This course invites students with previous art experience from across the College, including visual arts, music, theater, creative writing, MAC, etc., to explore genre-crossing art. The course will focus on the specialty of the faculty member, including video installation, sound art, performance art, site-specific art, collaborative projects, community based projects and social practice art. The class meets twice per week for technical demonstrations, in-class art making, visiting artists, and critical feedback, along with out of class visits to contemporary art and performance venues. Permission of instructor required. Not open to First Year Students.
Sound Systems as Sculpture
Sound Systems as Sculpture is a hands-on, interdisciplinary exploration of the aesthetics, culture and history of sound and its various amplification systems. Taking place in the sculpture studio at Oxy, students will learn aspects of sound system design theory and construction while exploring the origins of sound system culture. Emerging from Jamaica in the 1950s, sound system culture expressed the revolutionary voices of Jamaicans seeking to escape the bonds of colonialism. This critical approach impacted sound system cultures in the UK and the US, particularly during the formative years of electronic music and hip hop. Communities whose voices were suppressed created new forms that amplified their stories, struggles and dreams. Sound Systems as Sculpture will examine the cultural, political and aesthetic impact of this work. Using sculptural practices to design and fabricate sound systems, students will generate new works that develop the art of sonic sculpture and amplify their own voices and sonic imagination.
Visualizing Sound
Sound Arts takes a cross-disciplinary approach to utilizing sound as a stand-alone installation or integrated within other media. Many contemporary artists are interested in incorporating sound into their projects but may not know how to approach and accomplish that integration. Because sound is ephemeral it can be used in an infinite number of ways to infer complex relationships. The challenge of using sound is that of translating ideas into the sonic medium and then reproducing that medium back into physical space. In this class students will learn about sound and discover ways to apply sound to express a deeper theoretical practice. Practical sound related techniques will be explored, as will their application through skills like deep listening, recording techniques for best capture practices, basics of the Digital Audio Workstation, and the use of sound reproducing systems. Students will collaborate on a project over the course of the semester with an exhibition in the OXY Arts Space at the end of the semester with an opportunity for performance.
Pollinator Drones, Wish Factories, and Robotic Dogs: ‘What-if’ Scenarios as Drivers of Creative Production and Imagination
As humankind stares down a number of unprecedented global challenges, the need for creative, radical thinking is imperative. In this interdisciplinary studio, students will develop a series of detailed and speculative projects inspired by boundary-pushing artistic and technological practices. The course will examine precedents from contemporary art, media, engineering, performance, design, and technology that offer responses to a wide range of “what-if” scenarios. The primary goal of the class will be to guide students as they develop a methodology for making creative and responsive work—one that relies on provocation and imagination as driving forces. Class projects will be designed to develop critical thinking and research skills, art-making and visual communication capabilities, and will call for speculative, even fantastical, responses to complex sites and situations. Technological and data-driven approaches, including data analysis, modeling, and scenario planning, will be integrated into the class assignments, encouraging cross-disciplinary collaborations between computer science and media arts students. Instructional assignments will explore a range of materials, scales, and research methods, and will encourage students to develop their abilities to hone and express innovative responses to complex societal and relational questions. The final series of class projects will address the uncertainty of climate change as a contextual framework, and final proposals may range from site-specific art installations to new applications for robotics; from creating futuristic soundscapes to designing experiences in VR. Site visits and guest lecturers will extend students’ connections with selected Los Angeles sites and their contexts, the understanding of a broad set of perspectives and values, and real-world examples of collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects. Cross-listed as: COMP 230.