Prehistories of New Media: 1965 to the Present
ARTHI 2511
1 PM - 4PM THURS
SPRING 2005
jonCates
Assistant Professor (Film, Video & New Media)
Art History Theory and Criticism
JCATES at SAIC dot EDU
Lori Felker
Teaching Assistant
LFELKER at SAIC dot EDU
COURSEWARE: DESCRIPTION ++ SYLLABUS ++ REFERENCE MATERIALS
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◊ Prehistories of New Media: 1965 to the Present ◊
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◊ DATES ◊
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the course will be a nodal network as is the net of Indra + will reflect itself in the facets of a timond in the following 15 interdependent self-reflexive timonds, conceptual constellations or academic modules:
2005.08.31: 00. Prehistories, New Media + Marshall McLuhan
2006.09.07: 01. re:mediations + rear view mirrorism
2006.09.14: 02. remixologies: cut-up, sample + remix
2006.09.21: 03. cinematic dream machines + hypermedia DUE: pre-alpha.txt
2006.09.28: 04. RAM
2006.10.05: 05. JODI.ORG
2006.10.12: 06. realtime.hyst
2006.10.19: 07. repeat.hyst
2006.10.26: 08. broken ghost machines DUE: alpha.txt
2006.11.02: 09. artware
2006.11.09: 10. COMports
2006.11.16: 11. cyberpunk afrofuturism
2006.11.23: 12. Devastation of First Nations Celebrated
2006.11.30: 13. play
2006.12.07: 14. CRIT WEEK DUE: beta.txt
2006.12.14: 15. beta.txt
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◊ REQUIREMENTS ◊
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All students are required to write a research txt on New Media Art hystories. choose New Media Art projects to research from those discussed in class or in supplementary materials. the resulting research txt must cite at least 3 recent New Media Artworks + discuss these works in detail. this research txt will be evaluated on the basis of personal investment, theoretical + Art hystorical criticality + creativity. i encourage experimentation with form but suggest using standard research approaches to critical theoretical analysis of New Media Art projects, personal essay [+/or] hybrids of these writing styles.
all students declare the intended topic of the New Media Art research txts in a document called pre-alpha.txt before beginning the development of the alpha.txt research. once agreed upon, the topic will remain the same throughout the process. your pre-alpha.txt will be DUE on 2006.09.21 + must be sent via email to: jcates AT saic DOT edu + lfelker AT saic DOT edu
the alpha.txt will be DUE 2006.10.26 @ the beginning of class + must consist of 4-5 pages of txt + must be sent via email to: lfelker AT saic DOT edu
jonCates + Lori Felker will review your alpha.txt + discuss your research with you. you will then make changes + refinements to the research, arguments, etc... in the txt + create an improved version aka the beta.txt to receive credit for the class.
the beta.txt will be DUE 2006.12.07 + must be posted online to the class portal. the beta.txt will be shared with all students + on 2006.12.14 a group discussion will address the positions, research + subjectivities expressed in the txts.
throughout the research phases of the 2 new media txts, students will journal, blog, create diary or sketchbook entries [+/or] other such collections of [thoughts/references/notes]. in the case of digital practices such as blogs, vlogs, etc students will make the uri's of these known to the class. in the case of analog or physical practices, students will make these available to the Professor for review on the Professor's request.
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◊ QUIZZES ◊
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quizzes will be given weekly on the outside assignments given the previous week. outside assignments will consist of readings, screenings + participation in various New Media projects.
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◊ ATTENDANCE ◊
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attendance and punctuality are required.
3 absences == NO CREDIT.
2 lates == 1 absence.
6 lates == NO CREDIT.
attendance records will be kept and made available on the portal.
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◊ INTERTWINGULARITY ◊
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i will give weavings of alternative structures that tie together interconnections + vasty tingleTangles of ideas + evidence in a manner described by Ted Nelson in his 1974 publication Computer Lib/Dream Machines. these art hystorical projects will configure multiple prehystories of New Media + facilitate conversation. New Media will be considered as technosocial field of artistic activity + agency interwoven with recent futures + nearby pasts of Film Art and Video Art. these socially embedded technologies will be discussed in relation to the development of the "countercultural" + continually arrived @ through contested, multiple, modular, subjective + personal hystories.
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◊ TIMONDS ◊
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the following timond[Outlines/Shadows], [conceptual/celestial]Expansion + academic module summaries will provide examples of projects to be discussed + outsideAssignments that will be given:
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◊ 2005.08.31 ◊
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00. Prehistories, New Media + Marshall McLuhan
READ:
The Medium is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan, Quentin Fiore + Jerome Agel (1967)
http://www.ubu.com/sound/mcluhan.html
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New Media from Borges to HTML - Lev Manovich (2002)
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~noah/nmr/book_samples/nmr-intro-manovich-excerpt.pdf
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◊ 2006.09.07 ◊
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01. re:mediations + rear view mirrorism
Spectres of the Spectrum - Craig Baldwin (1999)
The Sub-Division of the Electric Light - Perry Hoberman (1996)
Beyond - Zoe Beloff (1997)
Inflat-o-scape - Jessica Irish (2001)
http://www.inflatoscape.com
READ:
Pour faire un poème dadaiste - Tristan Tzara (1920)
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The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin - William S. Burroughs (1961)
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Nova Express (excerpt) - William S Burroughs (1964)
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◊ 2006.09.14 ◊
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02. remixologies: cut-up, sample + remix
Towers Open Fire - Antony Balch, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin + Ian Sommerville (1963)
Great Expectations - Kathy Acker (1983)
P3RMU74710NS - Florian Cramer (1996 - 2000)
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~cantsin/permutations
errata erratum - Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid (2002)
http://www.moca.org/museum/digital_gallery/pmiller
READ:
The Fantasy Beyond Control - Lynn Hershman (1990)
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◊ 2006.09.21 ◊
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03. cinematic dream machines + hypermedia
Anemic Cinema - Marcel Duchamp (1926)
Dream Machine - Brian Gysion (1957 - 1960)
Computer Lib/Dream Machines - Ted Nelson (1974)
Homebrew Computer Club (1975)
Lorna and Deep Contact - Lynn Hershman (1979 – 1989)
READ:
<nettime> Interview with Douglas Davis - Tilman Baumgaertel (2000)
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0005/msg00099.html
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◊ 2006.09.28 ◊
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04. RAM: Random Access Memory
Random Access - Nam June Paik (1963)
Community Memory - Efrem Lipkin, Lee Felsenstein + Ken Colstad (1972 - 1974)
The World's First Collaborative Sentence - Douglas Davis (1994)
http://artport.whitney.org/collection/davis
The Fileroom - Antonio Muntadas (1994 - present)
http://www.thefileroom.org
airworld - Jennifer + Kevin McKoy (1999)
http://www.airworld.net
SKYSCRAPER - Roman Minaev (2001 - present)
http://skyscraper.trashconnection.com
10 Programs written in BASIC ©1984 - JODI (2003)
READ:
Rewind the Future - Joline Blais and Jon Ippolito (2003)
http://www.electrohype.org/rom/jodi/backtobasic.html
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Exe.cut[up]able statements- Florian Cramer (2003)
http://www.aec.at/en/archives/festival_archive/festival_catalogs/festival_artikel.asp?iProjectID=12319
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interview with Jodi - Josephine Bosma (1997)
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9703/msg00088.html
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◊ 2006.10.05 ◊
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05. JODI.ORG
READ:
Utopian Laser TV Station - Nom June Polk (1966)
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◊ 2006.10.12 ◊
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06. realtime.hyst: audio video systems hardware, software + artware
Participation TV - Nam June Paik (1982)
Expanded Cinema - Gene Youngblood (1970)
Reel Time - Annabel Nicolson (1973)
Violin Power - Steina (1970 - 1978)
nato.0+55 - netochka nezvanova (1997)
READ:
Constituents of a Theory of the Media - Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1970)
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1567
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◊ 2006.10.19 ◊
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07. repeat.hyst: situation loop found rerun appropriate detourne recode hack
Rose Hobart - Joseph Cornell (1936)
Magnet TV - Nam June Paik (1965)
Report - Bruce Conner (1963 - 1967)
The Eternal Frame - Ant Farm + T.R. Uthco (1976)
Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord (1973)
Can Dialectics Break Bricks? - René Viénet (1973)
Home of the Brave - Laurie Anderson (1986)
Net Art Generator - Cornelia Solfrank (1999)
http://obn.org/generator/
9-11 Survivor - Jeff Cole, Mike Caloud, John Brennon (2003)
http://selectparks.net/911survivor
READ:
crash - martin howse (2005)
http://plot.bek.no/%7Ecrash2005/crash_mh.pdf
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◊ 2006.10.26 ◊
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08. broken ghost machines: psychedelic codes, bugs, viruses + glitches
The Flicker - Tony Conrad (1965 - 1966)
OFF/ON - Scott Bartlett (1968)
Pixillation - Lillian Schwartz (1970)
Enigma - Lillian Schwartz (1972)
DISCODER - exonemo (1999)
http://www.exonemo.com/DISCODER
Biennale.py - 0100101110101101.ORG (2001)
http://0100101110101101.org/home/biennale_py
CODeDOC - Christiane Paul (2002)
http://artport.whitney.org/commissions/codedoc
READ:
Artware - Art, Software and conceptualism - Saul Albert (1999)
http://twenteenthcentury.com/saul/artware.htm
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Software - R. Buckminster Fuller + Raindance Corporation (1970)
http://www.radicalsoftware.org/volume1nr1/pdf/VOLUME1NR1_0007.pdf
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◊ 2006.11.02 ◊
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09. artware: executable art + instruction sets
18 Happenings in 6 Parts - Alan Kaprow (1959)
Violin Power - Steina (1969 - present)
http://www.vasulka.org/Steina/Steina_ViolinPower/ViolinPower.html
Radical Software - Raindance Corporation (1970 - 1974)
http://radicalsoftware.org
Software - Jack Burnham (1970)
nato.0+55 - netochka nezvanova (1997)
Read_me - Olga Goriunova, Alexei Shulgin, etc... (2002 - present)
http://readme.runme.org
runme.org - Olga Goriunova, Alexei Shulgin, etc... (2003 - present)
http://runme.org
READ:
Art, Power, and Communication - Alexei Shulgin (1996)
http://sunsite.cs.msu.su/wwwart/apc.htm
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◊ 2006.11.09 ◊
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10. COMports: open communities online networks
Radical Software - Raindance Corporation (1970 - 1974)
http://radicalsoftware.org
The Electronic Cafe - Kit Galloway & Sherrie Rabinowitz (1984 - present)
http://www.ecafe.com
nettime - ZK participants, Geert Lovink, Pit Schultz, etc... (1995 - present)
http://www.nettime.org
Rhizome.org - Mark Tribe, Alexander Galloway, etc... (1996 - present)
http://rhizome.org
criticalartware.net - criticalartware (2003 - present)
http://criticalartware.net
READ:
a black rainbow over new orleans - tobias c. van Veen (2005)
http://www.quadrantcrossing.org/blog/C277523597/E1794296228/index.html
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Project for a New Atlantis [pt 1&2] - Paul D Miller (2005)
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0509/msg00009.html
RECOMMENDED LISTENING: The Quest - Drexciya (1997)
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◊ 2006.11.16 ◊
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11. cyberpunk afrofuturism
Cybernetic Serendipity (1968)
Neromancer - William Gibson (1984)
CyberPunk - Marianne Trench (1990)
Last Angel of History - John Akomfrah + Black Audio Film Collective (1995)
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◊ 2006.11.23 ◊
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12. Devastation of First Nations Celebrated
READ:
Untitled Guidelines for Happenings - Allan Kaprow (1965)
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◊ 2006.11.30 ◊
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13. play
18 Happenings in 6 Parts - Alan Kaprow (1959)
Chess Set (All White Chess Set) - Yoko Ono (1966)
Adventure - William Crowther (1972)
Prisoners' Dilemma - Richard Serra (1974)
WARPITOUT - Jane Veeder (1982)
BORDERLAND - plokker (1998)
Alien Invasion - Tony Ward (1998)
Epilepsy Virus Patch - Anne-Marie Schleiner (1999)
Quilted Thought Organ - delire aka Julian Oliver (1999 - present)
Little Fly - Mouchette (2000)
Rethinking Wargames - Ruth Catlow (2003)
Fijuu - Julian Oliver + Steven Pickles (2004 - present)
entropy8zuper - Auriea Harvey + Michaël Samyn (1999)
http://entropy8zuper.org
The Endless Forest - Tale of Tales aka Auriea Harvey + Michaël Samyn (2005 - present)
http://www.tale-of-tales.com/TheEndlessForest
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◊ 2006.12.07 ◊
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14. CRIT WEEK
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◊ 2006.12.14 ◊
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15. beta.txt discussion
the complete + updated courseware will exist online + all students will be responsible for keeping themselves informed of changes. Prehistories of New Media: 1965 to the Present will utilize the School of the Art Institute's portal:
http://go.artic.edu
as well as:
http://www.saic.edu/~jcates
this syllabus is protected by the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0
LINKAGES: GO.ARTIC.EDU ++ HTTP://FVNM.INFO ++ CREATIVE COMMONS (CC) BY-NC-SA 2.0
