Digital Arts and New Media

Porter D-121
(831) 459-1554
http://digitalarts.ucsc.edu

Graduate Courses

201. Recent Methods and Approaches to Digital Arts and Culture. F
Students examine methods and approaches to research and writing in Digital Media Art and Culture, and explore key theories concerning digital media and cultures. The course may focus on the interaction between digital technologies and socio/cultural formations. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. M. Morse

202. Genealogies and Theories of Digital Arts and Culture. W
Provides examination of a particular theoretical and/or historical premise related to issues of media, art, and mediatization, as a means of teaching a common approach to the construction of genealogies within digital art and culture. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. D. Hunter

203. Dialogues and Questions in Digital Arts and Culture. S
Students engage in dialogues at the intersection of theory and practice with the goal of producing a pre-thesis proposal and essay. Readings and seminar discussions inform the development of project proposals and essays, which theoretically contextualize students' work. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 18. D. Crane

210. Project Design Studio. F
Students work on the design of individual projects by developing project proposals, budgets, "proof of concept" design documents and/or prototypes and exploring tools, technologies, programming languages, hardware, software, and electronics techniques relevant to their projects. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 18. E. Osborn

211A. Critique / Lecture I (2 credits). W
First-year students present work-in-progress based on the projects developed in the project design course in both individual studio and group critiques, participate in group critique discussions and attend guest lectures. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 18. M. Foley

211B. Critique / Lecture II (2 credits). S
First-year students present work-in-progress based on the projects developed in the project design course in both individual studio and group critiques, participate in group critique discussions and attend guest lectures. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 18. (S) The Staff

212. Thesis Proposal (no credit). F
Second-year DANM students work on the development and completion of their thesis project proposal and abstract under the supervision of the program director and their thesis committees. Enrollment restricted to second-year DANM students. Enrollment limited to 18. The Staff

213A. Critique / Lecture III (2 credits). W
Second-year students present thesis project work-in-progress during group critiques, participate in group discussion, and attend guest lectures. Students schedule one or more meetings with members of their thesis committee for in-progress review. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 18. M. Foley

213B. Critique / Lecture IV (2 credits). S
Second-year students present thesis project work-in-progress during group critiques, participate in group discussion, and attend guest lectures. Students schedule one or more meetings with members of their thesis committee for in-progress review. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 18. (S) The Staff

215. Digital Architectures. *
Critical examination of intersections in architecture, public space, and digital cultures. Traces how new technologies have transformed architectural practice and theory since the 1960s and how spatial concepts have been engaged, as material and metaphor, by designers working between architecture and new media. Enrollment restricted to juniors, seniors, and graduate students. Enrollment limited to 18. The Staff

216. Digital Bodies. *
Explores the appearance, form, and theoretical status of the human body/political subject in online art. Focuses on representations of race and gender, family resemblances, and local communities, as well as the political and colonial metaphors of spatial interaction operating on the World Wide Web. Visual representations of bodies that take the form of avatars, advertising, robots, and anime studied in their contextual usage. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 17. J. Gonzalez

217. Concepts in Electronic Art. *
Study of concepts developed in contemporary conceptual art practice and their application to technological media. Review a broad spectrum of electronic art—the Internet, digital video, interactive systems, kinetics and robotics, biotechnological work—that hold conceptual art practice in the foreground. Use concepts cultivated by early conceptual artists and apply them to individual projects using electronic media. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 17. I. Reichert

218. Interactive Game Design. *
As a team, students design a working prototype of a game including the Design Document, Prototypes, and Game Implementation. Introduced to advanced media types including 3D animation, principles of object-oriented programming, digital music, and video. Strongly recommended that students have a working knowledge of programming language, preferably an object-oriented language (Macromedia Lingo preferred). Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 17. May be repeated for credit. B. Sinervo

219. Introduction to Electronics for Artmaking (3 credits). S
Series of workshops serve as introduction to electronic devices used in artmaking, providing hands-on experience with sensors, motors, switches, gears, lights, simple circuits, microprocessors, and hardware store devices to create kinetic and interactive works of art. Students are billed a materials fee. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 18. E. Anderson

220. Introduction to Programming for the Arts (3 credits). S
Intensive introduction to programming for digital art projects for students with a basic understanding of the fundamentals of programming. Students learn how to create and manipulate digital media using program control and generate web applications. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 10. R. Abraham

223. Electronic Sound Synthesis. W
Graduate-level techniques and procedures of electronic music composition. Practical experience in the UCSC electronic music studio with computer composition systems and software, multi-track recording equipment, and interactive performance systems. Prerequisite(s): permission of instructor; appropriate undergraduate experience; students with no previous electroacoustic experience may be asked to attend lectures for course 123. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. (Also offered as Music 223. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment limited to 12. May be repeated for credit. P. Elsea

225. Theater, Drama, and the Pixar Feature. *
Viewing of the Pixar Animation Studios canon combined with lectures on the major art history movements within discipline of theater history and its attendant dramatic literature: The Marxist Epic: A Bug's Life and the Backstage Musical; Shakespeare's Comedic Weltanschauung: Finding Nemo; Postmodern Criticism: Toy Story; French Romanticism and the Hugo Hero: Monsters, Inc.; Alger, Albee, and The Incredibles' American Dream. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 17. D. Scheie

226. Creativity, Collaboration, and Professionalism in Art. *
Exploration of the practice of making a living, as well as a life, in art. Examines strategies for connecting with the community using outreach projects and the joys and sorrows of working collaboratively. Compares corporate and nonprofit funding paths and the business of showing work while maintaining creative challenges. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 17. May be repeated for credit. T. Beal

227. Projected Light in Performance. *
Exploration of projected light in performance and art. The history of lighting as art is covered in a hands-on demystifying format from the shadow of a bare light bulb to the latest in automated and projection equipment and techniques. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 20. D. Cuthbert

228. Techniques of Modernity and Aesthetic Formations. F
Explores the transformations and aesthetic possibilities of the digital age through a study of perceptual shifts of the past, from orality to literacy, gift to commodity, pre-colonial to colonial, "pre-modern" to "modern," and the technological revolutions that accompanied these shifts. (Also offered as Music 228. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment restricted to graduate students; upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 18. D. Neuman

229. Interactive Digital Design for Theater. *
Examination of the integration of graphic and sound designs with live theatrical performance. Create a dazzling array of images, animations, video, and sounds that work as an ensemble to create a performance environment that responds to the cues of the performers. Offered in conjunction with Theater Arts 151 and results in a live performance. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 20. May be repeated for credit. J. Bierman

247. Performance/Performativities. *
Performance acts and theories of performativity in visual culture from modernity to present. Major theoretical positions subtending the emergence of performances/performativities: subjectivity, identity, temporality, media, ritual, the event, the body and embodiment, collaboration, and politics. (Also offered as History of Consciousness 247. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Qualified seniors accepted with permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. C. Soussloff

249. Faculty Seminar (2 credits). F
Faculty lectures to familiarize first-year DANM graduate students with program faculty members and their creative work and research so the students can select their faculty advisers and thesis committee members. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 18. The Staff

250A. Collaborative Research Project Groups. S
Three-quarter collaborative research project group in one of three focus areas that represent the current research of DANM faculty: participatory culture, mechatronics, and performative technology. Students and faculty engage in research collaborations resulting in publications and exhibitions. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 8. May be repeated for credit. The Staff

250B. Collaborative Research Project Groups. F
A three-quarter collaborative research project group in one of three focus areas that represent the current research of DANM faculty: Participatory Culture, Mechatronics, and Performative Technology. Students and faculty engage in research collaborations resulting in publications and exhibitions. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 8. May be repeated for credit. The Staff

250C. Collaborative Research Project Groups. W
Three-quarter collaborative research project group in one of three focus areas that represent the current research of DANM faculty: participatory culture, mechatronics, and performative technology. Students and faculty engage in research collaborations resulting in publications and exhibitions. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 8. May be repeated for credit. The Staff

254I. Empirical Approaches to Art Information. *
Reading and practice in empirical methods, as applied to the study of music, visual art, multimedia production, and performance arts. Topics include semiotics, critiques of empiricism, cultural determinants and contingents of perception, the psychophysics of information, sensory perception (visual and auditory), memory, pattern recognition, and awareness. Students apply existing knowledge in the cognitive sciences to a developing creative project, or develop and conduct new experiments. (Formerly course 251I.) (Also offered as Music 254I. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 17. May be repeated for credit. B. Carson

290. Interactivity in Performance. *
Examines use of interactive technologies to bring about collaboration among visual, performance, and sound art. Goal is to collaboratively produce an interactive live-performance work. Explores methodologies and technologies of interactivity, space, and time and addresses aesthetic and compositional concerns that arise when using interactive digital tools, including critical discussions about how technology itself shapes form and content of an artwork. Meets 3 1/2 hours/week for combination lab and lecture. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Upper-division undergraduates may enroll with permission of instructor. E. Anderson

297. Independent Study. F,W,S
Independent digital arts and new media research project under the guidance of a digital arts and new media faculty member or other faculty with approval of adviser. Project includes readings, research, and a written report. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Maximum 10 credits. May be repeated for credit. D. Massaro

297G. Independent Study (3 credits). F,W,S
Independent digital arts and new media research project under the guidance of a digital arts and new media faculty member or other faculty with approval of adviser. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. May not be repeated for credit. The Staff

299. Thesis Research. F,W,S
Students carry out a master's of fine arts thesis in digital arts and new media research, under the guidance of a thesis committee. The thesis will be an arts project with digital documentation accompanied by a written paper discussing the student's preparatory research as well as the theoretical significance of the project. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Maximum 10 credits. May be repeated for credit. The Staff

* Not offered in 2007-08