In the second half of the semester you will be working on a creative project of your own design.  This can be an art installation or other media based design work.  We will have at least one concept critique and one work in progress critique for this project, as well as a final critique.  

We have a bunch of new tech to work with, all of which you can check out form the Maker Space.  However, you should be prepared to invest in any materials, tools, and supplies you need to complete this project.  You will also need to submit your project to at least one public call for exhibition / conference, which may involve some writing.

The scope of this work is broad, but should incorporate:  

  • Work should engage the “viewer/user” through participation / interaction. 
  • Work should include sensed data from the “viewer/user” (motion, vocalizations, gesture, touch, etc) as input and respond with dynamic visual, audio, and/or motion output.  This input must be more compelling than a mouse and keyboard or a standard game controller.
  • Work should evolve or change over time.
  • Computation elements of the work should be written in P5JS, Max, and/or Arduino.
  • Work should include custom built physical components and/or environments (think beyond strictly screen based systems).
  • Work should fit in the genre of New/Interative Media.
  • Work should related to your own research/creative practice.

You may work individually or in pairs on this project, but my expectations of group efforts are significantly higher.  

It may be helpful at an early stage to determine for yourself whether you will approach this project as a design assignment or an art assignment.  We could spend all day discussing the differences, but in brief:

  • A design project is made specifically for other people, typically to address a problem they are having.  You need to know who those people are and the challenge they are facing to be able to design for them.  A design may evoke emotions in its users, but it is not a requirement.
  • An art project may have a target audience as well, but it is not required.  It must either express the emotions and thoughts of its creator and/or evoke emotions in its participants. You need to know the emotions you want to express/evoke.

Each project must address one of the following prompts:

  • Generative Art: How might you create a system that can generate it’s own artworks / designs?  Can you train/write the system to curate its output?  What is the meaning of these designs?  Can you shape that meaning by incorporating the use of a data set (see data.gov)?  How does your system address materiality?
  • Media Installations: How might you computationally transform a person’s sense of place by dynamically altering a room? How might you activate other senses beyond sight?  How does a location based experience change based on the number of people present?
  • Craft: How would you define computational craft? Describe a digital artifact that excels at a single task, not many.  How is physically engaging with an experience different from virtual engagement? (It would be beneficial if you have an existing craft practice to comment on.)
  • Memory, history, and story: We capture thousands of photos and videos that no one will ever look at.  How do we preserve memories in a media saturated society?  What is the physicality of digital memorabilia? How might you create a tangible system for preserving and sharing memories?
  • Divination: How might you create a system of computational divination that is meaningful to its users?  What is common to i-ching, tarot, horoscopes, palm reading, and technical stock analysis?  What are the cultural origins of these systems?  How would your culture influence your own divination system?
  • Musical Instrument: How might you design a new electronic musical instrument?  How would you incorporate tangible/haptic feedback into this instrument?  Could you balance learnability and expression?  What is the performative and gestural context of your instrument?