*Syllabus*

Course Description
We’re glowing. Contemporary life is enlivened—or contaminated, depending on your perspective— by screens, projections, and recordings. This course explores the evolution of images, sound, and type throughout the 20th century, offering students a broad overview of extended media art and the key artists, movements, and technologies that have influenced the field.

Covering digital arts concepts and terminology, the course introduces the computer as a fine arts and design tool, with hands-on experience in Adobe software like Premiere, InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.

Students will learn visual design and composition principles and create extended media works that express their creative goals. They will be encouraged to take risks and challenge their understanding of art through experimental approaches such as photomontage, non-narrative video, speculative design, cut-up method, musique concrète, and performance. Class activities will include screenings, readings, discussions, technical demonstrations, presentations, one-on-one meetings, and project feedback.

Learning Objectives
—Gain understanding of what extended media art is and the artists, movements, and technologies that shaped it during the 20th century
—Learn foundational principles of visual design and composition
—Learn basics of Adobe software (Premiere, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator) that is commonly used to create extended media work
—Develop ability to critically discuss work of other artists and peers using medium-specific vocabulary
—Utilize skills learned in class to create extended media artworks that express creative goals and critically engage viewer

Assignments & Schedule
Please check the schedule page of this website for the most up-to-date info about what we'll be doing in class and what's due. All assignments will be listed on the schedule page and assignments page.

Software
In this class, we will be covering Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator. All Bard students have access to these programs for free.

Note: This is not a technical-only class. If you were hoping to just learn technical skills and not expand your conceptual framework for art-making, this will not be the right class for you. This course is meant to introduce you to many different ways of making art—from sitting on a computer making precise edits to being out in the world performing with your body and voice. That being said, I understand the importance of learning technical skills and encourage technical exploration as a way to generate and test new ideas.

Lab Access
You are welcome to use the computer lab at the Fisher Studio Arts building (room 161) whenever a class is not being held. The lab is open at these times. After using the computers, please transfer work you want to keep to an external drive or to cloud storage and delete your files off the computer. Files will be deleted off the computers in the Fisher computer lab weekly. Note: Food and drinks (with open containers) are not allowed in the labs.

Additionally, there are also several other computer labs on campus that have access to the Adobe Creative Suite.

Tools
—A paper notebook or sketchbook for your ideas, thoughts, notes.
—External flash drive (minimum 32 GB) or hard drive that you bring with you. If you’d like a flash drive recommendation, I’d go for this versatile 128 GB USB drive from Kingston, available to pick up or ship from B+H Photo. If you plan on taking more extended media classes at Bard, I’d highly recommend investing in a minimum 2 TB hard drive. Here’s a brief guide on buying/using external hard drives.
—In addition, because hard drives do fail, I also recommend starting a free cloud storage account where you can back up files located on your harddrive. As a Bard student, you have access to 100GB of free Google Drive cloud storage space through your Bard gmail account.
—Smartphone: In two assignments in this course, you will be required to record video and sound. You may use your smartphone, but if you don’t have access to one, please let me know and I can give you access to alternate A/V equipment.
—Laptop: If you would like, you may work on your laptop as opposed to the lab computers.

Attendance
Full class absence
—I expect you to arrive on time, be prepared for class, and be present during class. This class is a community, and I expect you to show up for each other. You will support each other when you need help, take risks with your work together, and provide critical feedback to help each other grow. However, I understand that things will come up: illness, traffic, childcare or family care, work for other classes, and other emergencies can affect your ability to be present. If you are experiencing cold/flu-like symptoms, please stay home.
—When you are going to be absent, please notify me as soon as possible. If you miss two classes, your grade will drop one full letter grade. If you miss additional classes, you may be overextended and better off dropping the course.
—Students missing a class are responsible for all the information and assignments covered during that class. This means first checking the schedule on the class website, secondly reaching out to peers, and lastly reaching out to me if you still seek further clarity on anything. Please be proactive about getting caught up outside of class time in fairness to everyone who attended so I don’t need to divert class time to this.

Partial class absence
—If you are absent from class for more than 10 minutes (including late arrivals and early departures), –10 percent will be deducted from your participation grade. If the absence is longer than 30 minutes, you will receive an unexcused absence for the day.
—If you are late three times, it will be counted as one full absence.

Participation
—Your participation accounts for 30 percent of your grade in this course. This involves showing up on time, participating in class discussions/in-class exercises/etc, but most of all, not using your phone or looking at non-class related material during class time. Please wait to use your phone, do assignments for other courses, and/or surf the web until after class or during breaks. It is distracting to me as a teacher, and it slows down the course for other students if I have to continue to repeat myself. Also, becoming a better artist (and pursuing political liberation, in general) requires a level of sustained attention to the world and to the present that runs counter to what contemporary culture normalizes. In this course, I want us all to strengthen that muscle.
—After an initial warning, –10 percent will be deducted from your participation grade each time I have to ask you to stop using your phone or looking at non-class related material.

Grading
I expect you to make thoughtful, well-researched, rigorous, risky, and ambitious artworks that examine and challenge conventional ways of looking, listening, witnessing, encountering, and participating. I expect you to begin to develop your own independent and creative voice. Every assignment will be assessed according to the degree that it demonstrates your progress toward these goals. Every work is not successful—in fact, this is a class where you are encouraged to experiment and allowed to fail. But I want your failures to be ambitious, technically competent, original, and creative. Not knowing how to use the equipment/software is not a successful failure. Not spending enough time on your project is not a successful failure. Not conducting the necessary research is not a successful failure. You should plan to work ~four hours a week outside of class on homework. Some of this homework is assigned and some of it is independent (looking up artists we discussed in class, building a personal reading list, working in your sketchbook, etc.). All of it counts.

Breakdown
—25%: One week assignments (interests presentation, image mash-up, Gestalt composition, performance, defamiliarization)
—20%: Two week assignments (documenting place video, musique concrete)
—30%: Participation (attendance, class admin, in-class exercises)
—25%: Final portfolio and Final re-edit

Late Work
All class assignment deadlines are listed on the schedule page of this website. You will be expected to turn work in on time. –15% will be deducted for late assignments. Late assignments will not be accepted after one week. If you turned in an assignment on time, but are not happy with your grade, you may rework and resubmit this assignment at any point during the semester. If you turned in your assignment late initially, you will not be eligible to resubmit it. So, it is to your advantage to turn in something unfinished but on time, rather than not turning in anything. If, for any reason, you haven’t done the homework for a given day, don’t skip class! I’d rather you were present without a completed assignment than absent, which might put you even further behind.

Office Hours
My office hours are on Mondays from 1–3pm, Fisher #153, however, I am around Fisher most weeks Mondays—Wednesdays if it's easier to meet at another time. Just send me an email and we can arrange a time to meet.

Critiques
Critiques are held each time a project is due and will focus on the formal concerns and techniques discussed in class, as well as the conceptual framework of the work presented. Be prepared to speak briefly about your work, what is successful and what is not—remember that we learn just as much from our failures as our achievements. When your classmates are presenting their work, you are expected to give your undivided attention and provide constructive criticism and feedback.

Respecting Diversity
It is my intent that students from all backgrounds and perspectives be well-served by this course. I intend to present materials and activities that are respectful of gender identity, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, and culture. Our small and dedicated group of media artists have a real opportunity to dream up new radical modes of engagement with images, sound, and other modes of production. It takes real trust and a respectful environment to do this. As the course unfolds, I encourage you to let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you and for your peers. Given the risk and vulnerability involved in making and sharing art with others and receiving productive feedback on it, it is important that our classroom is a respectful and comfortable place. I will work hard to cultivate a respectful environment where each of you is heard, and I ask that each of you do the same for one another. If at any time, something is said or done in class that causes you discomfort or offense, please let me know, so we can work together to find a way to best address the issue.

Accessibility
I attempt to make my classes as accessible as possible. If you have accommodations, please let me know so I can provide alternative assignment deadlines, class materials, classroom conditions, etc.

Thanks
Course assignments and design were inspired by material in courses created by Mindy Seu, Ryan Woodring, Sophie Auger, and Katerina Pansera.