A Non-Linear History of New Media and the Arts
Syllabus
Michael Naimark
Spring 2004
ITP NYU
Description
Blogs, a-life, machinima, flash mobs, database art, avatars, and CAVEs did not
simply happen. They emerged from a rich history of exploring, expressing, and
hacking new media. The arts have been a particularly lively arena for such activity,
especially since the birth of digital computing. This course traces new media
and the arts to some of its roots, particularly to people, places, artworks,
and events that helped shaped things today.
The methodology will focus on personal and collective interests more than on
an objective and comprehensive overview. Students will be expected research
and present a particular piece of new media art history, both to the class and
on our website. The goal is to develop a sense of connection to the continuum
of art and new media history, both as an academic discipline and as personal
inspiration.
Details
Non-Linear =
Our concern is less about comprehensiveness and more about following our personal
and professional interests. We will present what we find as we find things,
regardless of where they fit on a time line.
Everything will end up on a web-based time line, so, ironically everything will
appear linear in the end.
History =
The initial motivation for the class was the observation that many "new
media" students are so enthused by the state of things today and by the
promise of tomorrow that they are unaware of where things came from. Having
this bigger picture of the past helps build intuitions for the bigger picture
of the future.
Since digital computing is central to new media today, we will generally concentrate
on the time frame from 1945 on. Exceptions are welcome. (Example: paints
in tubes.)
Since "history" means "not present," there’s the question
of where to stop. Let’s make the "end of history" 2000*.
(We can argue about this) (*We did, in the first class and decided to change
my original 1995 to 2000.)
New Media =
New Media generally means new technologies that affect how we communicate and
express ourselves. They are usually a result of scientific advances.
Exceptions exist, and are more often than not interesting, where cultural or
conceptual advances affect how we communicate or are somehow relevant to new
media technologies. These exceptions are welcome. (Example: Google: "interactive
wood constructs")
Art =
This is the squishiest – I’m tempted to say "cool and useless"
– but am equally concerned with projects originating from an internal (rather
than external, e.g., market-driven) drive based on expression, exploration,
and/or activism.
Goals
The Long View
The deepest goal of this class is for you, to develop an appreciation for where
new media today came from, and ultimately to lengthen your temporal frame of
reference both backward and forward.
A Timeline-Based Website
We will create and maintain a (open to the public) web page consisting of a
timeline with entries. The entries are links to individual entry pages.
Historical Entries
Each entry will be short and concise, typically consisting of an image, links,
a paragraph or two of description (including a description of what's new), plus
a personal statement why this is interesting to you (can be a sentence).
These entries are really intended to be brief summaries and pointers. Think
of them like hyper-linked baseball cards.
Some Guidelines:
1) Entries are project-based (as opposed to people-based, place-based, center-based,
tool-based, etc.)
2) Only one project from the same artist (or whoever) per student.
3) No entries can be about any of our projects.
4) No repeat entries for the same project.
Student Expectations
Class attendance
~1 new web entry per week (minimum 10 over the 14 weeks)
Brief (10 minute) presentation for each entry
Also looking for 1 or 2 students for web design (will barter # of entries)
Resources
There are now many books on media, new media, media art, new media art, etc.,
etc. These are so easy to find not to list here. Hence I have two additional
suggestions:
Google (and the Web in general)
Be creative with searches! (Example: Google < "world's first interactive
" art >) (Better: Google: <"the Citizen Kane of ">)
Our Class Blog
Use it to share info, post ideas, news, etc.
The Big Picture
We are planting a seed.
This is an experimental class, the first of its kind at ITP (and one of the
first ever). We'll end up with an intriguing website with many entries. These
entries will be nicely personal and eccentric, reflecting our individual and
collective tastes. If we do a good job, another class will follow and add more
entries. Then more. Over time, it will fill in. Could be cool.