College of Creative Studies

Current Course Offerings
Spring 2006

Digital imaging is situated on the historical continuum of replicative media and is at the edge of contemporary innovation in image production and consumption. The two are linked in important ways that redress the powerful implications of using a mediating machine, working in collaboration (with other artists & technicians), making work in multiple, the affiliation with commerce (commercial applications of same media), the question of what constitutes a contemporary sensibility, and finally, strategies for distribution and viewing- all with consequences for our notions of category, authorship and value.

This course will focus on the development of independent, innovative projects that utilize digital or digital-traditional hybrid means to make images on surfaces. Projects may employ any imaging strategies in concept, production and distribution; including installation, projection, printing and publishing. The class will work out of the M Studio, a dedicated digital 2D studio. The technical component of the course will be specifically tailored to class members needs, and may include: software lessons in vector image making and page-layout; color, resolution and substrates for digital printing; input and output device use.

Participants will first produce several mini projects as sketches for their independent project, exploring the capacity of available output devices, plus a cross-media experiment. Second, an ambitious independent project that moves through documented stages including at least the following: a written and visual proposal, trial proofs, cross-media experiments, production of project. Digital documentation of final projects is required.

We will be mounting an end of quarter exhibition in Gallery 1434.

Participants must have experience in some area of digital imaging, at least Photoshop. Portfolio submission may be required for undergraduates.

Peter Lunenfeld, Snap to Grid
Mark B. N. Hansen, Introduction, and, From Image to Body, from New Philosophy For New Media, MIT Press 2004
Peter Lunenfeld, Snap To Grid: A User's Guide to Digital Arts, Media, and Cultures, MIT Press 2000

Recommended Text(s):
Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, editors, Digitality - Approximate Aesthetics, CTHEORY THEORY, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE VOL 24, NO 1-2, Article 93 14-03-01

Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel, editors, Iconoclash: Beyond the Image Wars in Science, Religion and Art, MIT Press 2002
Norman Klein, The Vatican To Vegas: The History of Special Effects, New Press 2004
Mary E. Hocks and Michelle R. Kendrick, Eds.Eloquent Images: Word and Image in the Age of New Media,

Joke Brouwer, Arjen Mulder (eds.) Arjun Appadurai, Simon Conway Morris, Brian Massumi, Sadie Plant e.o., Information is Alive: Art and Theory on Archiving and Retrieving Data, NAi Publishers in cooperation with V2_, 2003
Peter Lunenfeld, editor, Digital Dialectic, MIT Press 1999
Stephen Wilson, Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science and Technology, MIT Press 2002
Roland Barthes , Camera Lucida, 1981 Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, Inc
Gretchen Bender + Timothy Druckrey, editors, Culture on the Brink: Ideologies of Technology, Bay Press 1994
Judith Williamson, Decoding Advertisements, Ideology and Meaning in Advertising, Marion Boyars 1978
Hillel Schwartz, The Culture of the Copy, Stiking Likenesses, Unreasonable Facsimiles, MIT Press 1996
Barbara Maria Stafford, Good Looking, Essays on the Virtue of Images, MIT Press 1996
Mass MoCA, Billboard, Art on the Road, MIT Press1999
Print and online periodicals: general art: Cabinet, ArtUS, tema celeste, Afterall, Xtra, Frieze, New Art Examiner, Art Forum, Art in America, New Observations, Flash Art, Parkett, Juxtapoz, Art Papers, ArtWeek, AfterImage, October; art/technology: Rhizome , Leonardo, Wired (ugh), CTheory ; design: Eye, Émigré (free subscription www.emigre.com), Nest (interior design), Design Quarterly, Design Issues, Visible Language; misc: Acme Novelty Comics, Purple, Adbusters, McSweeny's
•technical manuals by Real World and The Bible Series tech Manuals
ADOBE Print Publishing Guide: The Essential Resource for Print Publishing, Adobe Press 1988
Real World Scanning and Halftones 2^nd edition, David Blatner, Glenn Fleishman and Steve Roth, PeachPit Press 1998, 2004 edition coming soon, http://www.rwsh.com/ & http://www.scantips.com/

Instructor(s): Laurel Beckman
Time(s): Fridays, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Place(s): Arts, Room 2335 (M Studio)


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