Assignments
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Identity Remix
The web is an arena in which people’s identities can be presented as altered, exaggerated or completely falsified. This makes it an interesting place for artists, and others, to explore issues of identity. In this assignment you will create a website that functions to either slightly skew, or entirely remake, your identity. You may chose how closely the new identity fits with your current sense of self. Consider using artwork, images, etc from your existing identity which could believably be “remixed” into a new identity by adding text that you would not use to describe yourself. Or the reverse: Your own actual biography presented in a highly unusual way (see Rent-a-Negro art project). Please be aware of copyrights issues, see the copyright issues links on the class links page.
- Pop! The First Human Male Pregnancy – by Lee Mingwei
- Mouchette – annonymous. Read about this classic net.art project in the New Media Art book. It could be considered the non-commercial precursor to the Lonelygirl15 concept, which you can read about here on Wikipedia.
- Bodies© INCorporated – by Victoria Vesna and Robert Nideffer
- _readme.html by Heath Bunting
- Female Extension – by Cornelia Solfrank, including her net.art generator
- All My Life For Sale – by John Freyer
- Rent-a-Negro by artist Damali Ayo – An uncomfortable exploration into the value of her “services” as a token person of color.
- Pretendster
- Lifesharing by 0100101110101101.org
- The Essential Guide to becoming Michael Mandiberg by Michael Mandiberg
- Fake Yoko Ono
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Tactical Media
The internet is a wonderful place to have your say, reveal societal issues as you see them and generally express your personal viewpoint on public topics. Many artists have used this medium in very effective political ways that have gone far beyond what is possible in traditional art mediums. Your challenge is to make an elegant tactical media site of your own. You must use the inherent power of the internet to deliver your message in some way that goes beyond the construction of an “anti-something” propaganda poster.
- Sites that work to reveal/undermine power structures
They Rule, by Josh On and Futurefarmers. See maps of the connections between Fortune 500 companies and also make your own maps. - Reamweaver a piece of software developed by the ®TMark corporation that allows users to easily mirror existing websites.
- World Trade Organization “alternative WTO site” created by the corporation of artists known as ®TMark and managed by The Yes Men. Watch the trailer for their new movie The Yes Men Fix the World. Read about some of their recent collaborative projects, such as the fake NY Times paper here. Read about the legalities of their tactical media activities in this article written by a lawyer: THE LAW AND POLITICS OF INTERNET ACTIVISM Survivaball – a spinoff site based one of the Yes Men’s projects
- Meatrix – Delivering the anti-cruelty-to-animals-messages in a hipster, Flash movie format.
- Word Perhect, by Tomoko Takahashi – countering the standardization of word processing software.
- File Room, by Antoni Muntadas. An online archive of censorship.
- Technologies to the People Video Collection – by the people at irational.org
- Adwords Happening artist exploits the Google search engine to transmit poetry and to question the cost of words.
- BP Global PR A Twitter account lampooning and raising awareness about the gulf oil spill.
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Final Project
Working from your own personal artistic interests, you will create a significant internet artwork to be presented in the final art and tech exhibition.
ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
CONCEPT – idea, intention and meaning. Does the artwork clearly communicate something to other viewers? 25%
CREATIVITY – originality of thought and expression. Does the artwork show innovation and uniqueness? Did the artist solve the given assignment problem in an expected or unexpected way? 25%
COMPOSITION – arrangement and organization of elements.Has the artist carefully considered elements such as balance, proportion, texture, color, shape, and positive/negative space? 25%
CRAFTSMANSHIP – attention to detail. Does the artist skillfully manipulate the images? Are all details carefully finished and/or intentional-looking? 25%