Making Meaning:
Understanding and Practicing Contemporary Media Art
Assignments
Final Project: Group Contribution to "On Procession Street Spectacular"
“Speak Freely” was a float to raise awareness about the issue of Network Neutrality that was designed and built by students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. A vintage pickup truck spread information about the issue using banners, modified computer monitors, a giant Ethernet cable puppet, and live sound. One team member talked with parade watchers about their Internet use and the current campaign to “Save the 'Net” from large cable companies who want to be able to discriminate against certain users and content in order to increase their profits. These conversations were played over a loudspeaker mounted to the roof of the truck. Other team members handled the puppet or distributed informational flyers to the audience.
low-res documentation video (quicktime, 3.8mb)
hi-res documentation video (quicktime, 364mb)
Project 1: When I Say Art
In a group, you will produce a short video concerning people’s attitudes, assumptions, and beliefs about art and artists. The video will be based on short word-association interviews similar to those made by artist Valerie Tevere in her “When I Say…” project. You should brainstorm prompts for word associations concerning art and artists and use those associations to “warm up” for a longer dialog concerning the artist’s relation to audience and society—good or bad. Please keep a written record of people you interview along with their consent to appear in the project. In many ways, the conversations that you have with people are as much the project as the video production, so plan to complete at least ten word association interviews and take the time to do them well and have a real exchange. Your finished video must be around five minutes long.
Project 1 Guidelines (pdf, 20k)
Release Form (pdf, 16k)
Video Camera Primer (pdf, 240k)
Intro to Final Cut Pro (pdf, 2.4MB)
Intro to Soundtrack Pro (pdf, 1MB)
Paper
You will write a 5-8 page paper that both describes and analyzes ONE significant contemporary media art project or series in depth. Please choose an artwork that is non-traditional in its use of a medium or that combines several media. For example, you may wish to look at Eva and Franco Mattes’s performance art re-enactments in Second Life, Paul Miller/DJ Spooky’s live cinematic remixes, or the Ha Ha’s GPS-triggered taxi signs. The artist does not necessarily need to be someone we have discussed in class, but it is suggested that you review the readings for ideas.
Paper Guidelines (pdf, 16k)