Projects

DigiScape

DUE Sept. 29th

There is a long tradition of landscape in American art. Artists have used landscape not simply to describe a place, but to imagine territory, identity, nature, power, and the unknown.

Today, we also inhabit landscapes that are not entirely physical. We move through maps, feeds, games, simulations, databases, social networks, virtual spaces, and algorithmically generated images. These digital environments—or digiscapes—are constantly changing and are experienced differently by every person who enters them.

Unlike the physical landscape, a digiscape does not have to obey gravity, scale, perspective, time, or even logic. Objects can repeat endlessly, enormous things can become tiny, spaces can fold into one another, and unrelated images can exist together. In this sense, the digiscape can operate much like a dream: familiar things reorganized into unfamiliar worlds.

What does your digiscape look like?

For this project, create three original digital landscapes that imagine a world shaped by your own experience of digital space.

Use images found online along with at least two images that you create yourself. Combine and transform these elements to construct spaces that could not easily exist in the physical world.

Experiment with:

scale and proportion
repetition and pattern
transparency and layering
orientation and perspective
color and atmosphere
fragmentation and distortion
unexpected relationships between objects

Avoid simply illustrating a landscape you already know. Instead, use collage and image manipulation to invent a personal visual world.

Create at least three significantly different variations of your idea. Use the process to experiment, take risks, and discover possibilities you may not have imagined when you began.

The goal is not realism. The goal is to create a convincing visual logic for a world that exists somewhere between physical space, digital space, memory, and imagination.

PROJECT LINKS

Image requirements for project: The finished images should be flattened (no layers) .PSD or .TIFF files and must be at LEAST 3000 pixels in Width or Height. The resolution should be 300 DPI. In addition, please include a .JPG version of your images at a pixel width of no greater then 1200 @ 300 DPI.

Through the looking-glass

TBD

Throughout our lives, we tell ourselves an internal narrative that twists and turns as everyday goes by. The character we play in that narrative and everything that takes place culminates in the self portrait or story of who we are. If someone read our narrative to us would we recognize it?

Taking on countless forms, from sculpture to selfies, identity has been a recurring topic in Visual Art for centuries. The inspiration for the pursuit have varied wildly, including the desire to leave our mark on a cave wall, studying our place in society/culture, exploring our own gender or the need to learn more about the vastness of our consciousness. Regardless of the reasons, artists have consistently returned to the self as a familiar beacon in the endless oceans of visual culture. It is true that there is much to be learned when we point the camera at ourselves.

For this assignment, please create five to ten digital artworks that are about you. That represent a snapshot of your narrative or identity. Think about who you are, who you were, who you may be in the future. You can approach the imagery from a figurative, literal, abstract, surreal or whichever perspective you feel best portrays you.

Question you may want to explore:

What specifically defines who you are?
How much do you know about yourself?
How much does that change as you age?
Is what you recognize to be your identity reflect what others know as your identity?
How does the image of yourself change when you encounter certain situations?
How much is your identity defined by civilization?
Is your identity a sum of all your experience or is it more than that?
Does your identity continue beyond your body?
What role did your family play in shaping your self image?
What metaphor would best describe who you are?

Artists to study:

Articles on identity:

Videos to screen:

Van-Gogh
1. Self-portrait slide show
2. Why all the self-portraits
Nick Cave

What is an artist

Cindy Sherman
1. The Art Channel

Image requirements for project: The finished images should be flattened (no layers) .PSD or .TIFF files and must be at LEAST 3000 pixels in Width or Height. The resolution should be 300 DPI. In addition, please include a .JPG version of your images at a pixel width of no greater then 1200 @ 90 DPI.

the propaganda machine

TBD

Digital artists are faced with the challenge of having the skills to succeed in the commercial sector and also maintain their individual voice. In a way, the contemporary digital artist is not much different than the European artisan of the 15th century, creating propaganda content not for the worship of a spiritual deity, but an endless maze of media conglomerates, all trying to sell the latest products. Due to this commercial seduction, there are fewer and fewer young digital artists that are creating socially/politically conscious content or artwork that speaks to their soul. This trend should be of concern to all of us, since historically artists have always been a crucial voice in times of social upheaval.

Using historical propaganda and contemporary imagery for inspiration and as a departing point, you will be required to create a series of propaganda/protest artworks that communicate a current event, social issue, or political ideology that you care deeply about. The finished project does not necessarily have to be a poster, it could be a number of things, from playing cards, elaborate social-media stories, balloons, etc. Please see me so that we can plan your approach.

Artists to study:

Articles to read:

A brief history of protest art from the 1940s until now - in pictures
The Art of Protest (podcast)
Hyperallergic - Protest Art Archive
Dada Art

Videos to Screen

Image requirements for project: The finished images should be flattened (no layers) .PSD or .TIFF files and must be at 16" x 20" with the resolution @ 300 DPI. In addition, please include a .JPG version of your images at a pixel width of no greater then 1200 @ 90 DPI.

final project

DUE LAST DAY OF CLASS

After these initial assignments are complete, you will be expected to create a digital artwork, or series of works, from your own personal artistic interests. The concept of the series should inform the way they are presented. They could be printed out using the ink-jet printers, printed photographically, made into a book, made into slides and projected, ironed onto fabric, incorporated into a web site presentation, a Quick Time movie, projected on to the side of a building, etc. I will meet with each of you to help determine a directed program of study and techniques necessary for you to realize a significant work of digital art that you will be proud to display.

assignment evaluation

concept - idea, intention and meaning. Does the artwork clearly communicate something to other viewers?

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?

composition - arrangement and organization of elements. Has the artist carefully considered elements such as balance, proportion, texture, color, shape, and positive/negative space?

craftsmanship - attention to detail. Does the artist skillfully manipulate the images? Are all details carefully finished and/or intentional-looking?

completion - the work must be completed on time, unless you have made prior arrangements with me

Note: This is a listing of the major art making assignments and does not include assignments such as readings, discussing articles, writing, or in-class assignments.