ART 394 •Interactive Studio Course Proposal
Art and Design Majors: completion of Foundations.
Non-Art and Design Majors: Junior Standing and permission of instructor.
10. Rationale for adding this course to the curriculum:
- 10 a. Explain how this course will strengthen and improve the curriculum.
This proposal is part of a larger Program Change Request for a new emphasis in the Department of Art and Design called
Visual Studies. The change in program addresses two broad areas: 1. the incorporation of new technologies into contemporary visual art studio, 2. expanded contexts for studio practice. These areas are described more fully in the
Visual Studies Proposal sections: Description, Justification/Need, and Explanation of Comparable Areas.
Interactive Studio increases the curriculum’s capacity to represent established practices in contemporary art exploring interactive, social/political, audience-engaged, presentational practices, and the theoretical discourse specific to such practices within a studio context. This class would address the study and creation of interactive art works. Emphasis will be placed on the participatory experience prevalent in contemporary art's exploration of the changing roles of audience, spectator, and art object. The media explored include: interactive situations, participatory theater, community collaborations, social/political interactions, and the range of electronic interfaces in which interactive exchange is programmed. Current electronic forms are the web, databases, spatial and mapping systems, and text and image-based collaborative forms such as blogs and wikis. Digital media will also be used as a primary medium of developing and documenting studio work.
Web sites are currently used in studio practice as media for the presentation and interaction of viewers. The interaction of navigating through a basic hypertext structure allows the viewer to participate interactively in their experience. More complex web sites request users to input data or allow more complex exchanges/interactions. The use of databases of existing or constructed information is an area of new development in electronic interaction. One variant of this is spatially annotated information that can be correlated to spatial/mapping locations. These systems will make possible the delivery of data based on viewer location. There are many other new electronic media under development that can be incorporated in interactive studio work as they emerge and become accessible. The course would focus on social and material exchange and evolve in its use of technologies as they develop and are available.
Other interactive works engage existing groups or communities in components of the design or implementation of projects. This can be done as part of an exhibition or be worked out prior to display via mail, studio sessions, or other means. Often such methods are used in relation to social or political processes or issues.
For samples of online projects see
Appendix A: Artists • Projects from the Visual Studies emphasis proposal that this course proposal is part of.
By working both in and out of traditional presentation contexts the studio will engage a consideration of how art is “instituted”: the domain of studio practice is not limited to the objects and images, but directly takes up ideas that engage broad questions about the social, cultural, and political implications of interactions and their structure. These understandings illuminate new opportunities for cultural work as well as enable students to move effectively in standardized art contexts by articulating the process of encounter and engagement with audience in distinct ways.
- 10 b. Which student population(s) is this course designed to serve? Explain how and where this course fits into the unit’s existing curriculum.
1. Art and Design students
2. Students from other majors. In particular students whose course of study involves digital or spatial interactions.
Most studio courses are organized by discipline (medium). Interactive studio is organized around an experiential form (interaction) which has it’s own considerations and may also incorporate products and considerations rooted in various other media. This approach complements the existing curriculum by focusing on important considerations of art practice not primary in other studios.
The course may be repeated once for credit. The nature and pedagogy of studio learning is student-centered. It is standard pedagogy and practice to structure a studio course to accommodate a range of students engaged in a range of projects. The course is structured to facilitate and assess this. Each implementation of Interactive Studio will have the same framework, but the primary "content" is not prescribed by the curriculum. Within contexts of historic and contemporary history and practice the student develops their studio work. There are technical and production aspects to every project. These too are largely variable and determined by the nature of the studio inquiry. It is standard pedagogical practice in studio courses to require students to not repeat work (content and form) that they've already done. However, we encourage students to progress work in beneficial ways and to see and extend connections among their various courses. Ambition, risk-taking, and progress in studio learning are encouraged, supported and evaluated favorably as are the quality and completeness of the finished product.
- 10 c. Explain the reasons the proposed prerequisites are necessary. If the proposed course duplicates material covered in existing courses in the unit, specify the nature and degree of the overlap, and explain why it is necessary to add this course rather than to reconfigure existing program offerings.
Prerequisites assure that students enroll in Interactive Studio at an appropriate point in their studies. Because the art and design department requires completion of foundations (6 courses and a portfolio review) prior to enrolling in any 200 or higher-level studio course, enrolling in this course follows that policy. Non-majors are not subject to this departmental policy. Permission of instructor is granted after completion of an interview with instructor in which the student is informed of the unique expectations and challenges of the course. The dual prerequisite is consistent with current practices in Art and Design.
The course does not overlap other courses in the department. This is substantiated by the support of this proposal by the department faculty. It was supported with a 12-3 vote and signed off on by the Department Chair.
Interactive Studio connects with content in two courses in the department. As it uses spatial interactions such work relates to Art 395 Space Studio (concurrent new course proposal), but is distinct in that the interactivity is of primary concern, while Installations don't always use interactive components of space. Students will be expected to employ other means in addition to spatial interaction in this course. This includes the use of new technology which consists mostly now of web-based interfaces. The use of interactive web content connects with another course in the department: Art 312 Graphic Design IV-Experience Design. Art 312 is available only to Graphic Design majors and the contexts of presentation are quite distinct between the courses. In Experience Design, Graphic Design oriented commercial use comprises the context of presentation. In Interactive Studio the focus is the context of contemporary visual art studio and contexts of presentation.
- 10 d. Will this course increase the total number of credits required for students in any major or minor? If so, explain why that is both necessary. Could existing required courses be dropped or modified to accommodate the addition of this material?
The course will not increase total credits required. It is however part of a new emphasis proposed in Art and Design. No existing course could be dropped or modified to accommodate this additional material.
11. Course / content overlap with other units:
- Identify any overlap between this course and courses offered by any programs or units. Indicate the degree of overlap and explain why your students should not take the existing course(s) instead. Submit a copy of this proposal to those units with a request that comments be sent promptly to you and to your C/SCC for consideration and attachment to this proposal. Copies of inter-departmental communication regarding this course must be attached to the proposal.
Much of visual art practice today operates independently of disciplinary/media distinctions. The range of forms and vernaculars that artists engage are quite expansive. Especially with the incorporation of digital media, various (historic and contemporary) processes are blended and merged into hybrid practices. Technological and cultural developments also make possible new contexts of presentation for art. Consequently, it is important for the Art and Design department to offer courses that treat the range of "ways of making" that engage interactivity together. This includes forms that use technology and forms that do not. It is important to present these practices in the context and near proximity of other studio art practices.
Other courses on campus address the uses of interactivity of the web but not the range of interactive studio contexts in the course including the non-electronic contexts. Use of existing courses would not adequately serve primary learning considerations in this course. The Interactive Studio course focuses specifically on the use of these media and elements within the context of contemporary visual art studio and contexts of presentation. As such there are particular considerations. Works use technologies in mixed manners and together with forms generated in a range of other media. The course is also focused on the particular challenges of bringing disparate elements together in deliberate consideration of the context of presentation that incorporates interactivity.
The course may be useful as an elective for students who deal with interactivity in other disciplines such as the School of Communications and Computer Science. Reciprocally, as Art and Design students wish to learn more about the technical structuring of interactivity, in-depth study in other departments will proceed. For instance the course can lead to substantive work in new computer programming contexts such as php and java.
12.
Syllabus of Record: ART 394 •Interactive Studio -attached
13.
Curriculum Resource Statement: ART 394 Interactive Studio -attached
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