Course Description
What does it mean to perform through/with/in digital media? How can artists harness new media and available technology for performance work? Further, how do we perform the daily use of technology? To investigate these questions we will begin by examining avant-garde practices in theater and literature during the 50s, 60s and 70s together with media art of the 80s and 90s. We will then trace these foundations within contemporary approaches to performance work. While pursuing the practice, history, and theory of performing in and through media, students develop a final project that responds to class themes. An emphasis on concept ensures that students of all technical levels are welcome to engage in theater workshops, class writing exercises, and technical labs Short curated readings will augment our creative practice and fall within broad categories: theoretical texts in performance and media, scripts, interventions in online communities, screenings of installation and performance documentation, video art, games, digital literature, sound recordings, project pamphlets, and reviews. To inspire our work in emerging genres we will consider a variety of artists that perform with media beyond the confines of a computer screen including : The Wooster Group, Alan Sondheim, Laurie Anderson, Judd Morrissey & Mark Jeffery, Nico Muhly, Lynn Hershman, Brian Eno, Janet Cardiff, and George Higgs.
