/contributions.jsp?diarynumber=2908&number=9149
Woods, Tim, Beginning
Postmodernism,
More on Video Games
Williams, D. ‘The Video Game
Lightning Rod: Construction of a new media technology, 1970-2000’ at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dcwillia/DWICS.pdf
See the ‘publications’ sub-page
in Joost Raessens personal web site at
http://www.let.uu.nl/~Joost.Raessens/personal/Onderdelen/Publicaties.html
More on Digital Art
Museums and online
exhibitions
http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/digital_art.htm
Mark Amerika http://www.altx.com/who.is.mark.amerika.html
Click on his project
‘Grammatron’
Read comment on Grammatron by
R. Packer ‘Net Art as Theatre of the
Senses’ at
http://phoneme.walkerart.org/packer.html
View the
History of
Internet Art: Fictions and Factions Web Site at http://art.colorado.edu:16080/hiaff/home.htm