All courses that count as IMA Major Electives
Integrated Digital Media (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks
In many political movements, the festive emerges as a major force shaping alternative social practices, forms of gathering, being together, and moving together. These alternative modes of being in collectivity are actively redefining the political. This sense of collectivity becomes particularly evident in the aesthetics of the Global South and its Diasporas. Consequently, this course explores the festive’s role in forming political movements beyond the traditional scope that reduces it to a simple byproduct of social life. It also explores how the pandemic has forced us to reimagine what coming together means. Taking Latin American and Caribbean aesthetics as an initial case, this seminar engages in a detailed interpretation of performances that challenge traditional definitions of both the festive and the political. A wide range of performance practices, such as carnival parties, sound systems, cabaret shows, popular dance styles, artworks, organized slave riots, and indigenous uprisings, shape the modes students will engage in theory and practice. For this course iteration, we will focus on questions around Black and Indigenous relations to carnival performance, structures of mutual aid as festive practice, and how they enact utopian modes of communal life, and how these modes of communal life redefine current understandings of art and politics. The class involves field trips, visits to several performance events, and conversations with artists and organizers who use the festive as a political tool to engage in political action in NYC. Questions regarding race, gender, and class will be directed to the philosophical, anthropological, and historical texts paying close attention to their involvement in the formation of colonial oppression. Performance studies’ methodologies will serve as the guiding mode to articulate these questions.
Class titles vary by section.
4 points – will count toward general education requirements (Humanities) Social, political, and economic upheavals produce shattering transformations in human life, yet some of the most significant artistic works in literature, visual arts, theatre, film, and music have been created under these extreme circumstances. The focus of this course is on developing an interdisciplinary approach to an understanding of the arts, artists, and the artists’ response as a catalyst for social and political change. We will explore the history of various practical crises and examine how they have influenced art and artists. Some of the examples include the works of Czechoslovakian films during Soviet Occupation, Protest Theatre during Apartheid South Africa, Shostakovich’s Trio during Soviet Era, underground music scene in present day Iran, Cindy Sherman’s photography in the USA, Croatian artist Sanjan Ivekovic and Bangali writer Taslima Nasrin’s. We will also look at some examples of propaganda artists and their work as well, artists like Morteza Avini in Iran and Liu Wenxi of China. By investigating the artist’s understanding of political, social, and economic forces that impact upon art and their own lives we will examine this question: What are the complex dynamics that are involved in the emergence of movements in the arts?
Ctr for Art, Society & Pub Pol (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks
Making Webisodes is an intensive 14 week course which combines lectures and workshops in which students create unique and compelling content for the web and then learn how to post that content on the web. Students will explore the basics of film production and online webisode distribution, working with – concept creation – writing – directing – acting – production design – camerawork – sound – editing – online tracking tools and social media – web monetization and advertising. The webisode is an exploding new art form. Web series, embedded ads, 5 second hooks, snapchats, vines and viral videos all present a variety of new media approaches within the entertainment industry, business, lifestyle, and politics. Webisodes are short visual presentations that either entertain us, directly sell us product, indirectly sell us product, or shock and engage our perspective, as in political propaganda videos. Lectures provide students with an overview of the emerging web series industry, concentrating on how the webisode is used to hook the audience, generate hits, and drive customers to websites and/or online advertising. Workshops then employ practical exercises to help the students conceive and create their own unique webisode, which can be narrative or non-narrative, fiction or non-fiction, experimental or satire, personal or political. The goal is to use the resources at hand and create instant media – webisodes. As the students produce their webisodes, they will learn by doing and they will be provided with practical knowledge of the art, craft, and commerce of webisodes.
Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
OART-UT 569-000 (23613)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Wed2:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Tunnicliffe, William
Students conceive, produce, direct, and edit a short film exploring the Paris experience with smartphone technology. A survey of cellphone cinema history leads to the study of visual storytelling principles and techniques, which students apply through practical exercises. Choosing among available short film genres (experimental, documentary, portrait, essay, fiction), students are trained through every stage of the movie making process: pitching the idea, scripting and storyboarding, shooting, and editing. Each student finishes the course with a facility in smartphone video technology as well as a coherent film record of his or her particular vision of Paris.
Cinema Studies (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 6 Weeks
CINE-UT 9566-000 (4455)