ADVANCED TOPICS IN NEW MEDIA
COURSE SYLLABUS
Spring 2008
CNM 201/IEOR 298-3: Advanced Topics in New Media
M 5:30-6:30 pm, plus 7:30-9:00pm for ATC lectures
3102 Etcheverry Hall
Prof. Ken Goldberg
goldberg(at)ieor(dot)berkeley(dot)edu
TAs:
Irene Chien
ichien(at)berkeley(dot)edu
Kris Paulsen
kris(dot)paulsen(at)gmail(dot)com
Course Description:
CNM 201/IEOR 298-3 (cross-listed under Center for New Media & Industrial Engineering and Operations Research) will be held in conjunction with the Art, Technology and Culture Colloquium, a monthly lecture series that brings internationally known speakers to campus to present their work on advanced topics in new media. This semester's speakers include: architect Greg Lynn, musician Naut Humon and publisher V. Vale, artist Golan Levin, artist Kota Ezawa, and museum director Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson.
Students will enhance skills in "interrogating" new media: how to think critically about advanced topics in new media, how to use new media resources such as the internet to research pioneering work in new media, how to formulate incisive questions about new media, and how to evaluate and create effective presentations on topics in new media.
Students will research each speaker and formulate incisive questions. During each lecture, students will attend, take careful notes, and ask incisive questions. During the week after each lecture, students and instructors will review and evaluate strengths (and weaknesses) of speaker presentations and advanced topics in new media.
This course is open to graduate students from any department and upper level undergraduates (upon instructor approval).
This course fulfills the Designated Emphasis in New Media 201 requirement.
Requirements:
Students must attend the class meetings and the ATC lectures. Please see the attached course schedule for the specific dates of classes and lectures. Students must research each speaker and are responsible for generating discussion and contributing to a course blog. Required readings are on the website..
Grading:
This course is 2 credits. It will be graded on the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory scale. To obtain a Satisfactory grade, students must come prepared to each class and ATC lecture, contribute to class discussions and the class blog, and turn in a list of three incisive and relevant questions for each visiting speaker in the Art, Technology, and Culture lecture series. Attendance is expected: students with more than two unexcused absences will not receive a Satisfactory grade.
Class Schedule: (Dates with ATC lectures in bold)
| January 28 | Introduction to the course |
| February 4 | Present research and questions for Lynn
Read: Greg Lynn, excerpt from Folds, Bodies & Blobs; Nicholas Negroponte, "Soft Architecture Machines"; browse Studio Lynn Vienna website; view Studio Lynn video ATC Lecture: Greg Lynn, "Giant Robot Architecture," 7:30-9pm, Berkeley Art Museum Theater |
| February 11 | Discuss Greg Lynn lecture; Continue discussion of last week's readings |
| February 18 | President's Day - NO CLASS |
| Date TBA | Field Trip to Recombinant Media Labs |
| February 25 | Present research and questions for Humon & Vale
Read: SF Chronicle article on Recombinant Media Labs; video on Recombinant Media Labs; Bela Belasz, "Theory of the Film: Sound"; Oliver Grau, "Immersion" ATC Lecture: Naut Humon & V. Vale, "Attention Depiction Disorders," 7:30-9pm, Berkeley Art Museum Theater |
| March 3 | Discuss Naut Humon & V. Vale lecture; Golan Levin prep
Read: Golan Levin, "Responses to Five Questions Posed by Lev Manovich"; Golan Levin & Joanna Heatwole, "Interview with Afterimage"; Golan Levin, "Artist Statement, 2005" |
| March 10 | Present research and questions for Levin; Continue discussion of last week's readings
ATC Lecture: Golan Levin, "Looking at Looking at Looking," 7:30-9pm, Berkeley Art Museum Theater |
| March 17 | Discuss Golan Levin lecture
Read: Wendy Chun, "Did Somebody Say New Media?"; Lev Manovich, "What Is New Media" |
| March 24 | Spring Break - NO CLASS |
| March 31 | Kota Ezawa screening & prep
Read: NY Times Review, Other Reading TBA |
| April 7 | Present research and questions for Ezawa
ATC Lecture: Kota Ezawa, "Texts, Slides, and Videotapes" 7:30-9pm, 160 Kroeber Hall |
| April 14 | Discuss Kota Ezawa Lecture |
| April 21 | New Media Curating
Read: Christiane Paul, "The Myth of Immateriality" Look: Check out The Whitney Museum’s Artport |
| April 28 | Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson ATC lecture CANCELLED
New Media Curating Continued Read: Christiane Paul, "Flexible Contexts, Democratic Filtering and Computer Aided Curating" Look: The New Museum’s Montage: Unmonumental Online; SFMOMA's ESPACE |
| May 5 | LAST DAY - Guest Lecture: Christiane Paul, Visiting Professor and Curator of New Media at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY |