History and Theory of Digital Art

Catalog description

History and theories of contemporary digital art emphasizing humanistic approaches to technology. ART 476 / ARTH 476 History and Theory of Digital Art (3)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. Approaches to Digital Art is a survey class that will offer the web designer, cyberspace architect, MUD traffic controller or enthusiastic surfer an opportunity to examine the humanistic aspects of contemporary digital art. Through readings and direct interaction with digital media and digital artists, the class will develop an appreciation of the ways in which the interface between human beings and technology has been historically constructed and is subject to critical investigation. The goal of the class is to prepare each student so that she or he may engage with digital media in a way that is every more historically and socially self aware.Students will address the ways in which digital technologies transform artistic practices such as museum display, the writing of art criticism, the definition of works of art, changing role of the artist and the changing space of the art studio. More important, however, by engaging with digital works of art students will learn to think critically about technology and its engagement with culture at large. They will be encouraged to think about the political, economic and social impact of digital technologies. This humanistic approach to technology would make this course particularly useful to students of art history, philosophy, comparative literature, art education, and the visual/plastic arts. A significant portion of the course will be devoted to the ways in which art on the internet and digital art in general challenge the integrity of categories such as race and national identity. For example, students will have an opportunity to engage with African American artists such as Keith Obadike, whose on-line performances include an attempt to put his "blackness" up for sale on ebay.com in August of 2001. Students may also look at the ways in which net.art (Art made to be viewed on the internet) can critique commercial cooptation of global culture: etoy.com, for example, is an international and collaborative artist's group that satirizes global capital by camouflaging itself as a multinational corporation.This class will depend largely upon written responses and class discussion, rather than upon tests. Thus, students will learn how to approach difficult theoretical sources that have been assigned to them, and they will learn how to ask the kinds of questions that will help them understand such sources. This course will emphasize critical thinking rather than memorization, so students will develop analytical skills that will be useful in many other contexts. Because students will be given weekly writing assignments, they will be able to improve their skills in composition.