THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY, VISUAL ART AND THEORY
VISA 210 002 2016
Fridays 9:00 – 12:00. Buch B-204
Instructor: Manuel Piña-B
Office location: BC Binning, room 207
manuel.pina@ubc.ca
Office hours: Tuesdays, 10:00 -12:00 or by appointment
Description
Examination of current art practices and issues related to digital technologies and contemporary culture. Technical instruction in image and sound manipulation with an emphasis on the theoretical conceptualization of digital artistic media.
The general thesis if this course is this: the ongoing changes in our relation to images brought about by current technologies signals the emergence of a new, visual language. During the term we will investigate such possibility by attempting to communicate through images, to create a term-long image-based dialogue. This dialogue will revolve around the interrelation between technology and humanity, a relation in which -as we will see- art and images play a mayor role.
The content is divided in 3 themes:
What is an image?
What is Art?
What is Technology?
Each session will generally consist of:
- Discussion of previous class ideas, questions and visual responses posted in the website (see ‘weekly contributions’ below)
- Discussion on a new topic
- Introduction of the conceptual basis for the weekly assignment.
Objectives
- The general and main goal of this course is to introduce and develop a way of thinking and examining the world proper to an artistic practice
- Develop a personal visual language
- Raise awareness social role of images in contemporary life
Evaluations
The subject of our class (current conditions of image-creation) is one in constant change: new software, devices and sharing platforms dynamically emerge, morph or disappear. This makes ours a very exciting object of study, where experimentation and risk-taking are essential to fruitful investigations.
Our class will adopt an evaluation scheme that encourages to such open investigations: performance will be evaluated primarily on the basis of students commitment to the class and artistic explorations.
Here are the main criteria for evaluation:
- Attendance– The class plan is but a general guide for the course. Many ideas and topics will emerge from class discussions. Missing a meeting can mean missing a valuable unplanned complement to the course.
- Artistic investigation– It is important that you feel free to explore new challenges and ideas. Take chances as any truly open exploration includes the possibility of failing. Trial and error will be the main approach to our projects. Failures are only so if we don’t learn from them. Your work can be partially appropriated (all sources shall be properly cited).
- Participation (comments in class and online). Your questions and comments are your most important contribution to the class. You are required to weekly post to the class website. This includes:
- Class notes (posted during the class or within the day);
- Questions
- Responses to classmates
- Ideas
- Related links
- Timely submissions– conversations will take mainly through images. It is vital that you submit all classwork by the due date.
Comments
At the beginning of the term students are adjudicated a base mark of 75% (B+). This mark will be re-evaluated at the end of the term according to the aforementioned criteria.
The main reference for the success of your work will be the comments made by your peers in class and the website. Given the time constrains I will not be able to make specific remarks about every single work. For a thorough discussion of your work and progress, please attend the weekly office hours or make an appointment.