Course detail

The Canon Of New media Art. The best of new media art 1

FaVU-2KNM-ZAcad. year: 2024/2025

The 2-semester course is based on screeing of canonical pieces of the new media history which have influenced the further development of 20th century art. The new media archeology method reveals the most significant influences of the historical movements on the digital art of the 21st century.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

doc. Mgr. Jana Horáková, Ph.D.

Department

Filozofická fakulta (FF MU)

Entry knowledge

An interest in new media art. Good knowledge of a history of post-WWII art.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

The output of the course consists of:
1. audiovisual work
2. accomanying text which contains: a description of the work, the intention, a description, the concept, the strategies and working techniques.

Evaluation criteria:
- formal references to specific work(s) of new media art;
- appropriate reasoning and expertise in the accompanying text;
- aesthetics of final audiovisual work.
Compulsory attendance (how many lessons can be missed will be specified in the beginning of the semester).

Aims

The main objective of the course is to broaden a predominantly theoretically developed knowledge base of new media art with direct experience with partcular art works. This experience is then a basis for subsequent analysis and critical reflection.
After completing the course students will be able to:
- recognize significant artworks from the history of media art;
- interpret the content and meaning of these works in the context of their impact on contemporary art;
- analyze the strategies of their creation within the characteristics of historical movements;
- evaluate the impact of different technologies on the development of new media art;
- understand the fundamental difference between analog and digital media.

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

DANIELS, Dieter - SCHMIDT, Barbara U.: Artists as inventors - inventors as artists. Hatje Cantz, 2008. (CS)
FRIELING, Rudolf - DANIELS, Dieter (eds.): Media Art Net 1: Survey of Media Art. Springer, 2004. (CS)
PAUL, Christiane: Digital art. Thames & Hudson, 2003. (CS)
REENA, Jana –TRIBE, Mark: New Media Art. Taschen, 2009. (CS)
RUSH, Michael: New Media in Art. Thames & Hudson, 2005. (CS)
SHANKEN, Edward A.: Art and Electronic Media. Phaidon, 2009. (CS)
WILSON, Stephen: Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. (CS)

Type of course unit

Seminar

26 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Mgr. et Mgr. Adam Franc

Syllabus

Telepresence and telematics
forerunners:
László Moholy-Nagy: telephone-based art, 1922
Roy Ascott: Aspects of Gaia, 1989 AEC
Myron Krueger: Videoplace, 1975, Metaplay

Paul Sermon: Telematic Dreaming, 1993
Masaki Fujihata: Light on the Net, 1996
Shu Lea Cheang: Bowling Alley, 1995¬-96
Ken Goldberg: Telegarden, 1995
Raffael Lozano-Hemmer: Vectorial Elevation, 1999

Cinetic art, cybernetic sculptures, robotic performances and telerobotics
forerunners:
Marcel Duchamp: Bicycle wheel, 1913; Rotary Plates
Naum Gabo: Standing wave, 1920
L-M. Nagy: Kinetic sculpture moving 1933
L-M. Nagy: Light-Space Modulator, 1922-30
Nicolas Schöffer: CYSP, 1956
Nam June Paik: Robot K456, 1965
Jean Tinguely: Building "Chaos 1", 1974
Jean Tinguely: Hommage to New York, 1960
Tom Shannon: Squat, 1966
Edward Ihnatowicz: Senster, 1969-1970

Louis Philippe Demers a Bill Vorn: No Man´s Land 1996, Interactive Robotic Installation
Louis Philippe Demers a Bill Vorn: Frenchman Lake: 1995, Interactive Robotic Installation
Bill Vorn: Grace State Machines in the Hexagram Black Box, 2007
Survival Research Laboratory: A Plan For Social Improvement. Amsterdam, 1988
Douglas Davis: Send/Recieve satellite, 1977
Douglas Davis: The World in 24 hours
Kit Galloway a Sherrie Rabinovitz: Satellite arts, 1977
Eduardo Kac: Teleporting an Unknown State, 1994
Eduardo Kac: Rara Avis, 1996
Lynn Herschmann: Tillie, the Telerobotic Doll, 1995

Performance, happening, social sculpture
forerunners:
Yoko Ono: Cut Piece, 1964
John Cage and dancer Merce Cunningham, Black Mountain College: Variations V.
Joseph Beuys with How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, 1965
Chris Burden: Shoot, 1971
9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, 1966

Golan Levin: Telesymphony 2001
0100101110101101.ORG: Reenactment of Chris Burden's Shoot 2007, Second Life Performance

Installation, multimedia installation
forerunners:
Nam June Paik: TV Sculpture, Videoflag

Jeffrey Shaw: The Legible City, 1989
Masaki Fujihata: Global Interior project, 1996
Knowbotic Research: 10_dencies, 1997
Karlheinz Stockhausen Helicopter string quartet, 1995
Charlotte Davies: Osmose, 1995
Jeffrey Shaw: EVE, 1993
Jon McCormack: Evolving Sonic Ecosystem EDEN, 2004

Tactical media, activism, and hacktivism, surveillance
forerunners:
John Heartfield a Hannah Höchová: dada fotomontáž
Hans Arp, Kurt Schwitters: koláž
Raoul Hausmann, Johannes Baader: asambláž
Peter Weibel : Observation of the Observation: Uncertainty, instalation 1973

Thomson and Craighead: TRIGGER HAPPY, 1998
0100101110101101.ORG: Vaticano.org
0100101110101101.ORG: Darko Maver, 1998 – 1999
0100101110101101.ORG: The Nike Ground, 2003
Etoy: etoy.share, 2000
RSG (Radical Software group): Carnivore, 2001
®TMark www.rtmartk.com 1996

Apropriation and open source
forerunners:
Sherrie Levine: After Walker Evans 1981

Alexei Shulgin 386 DX, 1998
Natalie Bookchin : The Intruder, 1999
Michael Mandiberg: After Sherrie Levine, 2001
RSG: prepared PlayStation, 2005
Cory Arcangel: Super Mario Clouds, 2002
Cory Arcangel: I Shot Andy Warhol, 2002
0100101110101101.ORG: life sharing, 2000
Radioqualia:free radio linux, 2002