VIS159/ICAM150

Summary
The course will provide an analytical background for thinking about the history of technology and artistic practice. The course is not structured as a chronological survey; rather, it is structured as a series of seven "nodes" anchored in the present day, which are unravelled to reveal important historical patterns and connections. Each of these seven "nodes" is oriented around three "vehicle" metaphors. We will use the metaphor of the vehicle as an aid to understanding art and technology in terms of their embeddedness in processes of embodiment, movement, and subjectivity. Through readings, screenings, stories, media projects, and discussions, we will aim for a broader understanding of both technology and art, exploring the nature of technology and the changes it has brought in the realms of communication, desire, imagination, ideology, and cultural life.

Grading and Requirements
Attendance and participation: 20%
Mid-term essay: 40%
Final essay: 40%
Labs will provide an opportunity to discuss class material with your TA in a smaller group. It is important that you attend every lecture and every assigned lab session. You are expected to complete all readings before the meeting, and to participate fully in the discussions. Both the mid-term and the final have in-class components, in response to questions that will be unknown until the day of the exam. For the take-home component, you will have the option of either writing a essay, or doing a combination of an essay and an interactive video project using Korsakow.

2 pages in-class + 1000 words take-home essay + nonlinear interactive video in Korsakow
-OR-
2 pages in-class + 2500 words take-home essay

For the take-home mid-term, you will be asked to analyze and operate your own "vehicle" (whether preexisting or invented) in accordance with all 10 items in the "Vehicle User's Manual." It is very important that you understand these 10 items and respond to all 10 in your essay -- otherwise, you will fail to handle your vehicle successfully and arrive at your destination. For the final exam, you will again be asked to analyze and operate your own "vehicle"; however this time you will be asked to position your vehicle in four ways: as a frame; a stage; an apparatus; and a network.

Schedule
JAN 5: INTRODUCTION
Review of Vehicle User's Manual

JAN 12: THE VEHICLE AS ENCLOSURE
Reading: Jordan Crandall, "Convertible Vehicles"
Margaret Morse, "An Ontology of Everyday Distraction"

JAN 19: THE VEHICLE AS OPTIMIZER
Reading: Jordan Crandall, "Tech Ass in Gear"
Jordan Crandall, "Bodies on the Circuit"

JAN 26: THE VEHICLE AS BODILY RELOCATOR
Reading: Lev Manovich, "The Automation of Sight"
Jonathan Crary Suspensions of Perception (Chapter One)
Jordan Crandall, "Unmanned"

FEB 2: Screenings and MID TERM

FEB 9: THE VEHICLE AS FRAME
Reading: Elizabeth Grosz, "Chaos, Territory, and Art" ("Architecture and the Frame" section)
Mark Hansen, New Philosophy for New Media (Introduction)

FEB 16: THE VEHICLE AS STAGE
Readings: Victor Burgin, "Jenni's Room: Exhibitionism and Solitude"
Jordan Crandall, "An Actor Prepares"

FEB 23: THE VEHICLE AS APPARATUS
Reading: Gilles Deleuze, "Societies of Control"
Giorgio Agamben, "What is An Apparatus?"
Vilem Flusser, "Towards a Philosophy of Photography (The Apparatus section)

MAR 2: THE VEHICLE AS NETWORK
Reading: Alexander Galloway, "Protocol"
Graham Harman, Prince of Networks

MAR 9: CONCLUSION