Professor Casey Reas, TA Sean Patrick Dockray
Casey Reas (reas at ucla dot edu)
Office Hour: Wednesday 5-6pm
Sean Patrick Dockray (sean at advancedarchitecture dot org)
Office Hour: Wednesday 1-2pm
Monday & Wednesday. 14:00–16:50
Kinross South Room S122
Content:
This course is an introduction to the concept of interactivity and the field
of media art. It follows the history of the computer as a medium for artistic
exploration. In addition to discussing the potential and ideas related to
interactivity, the class focuses on the required skills for creating interactive
work and participants will work toward developing their programming skills.
The concepts and skills taught in the class will enhance each participant’s
ability to excel in future classes about the Internet, animation, interactive
media, and game design. There are four sections of the class: Form & Motion,
Form & Interaction, Image & Interaction, and Print & Interaction.
Each theme is allocated two weeks of study with the first week for readings/discussions
and tutorials and the second week for practicing/extending newly acquired
ideas and skills. The first week of the class serves as an introduction and
the last week a conclusion. A networked presentation at the end of the course
will allow participants to share their work with the UCLA community.
Assignments:
There are three types of assignments for the class: exercises, projects, and
readings. Exercises are short assignments exploring a specific topic. Projects
are one-week explorations into one aspect of interactivity and media art.
These projects combine concept and technique and will gradually increase in
complexity as the quarter progresses. There will be a critique for each project,
where participants will present their work and receive feedback from the professor
and the class. Each participant’s thought process and visual ideas will
be documented in a sketchbook and shared with the professor periodically throughout
the quarter. In addition to these exercises and projects, there will be weekly
reading assignments supported by discussions in class. All readings will come
from the required text, The New Media Reader edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin
and Nick Montfort (MIT Press, 2003).
Evaluation:
The grading is based on the weekly exercises and projects (90%), and on the
participant’s comments, feedback, and active participation during the
class meetings (10%). Exercises will be evaluated based on their originality,
aesthetic qualities, and conceptual sophistication. Feedback will be primarily
qualitative but numeric scores will also be given for each exercise. If an
exercise or project is turned in late, points will be taken off each day so
that it will receive a zero if one week late. More than two absences without
the Professor or TA’s prior permission will lower the participants final
grade by one unit (e.g. an A will become an B). With each additional unexcused
absence, the grade will drop an additional unit. All exercises must be completed
to pass the course. In addition, participants must attend at least three D|MA
sponsored lectures during Fall Quarter 2004.
The grade breakdown follows:
10% Participation
40% Exercises 1, 2, 3, 4 (10% each)
50% Projects 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 (10% each)
