NEW MEDIA in Film, Video & New Media

WHAT IS THE “NEW MEDIA” IN FILM, VIDEO & NEW MEDIA?

The term "New Media" in the Film, Video & New Media Department refers to time, screen and code
based Digital Art that has a relationship to the histories and theorypractices of Film Art and Video Art.
We are primarily concerned with experimental Media Art and we see New Media Art in relation to all
other forms of experimental Media Art such as Film, Video, Animation, Installation, Art Games,
Machinima, Realtime Audio Video, Web Art, Software Art, etc...

In terms of technology, Film and Video Art use specific technologies (Film and Video cameras, editing
tools, hardware, software, etc...). New Media Art primarily uses digital technologies (computers,
hardware, software, code, programming, the Internet, the Web, etc...). In New Media Art the digital
technologies that we use, such as the computer, are not simply tools but are also environments.
Digital culture has developed in the socio-political and economic environments of these systems.
Artists have and continue to use these digital systems to make, display, distribute and share their
work. These forms of sharing take place online and can include not only the work that is produced but
also it's means of production, in other words, the underlying codes that make New Media Art projects
possible.
NEW MEDIA IS A PATH OF STUDY IN THE FILM, VIDEO & NEW MEDIA DEPARTMENT

In the Film, Video & New Media Department, we have 5 main paths of study.
These paths are: Film, Video, New Media, Animation and Installation:

We also offer related courses in specific theoretical and Media Art Historical topics.

WHAT COURSES ARE OFFERED IN THE NEW MEDIA PATH?

The New Media Path follows this trajectory, with the following courses:

New Media 01 (FVNM 2100)

dotVideo (FVNM 3810)
Realtime (FVNM 3812)
Lost Signals: The Glitch (FVNM 4013)
Radical Software Critical Artware (FVNM 4830)
IF (FVNM 4860)
Machinima (FVNM 4866)
playFull, playMe (FVNM 4865)
OnEvent (FVNM 4867)
0850LEET (FVNM 4225)

These advanced New Media courses are all available to you after you take New Media 01. New Media
01 is the only prerequisite for all of the advanced New Media courses in Film, Video & New Media.

WHAT ARE THE NEW MEDIA COURSES ABOUT?

The New Media Path classes can be described as follows:

New Media 01 introduces the skills and ideas needed for New Media Art making. Students create,
transcode and remix New Media Art. New Media 01 is the prerequisite for all classes in the New
Media Path.
dotVideo introduces Web Art to Media Art online, where they then fall in cyber-love with each other.
Students program hypermedia works, database cinema projects and develop networked digital
artworks, systems and processes.

Realtime involves live audio video systems and performances. Students build tools or use artist-built
tools for the creation of experimental and improvisational New Media Art projects.

Radical Software Critical Artware investigates Software As Art and Art As Software. Students connect
and compare the field of Software Art to the early moments of Video Art through code-based studio
approaches to these moments

Lost Signals: The Glitch explores media, history, and culture through failures and accidents in the
creation and presentation of media art. Play with, interpret, hack, and bend media while developing
projects that engage glitches in creating and/or viewing work in contemporary media culture.

IF (Interactive Forms) addresses branching nonlinear New Media Art. Students create hypermedia
projects and investigate database cinema approaches.

Machinima is a class dedicated to using Video Game engines to create experimental Media Art works.
Students use commercial Game Engines such as Half-Life as well as Free and Open Source software
for the creation of single channel Media Art.

playFull, playMe is an Art Games class in which students code, critique and hack computer based Art
Games. The emphasis of the class is on a critique of power in relation to rules of play and Game
Studies.

OnEvent approaches curating and organizing New Media Art exhibitions and events. Students publicly
program New Media Art events and activities online and in physical spaces.

0850LEET discusses Hacker Art, obsolete computers and the ethics of forgotten technologies in this
hybrid seminar/studio.

WHO CAN I CONTACT ABOUT THE NEW MEDIA PATH?

jonCates teaches in and has developed the curriculum for the New Media path. You can always
contact jonCates via email:

JCATES@SAIC.EDU

and/or online:

HTTP://JONCATES.BLOGSPOT.COM

for more information about the New Media path of study in the Film, Video and New Media
department, including links to classes and contact information for other teachers who are teaching
courses in New Media Art.

// jonCates
Assistant Professor; Film, Video & New Media; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

New Media Path; 2008.11.13 revision; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/