A three-part class combining production, collaboration training, and a lab in interactive media programming.
In the production segment of the class each student develops a collaborative process compatible with both the form and content of her or his artistic practice. Interdisciplinary collaborative projects may take the form of new theatre works, music/sound/radio performances, dance, performance art, interactive video performance, and any number of unnamed forms. Students also assist collaborative groups with productions for PIMA 703 to gain practical experience with production techniques.
The collaboration theory segment addresses collaboration as a means of interdisciplinary production, including theoretical consideration of contemporary artistic practice in relation to dissolving disciplinary boundaries and the cultural implications of recent technological development.
The lab in concepts and techniques of interactive media programming includes: an introduction to multimedia programming, practical programming projects appropriate to diverse skill levels, and an introduction to artists’ software and using software to facilitate collaborative process.
Class meetings consist of lectures, screenings of performance and interactive collaborative work, guest speakers, project development, class presentations of ongoing projects, and readings.
Interactive Arts Certificate and M.F.A. students all take this course in the first semester.
PIMA 701 is the starting point for all incoming Interactive Arts students. The course's three segments are required in order to provide a unified, immersive introduction into the Interactive Arts curriculum for first semester Interactive Arts students. Due to the breadth of the material covered and the intensity of the coursework, the course will be team-taught by two or three faculty. The instructors will come from at least two, and often three, different departments within the Interactive Arts cooperative.
The Production Segment
In the production segment, students are introduced to the practical concerns of collaborative production and interactive media performance. This includes instruction in the technical details of synchronizing video playback, projecting video and computer images, setting up sound reinforcement and sound dispersion systems, lighting for small venues, multi-camera video documentation, and sound recording.
Early in the semester, PIMA 701 students meet PIMA 703 students and are assigned to assist collaborative groups in the completion of their culminating Interactive Arts projects. Through this 'apprenticeship' system, PIMA 701 students gain valuable practical production experience and hands-on familiarity with available technologies. Communication is established between the incoming and outgoing Interactive Arts sequences, and important information about the philosophy and goals of the program and the type of work being done by students is passed along from one sequence to the next.
Students engage in the creation of independent work in the Interactive Arts elective course taken concurrently with PIMA 701.
The PIMA 701 culminating collaborative project in most cases involves a small collaborative group, usually two or three students developing a project together. Collaborative groups will probably, although not necessarily, increase in size and change membership through PIMA 702 and 703. The PIMA 701 collaboration focuses on developing a traditional collaborative process, and incorporates limited elements of technology-facilitated collaboration. The importance of technology-facilitated collaboration increases through PIMA 702 and 703. In PIMA 701, students draw primarily on the artistic background with which they entered the program, and in many cases also draw upon the skills they are developing in their Interactive Arts elective course. Except in the case of students with advanced programming skills, the first semester of the Interactive Media Programming Lab will not develop sufficient proficiency in students for practical application in PIMA 701 projects.
The Collaboration Training Segment
Through a series of eight collaborative exercises in which assigned student groups produce short co-authored performance works, students are immersed in high-intensity collaboration training. Each exercise emphasizes a different mode or channel of collaborative activity. A "collaboration boot camp," students emerge with a wealth of experience and a set of tools with which to engage in longer-term, larger-scale collaborations.
The Interactive Media Programming Lab
The Interactive Media Programming Lab in PIMA 701 provides students with an intensive introduction MAX/MSP with SoftVNS (JITTER is added in the second semester), a visual programming environment which is used extensively in the creation of interactive sonic and visual installation and performance works. This lab continues in PIMA 702.
The goal of the two-semester lab is to provide students with a range of approaches to using custom software to facilitate collaboration in the creation of interactive performance works. MAX/MSP is used extensively by many artists, designers and technicians throughout the world, is flexible and extensible, and has a relatively shallow learning curve.
The first semester of the lab devotes considerable time to developing a solid foundation in the fundamentals of programming in general through simple programming exercises. This is followed by an introduction to how and why artists use programming in their work, and practical projects related to developing artists’ software. By the end of the semester, students will have an understanding of, and experience with, using software as an artist, and will be introduced to the concept of using artists’ software as a tool to facilitate collaboration, which will be the focus of the second semester lab.
Projects
Students shall complete the following projects during the course of the semester:
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