Description
MAT200A 03W



Instructor: George Legrady
TA: Andreas Schlegel
Monday 5-7pm - HSSB 1174, Wednesday 5-7pm - Estudio


The seminar provides an overview of developments in digital media practice of the last four decades with an emphasis on the intersection of art practice and innovative technological research as it relates to visual and spatial arts. The intention of the 200A CORE seminar is to introduce the issues, directions and institutions of digital media practice, provide a range of examples, and reveal multidisciplinary possibilities for intersecting technological research and production in multimedia projects. Knowledge acquired in this course will be instrumental in shaping research directions and final projects for MAT students. It is therefore critical that the course be taken in the first year of the MAT graduate studies.

The seminar will incorporate the Digital Media Lecture Series consisting of regular lectures by visiting digital media practitioners and theorists to be given on Monday evenings from 5mp to 7pm. Wednesdays meetings will consist of faculty presentations, class discussions of student readings, research and presentations. The presentations and final project is to be realized as a web document.

Course Schedule
CourseWork Attendance at the lectures and seminars
Brief reports on visiting lectures
Research presentations and website
Final Project in website form
Research Presentation

Students will do research presentations on two chapters from the textbook and produce a reference website using the Packer textbook and Steve Wilson website as reference for material. For examples, visit last year’s seminar syllabus at http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/~g.legrady/academic/courses/02w200a/c_02w200a_sdl.html
Final Projects The final project consists in the conceptualization and visualization of a public multimedia installation proposal to be realized as a web document. Presentations of such proposals are similar in nature to presentations of architectural project concepts or any other proposals that integrate multimedia components (film, theater, entertainment rides, spectacles, media events, etc.) They normally consist of defining the concept, supported by giving an idea of the visual identity, what the technological components might be, and other information necessary to convey the value of the project to potential funding sources. This could also include: budget breakdown, production specialits overview, and work schedules. Because of the competitive nature of these projects, the presentation and aesthetics of the proposal itself requires innovation, surprise, challenge, conviction, seduction and information. A study of project presentations from the field of architecture give the best examples of how to proceed. As two possible examples, see http://www.reiser-umemoto.com/, http://www.toto.co.jp/GALLERMA/hist/en/hist1999.htm etc.
Textbook & Rerefences

MultiMedia, From Wagner to Virtual Reality
Randall Packer, Ken Jordan, W.W.Norton Press 2002

Steve Wilson’s book Information Arts, MIT press is accompanied by a comprehensive online overview of the media arts field with numerous examples at: http://online.sfsu.edu/~swilson/book/infoartsbook.html





George Avelino gavelino@ivlive.com
Shahid M. Bhatti shahid@cs.ucsb.edu
Julian Herring julianh@umail.ucsb.edu
Marv Jasper m.jasper@verizon.net
Ethan Kaplan ethankap@murmurs.com
Ben Lozano benlozano@mac.com
Ceretha McKenzie ceretha@icess.ucsb.edu
Wasim Mohiuddin wasim@cs.ucsb.edu
Barb Noren keyclicks@hotmail.com
Ross Pitto ross@umail.ucsb.edu
David Thall retticac@mindspring.com
Gary Thomas g.thomas@mat.ucsb.edu
Trevor Vass trevor@snicklesnooge.com
Christina Yao cyao@umail.ucsb.edu