Concept
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InterMedia
Workshop is a pilot course offered jointly by the Maryland Institute,
College of Art and the Computer Music Department of the Peabody
Conservatory of Music. The experimental workshop is intended to
encourage collaboration among student composers, performers and
artists at MICA and Peabody in a team environment, and to engage
students in the investigation of a range of interdisciplinary multimedia
projects, including networked, live performance, electronic theater,
installation, video, and animation. As a long-range goal, the Workshop
is envisioned as an ongoing structure to bring music and visual
arts students together from MICA and Peabody to promote and facilitate
the creation of intermedia art and to further explore shared resources,
joint research, and exhibition/performance opportunities.
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Course Description
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InterMedia Workshop
is a laboratory for the research, creation and presentation of interdisciplinary
media art. The workshop brings together students and faculty in
the musical, visual and media arts for the development of advanced
projects and to give students experience in all facets of team-based
media production. Workshop projects will be primarily student produced
with additional input from faculty, visiting artists, and technical
staff. The workshop will seek to integrate the artistic and technological
resources of MICA and Peabody.
The course will
support collaborative projects in a range of disciplines and genres,
and will explore the theoretical and practical problems inherent
in the process of interdisciplinary collaboration. Students will
focus on developing and implementing conceptual constructs and skills
vital to cross-disciplinary work. Recognized media and sound artists,
contemporary works of art and technology, and new technological
trends will be discussed to explore issues critical to the investigation
of emerging interdisciplinary forms.
Students investigate
the creative and technical use of sound and its integration with
visual media. Emphasis is placed on the development of aesthetic
skills critical to the creation of time-based works that involve
sound, image, and real-time user interaction in a variety of contexts
including: Internet, CD, installation and live performance. The
course will include an extensive historical survey of composers,
visual artists, choreographers, poets, etc., working in such genres
as: music theater, Happenings, installation, film and video.
InterMedia Workshop
will meet weekly to critique student projects, discuss relevant
topics in Intermedia art, performance and technology, and to coordinate
productions. Projects will take a variety of interdisciplinary forms,
with an emphasis on strategies for the integration of sound and
media in an interactive context. Integral to the course will be
MAX / MSP, a graphical software environment used extensively in
live computer music, intermedia performance and installation works.
Students will work in a variety of multimedia authoring environments
including: Macromedia Director, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Adobe Premiere.
Collaborative teams will be formed to best utilize the experience
of music and art students in their implementation of media tools
and conceptual strategies for the creation of projects.
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MAX
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| The Intermedia
Workshop makes extensive use of the MAX software environment (Cycling
74), a graphical set of programming tools that has a broad range
of artistic application from electronic music to media installations.
Originally developed at IRCAM (the computer music institute at the
Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris) in the late 1980s, MAX became the
basis for a surging interest in interactive computer music, and more
recently used by visual artists interested in its capacity to engage
viewer interaction within installation environments. |
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Prerequisites
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open to both undergraduate and graduate students with foundation experience
in the media arts: computer music for Peabody students; and Electronic
Media and Culture and Web Design or Interactivity for MICA students. |
| Week
1 : Introduction
/ MICA (January 19) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Review of course
objectives, readings, assignments, and projects. Overview
of interdisciplinary practice in music, media and the arts, including
the work of the instructors.
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| Assignment |
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Reading:
Artwork of the Future, Richard Wagner |
Integrated
Media
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| Week
2: The
Total Artwork / Peabody (January 26) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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The
history of the Gesamtkunstwerk
(Total Artwork), beginning with Richard Wagner's theories on the
integration of the arts from the 19th Century, and the evolution of
the "totalizing" intermedia
artwork through the 20th century. These works include: Karlheinz
Stockhausen's Originale (1961), Variations
V by John
Cage (1964); and the Pepsi
Pavilion(1970), a collaboration
of over 75 artists and engineers organized by Billy
Klüver and E.A.T. |
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| Lab |
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| Assignment |
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Reading: "Digital
Harmony," John Whitney, 1980
Post bio information on the course bulletin board and form collaborative
teams for the integrated media project. |
| Week
3 : Introduction
to MAX Part I / Peabody (February 2) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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MAX, and its
audio component, MSP (Max Signal Processing), is one of the most
important tools used by both computer musicians and installation
artists to incorporate interactivity and viewer-participation. Greg
Boyle will give an overview of Max, showing some of his recent work.
For additional
information on Max, and other Max-related objects, see the Cycling
74 site.
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| Lab |
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| Assignment |
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Reading:
TBA
Begin integrated media projects |
| Week
4 : Introduction
to MAX Part II / Peabody (February 9) |
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| Presentation
On-line |
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Randall
Packer will discuss Max in the context of his recent collaborative
work Mori,
featured in the Telematic
Connections exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute. He
will demonstrate the Max programming developed for the work, in which
live signals from the Berkeley seismograph control this immersive
sound installation. |
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| Lab |
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| Assignment |
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Complete
integrated media projects. |
| Week
5 : Critique
/ MICA (February 16) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Critique of
integrated media projects.
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| Lab |
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Complete projects.
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| Assignment |
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Reading:
"Space-time Problems," László Moholy-Nagy,
1945
Begin spatial media projects. |
Spatial Media
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| Week
6 :
/ Space-time Continuum / MICA (February 21) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Artists
working with kinetic forms and other dynamic media have explored the
critical relationship between space and time. Integrating time-based
structures into the visual environment is integral to the construction
of animated, interactive and sculptural forms. |
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| Lab |
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Techniques for
integrating digital media in spatial environments.
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| Assignment |
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Reading: "Liquid
Architectures," Marcos Novak, 1993
Work on spatial media projects.
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| Week
7 : Navigable
Music / Peabody (February 28) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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With
immersive 3D forms, such as in the work of artist/architect Marcos
Novak whose liquid architectures initiate habitable spaces, it is
possible to explore the interior of the visual/music space. |
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| Lab |
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The spatial
organization and distribution of sound in Max.
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| Assignment |
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Spatial
media projects. |
| Week
8 : Critique
/ MICA (March 9) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Critique
on spatial media projects. |
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| Lab |
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Complete spatial
media projects.
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| Assignment |
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Reading:
TBA
Begin network media projects. |
Network Media
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| Week
9 : TBA
/ Peabody (March 16) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Geoff
Wright will discuss network media and the integration of music and
the Web. |
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| Lab |
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Techniques and
tools for interacting with Max via the Net.
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| Assignment |
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Reading: "Satellite
Art," Nam June Paik
Work on network media projects.
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| Week
10 : Telematic
Music / MICA (March 23) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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The
Internet has introduced new paradigms for collective forms that blur
both temporal and spatial boundaries. Artists are also exploring the
bridge between physical and virtual spaces through installation works
that unite the two domains. |
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| Lab |
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Project feedback.
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| Assignment |
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Work
on network media projects. |
| Week
11 : Critique
/ Peabody (April 6) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Critique
networked media projects. |
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| Lab |
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Complete network
media projects.
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| Assignment |
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Reading: TBA
Begin final projects.
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Special Topics
/ Final Project
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| Week
12: Interactivity
and Indeterminacy / MICA (April 13) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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John
Cage introduced indeterminacy in musical composition to break down
the barrier between the listener and the artwork, subsequently shifting
the responsibility of the outcome of the work to the recipient. |
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| Lab |
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Advanced techniques
(TBA)
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| Assignment |
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Reading: TBA
Work on final projects.
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| Week
13 : TBA
/ Peabody (April 20) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Greg
Boyle will present. |
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| Lab |
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Advanced techniques
(TBA).
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| Assignment |
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Work
on final projects. |
| Week
14 : TBA
/ MICA (April 27) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Discussion
of final projects. |
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| Lab |
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Work on final
projects.
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| Assignment |
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Complete
final projects. |
| Week
15 : Final
Critique / Peabody (May 4) |
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| Presentation/Discussion |
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Critique
of final projects. |
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Assignments and
Grading
Class Discussion
and Presentation (25%)
Each student is
required to participate in class discussion and present artist critiques.
Web Notebook (10%)
A Web notebook is
maintained throughout the semester. The notebook will serve as a personal
journal containing position statements to readings, critique of artworks,
and summaries of class discussion, etc. The notebook is a multimedia
sketchbook, a place to develop your ideas, experiment with media technologies,
and record your observations. The notebook will be graded on the basis
of your ability to process and absorb key concepts introduced throughout
the course. The notebook needs to be kept up on a regular basis and
will be checked weekly throughout the course.
Required:
- Weekly critique
of readings and artworks
- Incorporate relevant
images and links
- overall concept
+ design
Projects (30%)
Students will work
on small projects in teams on an approximately biweekly basis.
Final Project (35%)
A final project
will consist of a full developed team project that draws from concepts
and techniques explored earlier in the course. Students will select
an area to work in including: animation, video, installation, network,
etc.
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