Art, Media Technology, and Culture

Catalog description

The goal of this course is to explore the particular ways that art transforms culture. Technologies, from ancient oral narratives through medieval cathedrals, geographical explorations, public theatres and the printing press to the nearly ubiquitous open access of current electronic media, will be studied as essential to both the creation of the works themselves as well as to their transmittal over space, time and peoples. The course historically contextualizes a number of critically important artistic units of cultural information [epiphanies or memes] in order to demonstrate the process of cultural evolution. The course also highlights the primacy of the imagination and the intertwining roles of creator/artist/adapter, medium chosen and publisher/producer/promoter.