Archives

General Elective, Spring 2024, Undergraduate

Experiments in Collective Joy (OART-UT 18)

How do ants or bees organize on a mass scale when their individual brains are incapable of understanding the bigger systems they’re creating together? How did a Twitch hive-mind of 1.2 million people beat Pokémon one collective move at a time? How do we make art that makes us and our audience feel more connected, more alive, more powerful? This hands-on project studio course is about making art where participants are the medium, and the masterpiece created exists inside and between them. Let’s explore community and its connection to transformational, radical joy — not complacent happiness, but a joy that is the feeling of power, agency, and capacity growing within us and within the people around us as we cooperate to overcome shared challenges. Which systems and forms of art, play, and expression foster that kind of joy? This course is heavy on imagination, vulnerability, reading, discussion, experimentation, playtesting, and interactive group activities. Each week explores the relationship of the individual to the group under various lenses and spheres of life (i.e. politics, religion, activism, evolutionary biology, sociology, pleasure, the universe, sports, games, childhood, etc.). Then together, we break down the relationships, dynamics, and effects those systems have, and create multi-media prototypes and performance experiments inspired by these themes and ideas. The early assignments are solo, and then almost all assignments are in groups. The core process of the class uses iterative game design as a structure for ideating, creating, playtesting, and refining, though students are welcome to work in any medium they choose, so long as the goal is to explore themes of collective joy.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2024)

OART-UT 18-000 (7263)
01/22/2024 – 05/06/2024 Thu
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Luhrs, August

General Elective, Spring 2024, Undergraduate

Reality and Creation (OART-UT 106)

Reality & Creation is an interdisciplinary, collaborative workshop that requires students to develop and present original works using real-life material. While primarily focused on filmmaking – students may also explore writing and performance to investigate the artful manipulation of reality in order to evoke meaning and emotion. Students will explore the meanings of both documentary and narrative filmmaking – and the inherent conflicts between creative construction and telling true stories. They will analyze cinematic representations of reality and devise hybrid works that use inventive and surprising forms while playing with the notion of the real. Over the course of the semester, students will complete a series of classroom/studio projects as well as independent works from non-fiction sources: such as unscripted interviews, archival material, found footage and newsreel. These projects are designed to foster experimentation across the arts disciplines and to cultivate creative collaboration.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

General Elective, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Spring 2024, Undergraduate

History of Documentary Film (OART-UT 1701)

The course traces the documentary film from its origins to the present day. Pioneer documentarians like Dziga Vertov and Robert Flaherty saw in documentary film the ability to portray life with a kind of truthfulness never before possible. Early Polish filmmaker Boleslaw Matuszewski wrote that while “the cinematograph does not give the whole truth at least what it gives is unquestionable and of an absolute truth.” Since those heady days, it has become all too clear that documentaries have no special access to the truth. Nevertheless, as this still-young art evolved, documentarians of different schools constantly sought new means to tell the human story. Documentary filmmaking has always been a blend of artistry and technical means and we will also explore this critical relationship. The course explores the development of the documentary and the shifting intentions of documentary filmmakers through the evolution of narrative approach and structure paying special attention to the documentary tradition’s relationship to journalism. Students examine how different filmmakers have gone about trying to convey “reality” on screen both through the use and avoidance of narration, through interviews, editing and dramatizations. Throughout the semester, students investigate how image-driven medium attempts to report stories and the ways an emotion-driven art can be problematic for journalistic objectivity. Finally, the ethical and journalistic responsibilities the documentary filmmaker are discussed. Special attention is given to dramatic re-creations, the filmmaker’s relationship to his/her subjects and the construction of narrative through editing.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2024)

OART-UT 1701-000 (7218)
01/22/2024 – 05/06/2024 Wed
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Dorman, Joseph

Expressive Culture, Fall 2020, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Bodies in Cultural Landscapes (OART-UT 706)

This course examines the Western fascination with the moving body in different cultural environments and throughout colonial and postcolonial historical periods until the present time. It will begin by investigating early images and artistic representation of the body in motion captured by European ethnographers at the turn of the 19th century, and continue tracing it to current trends of contemporary culture. The goal of this course is to develop a critical understanding of the culture built around the body as subject as well as a marker of otherness. This course will offer students an opportunity to study and articulate, intellectually and physically, the legibility of bodies in motion within different cultural landscapes. Bodies in Cultural Landscapes will provide an open forum in which to investigate human movement within the specific aesthetic system and cultural practice of early ethnographic representation to contemporary culture’s engagement with the moving body. It will offer insight into personal and cultural identity, stimulating an expanded recognition and appreciation of difference. This course offers students the opportunity to explore simultaneously their intellect (in class viewing, readings and discussions), as well as in the presentation of their own version of ethnographic research and representation based on a topic of their choice discussed with instructor. Students will engage weekly with exercises and assignments based on course material.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2021, General Elective, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Devising & Documentary (OART-UT 144)

Note this class is called “Devised Theater: History and Practice.” This intensive focuses on both historic evolution of ritual-based/early theater models through contemporary theater philosophies (accentuating history of Futurist/Dada theater innovations to present), and on anatomizing the nature of performer, performance, story and storytelling via the non-traditional philosophies and methods of contemporary experimental theater. The class will be rigorously participatory in terms of discussing/physicalizing these experimental methods and will culminate in the creation and performance of simple class collaboration-generated stage narratives. Students will investigate the meaning and application of physical/environmental ’neutrality’ on stage as they simultaneously investigate and define for themselves the most essential markers needed for the viewer to perceive ‘story’ in performance. As the staged pieces are constructed from these anatomized building blocks of performance and story, more complex qualities of character, identity, archetype, mannerism, linguistic disfluencies (verbal and non-verbal) and psychological subtext will be introduced as tools for each performer’s role in the story. In the final phases of piece creation, simple analog elements of music, sound, light, mask, craft materials, dance, virtuosic/specialized skill, props will be introduced as tools. The final performance will aspire to clear and effective applications of the performance/story elements discussed (or discovered) in class. Techniques and exercises derived from the worlds of Futurism/Dada, Richard Maxwell, Blue Man Group, Elevator Repair Service, Ann Bogart, Joshua Fried, and others will be discussed and employed.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
1 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

OART-UT 144-000 (15799)

Fall 2021, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Portrait of an Artist: Walter Murch (OART-UT 901)

This course examines the artistic career and creative work of Walter Murch, Oscar-winning film editor and sound designer, and the first and only artist to win Academy Awards for both film editing and sound mixing on a single film (The English Patient, 1997). The class will provide an unprecedented inside look into Mr. Murch’s processes of sound designing, editing, mixing, writing, and directing on such acclaimed and memorable films as THX 1138, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Return to Oz, The English Patient, Touch of Evil, and Cold Mountain. Through interviews, articles, and materials from his private archives never before publicly available, students learn about the creative world of an artist who has brought the importance of sound and editing to a new level. In addition to his work in film and his inventions used in the filmmaking process, two additional areas of interest of Mr. Murch will be examined: translations of Curzio Malaparte’s writings and his passion for astronomy. Mr. Murch will participate on several occasions in the course as a guest lecturer by visiting the class and/or via video conferencing.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

OART-UT 901-000 (15488)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Tue5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Zivkovic, Brane

IMA Major Electives, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Spring 2021, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Poetics of Witnessing (OART-UT 829)

Today, many documentarians consider themselves working within a well-defined human rights framework where images and film are used to raise awareness about social injustice. On the far edge of this movement, however, there are writers, photographers and filmmakers whose work calls attention to the traditional documentary ethics of bearing witness but whose modes of representation blur the lines between fact and fiction. This body of work is more open-ended to interpretation and multiple readings, which also include more personal themes such as loss and melancholy, the ephemeral nature of time and memory, nostalgia and change. While not a production course per se, most students create short poetic films for their midterms and finals. The course is a great opportunity for students to open this door on short-form media production for the first time even if they wish to shoot on their smartphones. We will study several different kinds of visual poetics such as combining documentary photos with literature, artists working with archives and found images, the essay film, the personal diary and journal film, the performance film, ethnographic poetics, and new trans-media platforms and webdocs. Some of the writers and artists we will study include Roland Barthes, W.G. Sebald, Chris Marker, Christian Boltanski, Forough Farrokhzad, RaMell Ross, Roland Barthes, Miguel Rio Branco Charles Burnett, William Greaves, Agnes Varda, Margaret Tait, Robert Gardner, Jean Rouch, and Jonas Mekas.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2021)

OART-UT 829-000 (15164)

Expressive Culture, Spring 2024, Undergraduate

Zine Scenes (OART-UT 24)

Before the internet artists and enthusiasts found their communities through self-publishing niche small-circulation magazines, usually without profit, with a burning desire to communicate. We’ll discuss the continued relevancy of the culture as we look at zines scenes from the past. For each scene, we’ll have an “object lesson” in which we dissect historical zines with an eye on form, content, aesthetic, publisher motives, and technology required for production. Then we’ll make our own! We’ll learn about historical zine making methods by making our own small-run zines in the same fashion to circulate within class. In addition to this tactile learning, you’ll produce a small body of work and gain an instant collection from your peers.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2023, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Summer 2024, Undergraduate

Composing Music with Max (OART-UT 1097)

The foundations of Max, a powerful visual programming language for music and multimedia, will be covered in this course. We will examine how computers can be utilized to create situations for music creation, performance, and collaborative improvisation as well as applied to building interactive, generative music. In addition to learning Max’s fundamental building blocks, we will also use fundamental music theory as a tool to better understand music making. We will create programs that examine rhythm, melodies, chords, scales, and recognize other qualities of music like timbre, texture, and dynamics while taking into consideration the principles of harmony, melody, and rhythm defined in basic music theory. The final will require you to develop a collaborative piece of interactive computer music, a collaborative performance environment, or another final project that has been discussed and agreed upon together. This class does not require any prerequisite programming skills or prior music theory knowledge.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 3 Weeks

Sections (Summer 2024)

OART-UT 1097-000 (5611)
05/20/2024 – 06/10/2024 Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri
9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Aguilar, Gustavo

Fall 2023, Societies & the Social Sciences, Spring 2023, Undergraduate

Abrupt Climate Change (OART-UT 1058)

Combining science and the art of storytelling, this course will tackle one of the most pressing issues facing the future of humanity: Abrupt Climate Change. In a unique collaboration with NYU physical climate scientist Professor David Holland, students will research and create work that bridges the divide between science and the public through accurate, creative science-based storytelling. This highly multidisciplinary, hands-on course welcomes students from all backgrounds and fields of study to imagine and invent creative ways of telling stories about this global phenomenon and to investigate solutions. Weekly assignments will lead to a final collaborative project and an exhibition open to the public.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

OART-UT 1058-000 (13226)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Wed
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Terezakis, Peter

Expressive Culture, General Elective, Spring 2023, Undergraduate

Film: A Transformative Process, a Vision Beyond Technology (OART-UT 140)

This course emphasizes the content, the aesthetics, and the purpose of cinema as a truly distinctive and dynamic art form uncovering the inner vision of the filmmaker, and the organic and transformative process where filmmakers projects their original truth, not compromising or borrowing ideas and themes from other films. Students explore the use of technology as a valuable tool that enhances the vision of the filmmaker without diminishing the organic texture of the work by its overwhelming presence. The course brings to light the stagnant and repetitious formulae of commercial cinema, resulting in diluted mainstream films. The works of iconic filmmakers who embrace and use film as an original, vibrant and reflective art form are reviewed throughout the course. Extracts and readings from relevant filmmakers are given throughout the course.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2023, General Elective, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Art and Technology (OART-UT 1059)

Thesis: All art uses technology. Technology is not art. Whether a work of art is created to bridge the supernatural, convey experience, thought, or a world view, or something more, art is a three letter verb representing the result of an individual’s desire to create difference. This course is an exploration in technological literacy for all NYU students. Students will create a website, capture, edit, and publish digital media to their sites, use software to create objects through subtractive (laser cutting) and additive (3D printing) machining processes, build circuits, learn to program a microcomputer, and build a functioning computer-controlled object.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Fall 2021, IMA Major Electives, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Imagining the Future through the Arts (OART-UT 300)

The world-wide pause caused by the pandemic created a space of reflection and concern, and brought us to a consideration of meaning. As artists and scholars, we have been called to make sense of the ways we have told the stories of our communities, and been summoned to imagine a future world that is vibrant, inclusive and just, one that embraces our deepest values. As the vanguards of culture, we are now recording and creating new history together, constructed from examples of reexamined experience and awakened by new ideas. The important work of reinvigorating arts education, of imagining and designing the future through the arts, now more than ever before, must be a part of our mission as a school in a great research university. A Tisch education has always been about access to the people who create our community: the great thinkers and creators among our faculty, staff and alumni in cross collaboration with NYU, New York City and the globe. Together, we have already led transformative change, and continue to be leaders in fields that will adapt to our changing times. You too are the advocates, artists, innovators, scholars, and storytellers who collectively reflect upon the past, record the present, and imagine our future. We are co-creators of humanity’s most important re-set. Spark your imagination of the future through conversations with the leading creators in their fields. NYU Tisch School of the Arts Dean Allyson Green will moderate twelve talks with outstanding faculty and alumni of the school from a range of artistic disciplines. Create your own role in a movement to catalyze innovation and creativity to create a more beautiful, more just, more inclusive and more connected world. Please reach out to tisch.openarts@nyu.edu if you have any questions about the course.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 15 Weeks

Expressive Culture, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Unruly Images: Centering the (In)visible and (Im)possible (OART-UT 833)

This course explores unruly images, bodies, and even feelings that exist at the margins of categorization, making them powerful subjects for artistic work. We will manipulate image-making tools and give form to expressions that reveal the hidden structures of power. Through lectures, discussions, workshops, and readings, we will look at images previously deemed unimaginable due to material affordance and bias (Rosa Menkman); illegitimate emotions that fall outside western standards of empathy (Xine Yao); liminal bodies, faces, and spaces that exist between conventional categories. We will pay particular attention to selected writings from Legacy Russel, Catherine D’Ignazio, Lauren Klein, Peter Galison, Hito Steyerl, Ursula K. Le Guin, etc and apply these critiques to emerging perceptual technologies that the students will use to create their projects. This class is also designed for students who look to explore emerging photo techniques (volumetric capturing, simulations, AR/VR, video games, animations, WebGL) as their creative toolkit, have interests in the theory and pedagogy of photography and participatory processes, and seek to reimagine new forms of representation through the study of intersectional mappings of the face, body, and spatial dimensions.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

OART-UT 833-000 (13615)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Thu1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Fall 2022, Fall 2023, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Sonic Utopia: Unconventional Applications for Sound (OART-UT 1096)

Sound is physical. It can move objects, vibrate surfaces, perceptually alter our emotions, and shape the way viewers engage with spaces. As artists, we are conditioned to aspire to situate our work within traditional settings. How can we reposition sound as a main element of a work within unconventional contexts? This course will use the question of a sonic utopia as a platform to create interdisciplinary projects that exist between installation, sculpture, video, performance, movement, and music. Students will learn sound theories through lectures and in-class workshops and are encouraged to incorporate their individual interests into each of the four main projects that aim to position sound as a primary element of a work in order to expand the possibilities of working with sound.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

OART-UT 1096-000 (13635)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by

Fall 2021, Fall 2022, IMA Major Electives, Programming & Data (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Introduction to Game Engines (OART-UT 1621)

Introduction to Game Engines is a course intended for students who already have an understanding of programming fundamentals that introduces concepts, problems, and methods of developing games and interactive media using popular game engines. Game engines are no longer just used for the development of games, they have increasingly gained popularity as tools for developing animations, interactives, VR experience, and new media art. Throughout the semester, students will have weekly programming assignments, using a popular game engine. There will be a final game assignment, as well as weekly quizzes and a final exam. The course assumes prior programming knowledge, if students do not have the appropriate prerequisites a placement exam may be taken. There will be an emphasis on using code in a game engine environment as a means of creative expression.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 7 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 1621-000 (14528)
10/26/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Hawk, Danny

Fall 2020, Fall 2022, General Elective, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Photography I (OART-UT 11)

A basic black-and-white photography course designed for those with little or no experience in photography. Emphasis is placed on the application of technique in terms of personal expression through the selection and composition of subject matter. Class size is limited, providing for a greater degree of individual critique and classroom participation. The course comprises technical lectures, readings and discussions about critical issues in photography, slide lectures on historical and contemporary work as well as class critiques. Each student must have a camera with manually adjustable aperture and shutter speeds.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 11-000 (14186)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Frocheur, Nichole

Fall 2022, Fall 2023, IMA Major Electives, Programming & Data (Old Structure), Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Performing Voice and Talking Machines (OART-UT 25)

This course will introduce students to technologies for speech synthesis and speech recognition from the point of view of performance art. Through weekly assignments and in class lectures, we will explore voice interfaces and their role in technology, design, art, and culture. We will begin with understanding human speech, and then delve into computer speech. We will learn how to program existing technologies such as p5.js to create our own talking machines. The class will research the current limitations and biases of these technologies and models, and respond by leveraging these constraints as ground for performative expression. Students will be required to develop a performative piece as their final project, this could be a live performance, an interactive installation piece, or a performative object or tool. Students are encouraged to bring their interests into the classroom and apply the course into their practice. Prior knowledge of computer programming will be helpful, however, it is not required. NYU is a global community. You are welcome to bring your own language, your accent, and your spoken identity into the class.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

OART-UT 25-000 (13600)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Wed
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Kananuruk, Tiriree

Fall 2022, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Politics of Portraiture (OART-UT 826)

This course explores the pictorial articulation of individual human likeness and its fiction in the public forum. The art of portraiture has survived its own origins in myth making and archetype building. The human image, or icon, forever landmarks the voices, textures, physicality, spirituality, symbols, politics, aesthetic concerns and military contexts, religious rituals, government, calendar ceremonies, daily functions, heroic acts and social disorders of diverse cultures throughout recorded history. It is the history of creation, the story of romance, the mark of progress, the record of royalty and the profile of democracy. It is the revolution of fine art and a catalyst of discipline. Imaging the individual in the public eye is the story of humankind. This course bridges the worlds of the oral and written mythologies which inhabit and empower us and the creative manifestation (conscious and unconscious) of these ancient archetypes into contemporary art, media and design. Students will critically rethink the implied and material presence of portraiture in everyday life. Students will gain practical knowledge and insight into the origins and potential power of the archetypes which permeate our collective unconscious.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 826-000 (14196)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Thu
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Cameron, Donna

Fall 2022, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Media Moguls in the 20th Century (OART-UT 562)

This course attempts to track the American entertainment industry from its plebian origins through its rise to becoming the predominant mass entertainment culture in the world. Students discover the origins of the production practices that are employed in the entertainment industry today by following the legendary characters, movie moguls, and media titans of the early 20th century and the companies they built. The emphasis is on the way the visionaries of the time impacted seemingly risk-averse systems to invigorate and sometimes completely revolutionize them. These innovative men and women include, but are not limited, to Louis B. Mayer, George Lucas, Maya Deren, Shirley Clark, Nam Jun Paik, Lucille Ball, Russell Simmons, Clive Davis, Julie Taymor, and Steve Jobs.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 562-000 (14193)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Falk, Leon

OART-UT 562-000 (14212)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Falk, Leon

IMA Major Electives, Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces (Old Structure), Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Power Ground Water (OART-UT 22)

This is an entry-level, hands on electronics course for students who are interested in working with electronic hardware as part of their creative practice. Throughout the semester we will gain a familiarity with electronic components, learn to create electronic circuits, solder and use Eagle CAD for PCB (printed circuit board) design layout. Topics will include powering circuits, LEDs, switches, transistors, digital logic, memory, timing circuits, programmable microcontrollers (Arduino), analog input (sensors) and motor control. We will also survey past and contemporary work of artists in this field. In this course we approach electronic hardware with the intention of dissolving technological opacity and inspiring our creative practice. Our goal is to shift the way we may usually think about electronics, as inaccessible, complex, difficult and intimidating. And think about it just as physical stuff that we can dig up and use as material and subject for creative expression. This course is aimed at students with little or no experience working in this field. Lectures will be supported by physical lecture notes, a custom electronics learning kit designed by the instructor. Assignments will include assembling and soldering physical lecture notes, weekly creative assignments (with or without electronics) and a final project. There is a $55 lab fee for custom printed circuit boards used in class, which must be returned if dropping the course.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

IMA Major Electives, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Multi-disciplinary Arts Practice with Community Groups: Theories and Practice of Group Work in Arts (OART-UT 1017)

(Formerly Working with Groups in Community Settings: From Theory to Practice) Whether you are a filmmaker looking to better understand how to build a cohesive and productive film crew; a theatre maker excited about building a performance project or theatre company; a multi-media artist looking for ways to innovate your ideas for artistic work in collaboration with others; an artist looking for tools for building an artistic ensemble, or a multi-disciplinary artist looking to take your creative work out into communities as social practice, this class provides you with tools for better understanding how to enter into and engage others in collective creative work with purpose. Multi-Disciplinary Arts Practice with Community Groups: Theories and Practice, is a place to explore what it means to make artistic work of meaning with others and the tools needed to create meaningful collaborative projects. In this class we interrogate our definitions of “community” and “group” and explore what has meaning to us when creating artistic work as a collective of artists, in order to strengthen our own artistic voices and help raise the creative voices of others. With a focus on social practice, this course provides a foundation for working with small group structures in a variety of community settings. This course also provides students interested in exploring social practice or those interested in providing community service through the arts, with a foundation for working with small group structures in a variety of community settings. Students will gain a basic understanding of the theories of social work with groups, as they apply to arts-based groups. Social and cultural contexts for community-focused arts practice, stages of group development, conflict and difference among group members and between members and facilitator, and an overview of group member’s needs will be discussed in relation to entering into and engaging a group or ensemble in the creative process.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)

OART-UT 1017-000 (14245)
01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Thu
9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Bitel, Mary

Expressive Culture, Fall 2022, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Undergraduate

World Dance Cultures (OART-UT 701)

This class used to be called History of Dance. This course explores why and how dance acts as a vital participant in cultural practices around the world. Looking back through the perspective of present research, we will examine how dance is inherently a reflection of the culture it represents. A wide overview of dance and its myriad purposes will be covered, from a means of worship in India, Turkey, and Haiti; its inclusion in the rituals of Bali; noh and kabuki theatrical traditions of Japan; fertility and death ceremonies of the Wodaabe, Yoruba, and Dogon tribes of Africa; the healing zar dances of North Africa, and the rituals/activism of Native American tribes. The presentation of court dance as a symbol of power will be examined in Hawai’i, Java, and Cambodia, as well as in Catherine de Medici’s Renaissance pageants and in the French Baroque spectacles of Louis XIV’s Versailles and the Paris Opera. The inevitable impact of politics on dance will be examined in viewing the bloody genocide of Cambodia’s Royal Dancers; the propagandist works of China’s Cultural Revolution; the French Revolution’s influence upon Romantic ballets such as La Sylphide and Giselle; and how the repression of a Gitano culture led to the emergence of flamenco in Spain. In addition to written texts and video documentation, we will review examples of related art forms (visual arts, music, and drama).

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 701-000 (14352)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Beaman, Patricia

Fall 2022, Fall 2023, IMA Major Electives, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Summer 2023, Undergraduate

Art on the Edge (OART-UT 1019)

Taking off from the practices of medium-based art categories, this course is structured across key topics in contemporary art – “art of today, produced by artists who are living in the twenty-first century”. During the semester, via the framework of readings, projects and assignments, we will consider the importance of the visual arts in the larger context of society. Each week we will look at a different topic, which will be organized around key concepts, artists and artwork examples. The main goal is to allow us to contemplate the process of interaction between visual art, history, cultural, socio-economical, and technological forces. The stress of our gatherings will be on the artist as a thinker and a maker.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

OART-UT 1019-000 (13644)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Aguilar, Gustavo

Art & Design (Old Structure), Fall 2021, Graduate, IMA Major Electives

Flash Frames (OART-GT 2147)

Flash Frames explores the moving image, the pixel, color, and composition, through two weekends of intensive, hands on image fabrication. Students gain a coherent understanding of the technicalities involved in producing artistic and professional quality videos. The workshop applies technical and creative approaches to capturing video, editing, and adding the finishing touches on short productions. Projects are focused on strengthening design and editing skills, understanding media management practices, applying video effects, color correction, motion graphics, and sound. Students broaden their understanding of digital design and video production, while learning the basics of video editing, animation, sound mixing, and motion graphics.

Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
1 credits – 16 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

OART-GT 2147-000 (7451)

Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Graduate, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Spring 2020, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Undergraduate

Cell Phone Cinema (OART-GT 2566)

Hollywood in your palm. That is what this combination of lectures, screenings, demonstrations and practical production workshop will offer to the students in this course. There will be several professional guests making presentations and Q&A sessions from the mobile phone filmmaking industry. In addition to the historical and critical overview of the emergence and exponential growth of global cell phone cinema, students will shoot all footage on cell phones and download them for computerized editing. The final project will be under three minute shorts. Projects will include all genres of film and television: news, mini-documentaries, animation, music videos and narrative shorts. Completed student projects will be suitable to be posted on the Internet and entered into domestic and international mobile phone film festivals. For example, two minute long improvisations of Bollywood Style Music Videos shot on Cell Phones by the students have been projected at the Tribeca Cinemas as part of the New York Indian Film Festival. It is suggested but not compulsory that students bring to the class a cell phone capable of recording video.

Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2024)

OART-GT 2566-000 (17833)
09/03/2024 – 12/12/2024 Wed
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Bardosh, Karoly

IMA Major Electives, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Tackling Representation in Games (OART-UT 1618)

Identity and representation are two of the most pressing and complex issues for contemporary video games, that without recognizing them an artist or critic would be missing a large part of how games are important in culture. With growing art and activist communities, video games are diversifying and grappling with a wide range of topics rarely seen before in the genre, and with it a greater need for informed perspectives on the topic of how marginalized people are depicted in media. This course discusses foundational theories of identity and encourages students to contribute their own ideas towards the design and interpretation of representation in games.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2021)

OART-UT 1618-000 (15424)
01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Mon
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Brice, Mattie

Art & Design (Old Structure), IMA Major Electives, Spring 2021, Undergraduate

Occupy Outer Space (OART-UT 19)

Technology is a weasel. Squeezing its way into art, culture and the everyday. It infiltrates our psyche, inspiring playful interactions, fantastical ideas, vengeance and drama. It brings us together while tearing us apart. In this project-based studio, we will focus on a collective approach to creating art, tools, performances, and experiences. Outer Space in the context of this course will be used as a metaphor for the future, the unknown, and the seemingly impossible. We will investigate disparate cultural moments and unravel narratives that are both historical and technological. Technology will serve as a structure with open-ended assignments in music, video, sculpture, electronics, kineticism, surveillance, interactive graphics, and performance. Combined collaborative exercises and individual projects will augment classroom discussions and inform the art that we make. A willingness to use your imagination and personal experience to derail preconceived notions of linear timelines will serve you well in this hands-on multidisciplinary course.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2021)

OART-UT 19-000 (23627)
01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Tue
3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Benjamin, Ithai

Fall 2020, Fall 2022, General Elective, Graduate, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Digital Photography (OART-UT 13)

This is a standard digital photography course designed for those with little or no experience in photography. This course will emphasize personal expression through the application of technique to the presentation of subject matter. Open Arts will have enough Sony A7r cameras for students to share. If students plan to borrow the DSLR cameras, they are first required to purchase College Student Insurance, (CSI). While it is not required that you own your own digital camera to enroll in this course, it is recommended that you borrow or acquire your own camera for the duration of this course, or if you would like to avoid having to share one of the department’s cameras with another student. If you would like to purchase your own camera, a digital single lens reflex (SLR) or mirrorless digital camera is highly recommended for this course. The camera needs to have manual aperture and shutter speed controls. The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of the technical and aesthetic aspects of making photographic images. We will apply fundamental photographic techniques such as composition, framing, lighting and manual camera controls to the images we create. We will discuss the way we see, compared to how cameras and lenses see, evaluate the similarities and differences and how that impacts the creation of images and how we analyze them. Students will make photographs that are effective as individual images and photographs that work together in a series. Students will learn how to create a narrative with a series of photographs and express a feeling or mood with a series of photographs. Class discussions will introduce students to a variety of concepts related to visual literacy. Students will also be introduced to the work of historically significant photographers from a broad range of backgrounds. Students will learn how to use Adobe Creative Cloud software to adjust images for print and digital publishing. By the end of the course, students will understand how to use a digital SLR or mirrorless camera to create compelling photographs using manual controls, process their images using Adobe Creative Cloud software and best practices for publishing their images digitally as well as best practices for printing their images. Finally, students will enhance their critical thinking skills while developing a deeper understanding of visual/photographic language. Students are expected to shoot a minimum of 108 exposures (photographs) each week.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 13-000 (14496)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Ross-Smith, Bayete

Fall 2020, Fall 2022, General Elective, Graduate, Spring 2021, Undergraduate

Choreography (OART-UT 805)

The purpose of this course is to enable the student to gain a heightened awareness, appreciation, and knowledge of dance through movement and performance. We focus on the foundations of dance such as control, aesthetics, alignment, dynamics, athleticism, musicality, use of space, development of learning strategies within a group context, and personal, artistic expression. The students exploration of their creativity, expression and concepts, as well as their work on other dancer’s bodies is part of the work of this course. Through individual and collective kinesthetic participation in unfamiliar patterns, the student is physically and conceptually challenged and informed. Students will be asked to problem solve as homework assignment and in-class composition exercises. Dance experience is recommended, but formal dance training is not required.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 805-000 (14213)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon
9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, General Elective, Graduate, Spring 2021, Undergraduate

Digital Photography (OART-GT 2013)

This is a standard digital photography course designed for those with little or no experience in photography. This course will emphasize personal expression through the application of technique to the presentation of subject matter. Open Arts will have enough Sony A7r cameras for students to share. If students plan to borrow the DSLR cameras, they are first required to purchase College Student Insurance, (CSI). While it is not required that you own your own digital camera to enroll in this course, it is recommended that you borrow or acquire your own camera for the duration of this course, or if you would like to avoid having to share one of the department’s cameras with another student. If you would like to purchase your own camera, a digital single lens reflex (SLR) or mirrorless digital camera is highly recommended for this course. The camera needs to have manual aperture and shutter speed controls. The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of the technical and aesthetic aspects of making photographic images. We will apply fundamental photographic techniques such as composition, framing, lighting and manual camera controls to the images we create. We will discuss the way we see, compared to how cameras and lenses see, evaluate the similarities and differences and how that impacts the creation of images and how we analyze them. Students will make photographs that are effective as individual images and photographs that work together in a series. Students will learn how to create a narrative with a series of photographs and express a feeling or mood with a series of photographs. Class discussions will introduce students to a variety of concepts related to visual literacy. Students will also be introduced to the work of historically significant photographers from a broad range of backgrounds. Students will learn how to use Adobe Creative Cloud software to adjust images for print and digital publishing. By the end of the course, students will understand how to use a digital SLR or mirrorless camera to create compelling photographs using manual controls, process their images using Adobe Creative Cloud software and best practices for publishing their images digitally as well as best practices for printing their images. Finally, students will enhance their critical thinking skills while developing a deeper understanding of visual/photographic language. Students are expected to shoot a minimum of 108 exposures (photographs) each week.

Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

OART-GT 2013-000 (7438)
09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Wed
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Ross-Smith, Bayete

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, General Elective, Graduate, Spring 2021

Choreography (OART-GT 2805)

The purpose of this course is to enable the student to gain a heightened awareness, appreciation, and knowledge of dance through movement and performance. We focus on the foundations of dance such as control, aesthetics, alignment, development of strength and flexibility, dynamics, athleticism, musicality, use of space, development of learning strategies within a group context, and personal, artistic expression. The student’s mastery of their body, expression with their body and creativity through their body is the center of the work. Through individual and collective kinesthetic participation in unfamiliar patterns, related, but not limited to China, West Africa, United States, and Japan, the student is physically and conceptually challenged and informed. Using these learned dances as inspiration, students go on to re interpret, improvise and choreograph their own variations on dance forms in their class assignments. Dance experience is not necessary.

Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
2 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

OART-GT 2805-000 (7359)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Tue1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Hoffbauer, Patricia

Fall 2021, Graduate, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Undergraduate

Live Video Performance Art (OART-GT 2567)

This course will combine a history of video art and experimental film with practical training in the use of live video performance art technology. Students will explore new ways to create and edit films and videos using VJ software, projections, and multi-channel video surfaces. Workshops will demonstrate concepts and software that can be integrated into the creative process of video performance art and video art installations. COURSE OBJECTIVES At the completion of this course, the student will be able to: Draw inspiration from the recent history of incredible video and multi-media artists. Develop an understanding of audio and visual hardware used by VJ’s. Use live VJ software to manipulate digital media in real time to create Video Performance Art. Use Projection Mapping techniques to project video art onto 3D surfaces. Create original video performance art, video installations, and other performance pieces. Utilize skills to make video art in the professional market.

Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2024)

OART-GT 2567-000 (7246)
01/22/2024 – 05/06/2024 Wed
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Nova, Max

Graduate, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Summer 2019, Undergraduate

Making Webisodes (OART-GT 2569)

Making Webisodes is an intensive production workshop in which students create unique and compelling content for the web. Students will explore the basics of online video production, working with – concept creation – writing – directing – acting – production design – camerawork – sound – editing – online distribution – social media – web monetization – and advertising. Web series are an exploding new art form. Embedded ads, 5 second hooks, instagram stories, tik-tok, 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, share a powerful message, investigate social issues, expose problems, celebrate joy, engage our perspective, shock us, or challenge us. Students will work with Sony FS5 cameras, microphones, and LED lights and they will also be trained to use their own dslrs and cellphones, in order to practice creating a wide variety of webisodes. Workshop assignments employ practical exercises to help the students conceive and create their own unique webisode, which can be fiction or non-fiction, experimental or satire, personal or political. Combining the powerful tools of traditional filmmaking with innovative new digital media tools, this class guides students to create dynamic web based projects. As the students produce their digital media, they learn by doing and they gain practical knowledge of the art, craft, and commerce of webisodes.

Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2024)

OART-GT 2569-000 (7249)
01/22/2024 – 05/06/2024 Tue
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Tunnicliffe, William

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Graduate, IMA Major Electives, January 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Summer 2021, Summer 2023, undefined, Undergraduate

Urban Arts Workshop: New York (OART-GT 2925)

Urban Arts Workshop–New York is composed of lectures, presentations, screenings, readings, discussions, and visits from painters, photographers, filmmakers, writers, designers, architects, planners, restaurateurs, curators and critics designed to expose students to the key concepts and fundamental theories of urban studies, public art and the urban-inspired works of many great artists and writers based in New York City and around the world. Outside of class time, students will do readings, conduct research, watch movies, post reactions and do various assignments that engage the core course subject matter and themes. Each class will explore another form of urban art, including discussions about and encounters with graffiti, street photography, sculpture, installation art, architecture, music, dance, performance, theater, fashion, urban sound projects, large-scale projections, poetry, essays and short stories with an aim to understand how such art forms came into being and how they express a distinctly urban message to the inhabitants and visitors of New York City and cities across the planet. The instructor seeks to combine the critical and theoretical with the experiential and personal in order to lead students to a deeper and more fruitful relationship with cities, the arts and themselves. Further exploration will be conducted into the phenomenon of connectivity in the 21st century city providing a deeper perspective on globalism, the networked environment, and emerging technology’s role in the future of art, culture and urban living. Field trips may include: The Whitney, The High Line and Hudson Yards, Tiny Island, MoMA, Guggenheim, PS1, Museum of the City of New York, The New Museum, Transit Museum, Noguchi Museum, Governors Island and others based upon availability. Students will need a MetroCard for traveling around the city as well as approximately $50.00 to cover meals and museum tickets (this price varies depending on course itinerary).

Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Art & Design (Old Structure), Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Graduate, IMA Major Electives, January 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2019, Summer 2021, Undergraduate

Intro to Digital Tools (OART-GT 2823)

This course will explore the basic tools of digital imaging. We will cover the three main Adobe products for creative imaging – Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. Through a series of short assignments we will look at various graphic design and layout ideas using Illustrator and InDesign and will touch on the wealth of image enhancement techniques afforded by Photoshop. The short assignments introduce the basics of design, typography and compositing images. Students have the opportunity to complete a small project of their own for the end of the term. Class time will be divided between lectures, critiques, and work in class sessions. This course is not intended to completely cover the software listed, but will give students a fundamental understanding of the possibilities of digital imaging. While the majority of the class focuses on print media (images, books and magazines), we discuss the growing importance of screen output. We do not have time to cover specific web or media projects, but will address transferable skills and understanding. We will incorporate some Adobe apps to augment the desktop applications. Additional reading materials will be distributed during the semester. Students should have access to the Adobe Creative Suite through the NYU license.

Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

OART-GT 2823-000 (7363)
09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Tue
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Fallon, Catherine

OART-GT 2823-000 (7364)
09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Thu
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Fallon, Catherine

Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, IMA Major Electives, Societies & the Social Sciences, Spring 2021, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Green World (OART-UT 1057)

According to the World Health Organization, 6.5 million people will die prematurely this year due to air pollution. That’s more deaths due to breathing bad air than from AIDS, auto accidents, cholera, malaria, and war combined. Climate change, fossil fuels, lack of drinking water, over-population, GMOs, pollution, and the wholesale corporate campaign to discredit science are among the most critical problems of our time. Living in denial of these issues has become the West’s de facto cultural standard with only a fraction of the public taking action. How can artists, citizen-scientists, and storytellers intervene in existing narratives regarding some of humanity’s most life-threatening issues? How will you further important conversations and seize the potential to activate change? Green World explores contemporary environmental issues while guiding artists to create informed, responsible works of positive social change using technology as a force multiplier. This course is open to all NYU students interested in developing an activist’s artistic, social, and/or scientific leverage point to help save the world. This course features an optional research trip to Black Rock Forest Consortium.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

OART-UT 1057-000 (13418)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ferris, Alexander

Art & Design (Old Structure), Fall 2020, Fall 2022, IMA Major Electives, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Intro to Visual Communication (OART-UT 1620)

Intro to Visual Communication builds a foundation for visual literacy and visual design thinking. The class focuses on the fundamentals of visual communication – line, color, composition, typography – as well as their application in a variety of contexts. You may or may not end up being a visual designer or artist, but all kinds of game design and development involves visual thinking. The philosophy of the class is learning by doing. Each week, in class and out of class, you will be creating visual projects on and off the computer. Sometimes you will be drawing in a sketchbook or making paper collages. Other times you will be using visual design software, such as Illustrator and Photoshop. The goal of the course is to connect the visual exercises to skills and issues related to directly to games. Sometimes we will be working on fundamental skills. Other times, we will be applying those skills to game-related problems.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 1620-000 (14479)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Tue
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by

OART-UT 1620-000 (14480)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Thu
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Voshell, Burgess

Fall 2020, IMA Major Electives, Spring 2020, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Visual Language and Storytelling: Visual Storytelling Through the Ages (OART-UT 290)

An overview of the development of visual storytelling throughout history. From the first creation of early hand drawn cave paintings to modern film production, all the essential elements of visual representation, visual imagery, visual grammar, and visual storytelling are explored. Lectures introduce and explain a variety of methods used to capture a visual image and how visual imagery, both with and without words, is used to convey meaning. Assignments are given for students to create their own visual imagery using these several different artistic formats. In class discussions then analyze the audience reception of the student’s work. The essential nature of visual storytelling is examined by analyzing how images collide to create new meaning, how a multiplicity of visual images are organized into a grammatical system, and how this system is managed in order to tell a visual story. The course examines how the basic tools of traditional narrative storytelling are also used in purely visual storytelling – to create a secondary world and to maintain a suspension of disbelief in order to inform, entertain, and affect the audience.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2020)

OART-UT 290-000 (21135)
09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Tue
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by

OART-UT 290-000 (21136)
09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Thu
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by

Expressive Culture, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, IMA Major Electives, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Art and Social Change (OART-UT 1018)

This course challenges us to foster a tactile understanding of the relationship between art and social change. How do artists address social issues? Can art transform lives? How can art serve as a force for encouraging ethical dialogue and action within the public sphere? How do we make our ideas and revelations actually matter within our collective place and space? To better facilitate our understanding of this relationship, and in an effort to get inside these key questions and others, this course will unfold in two parts. Part I (Conversations on Art and Social Change) will be run as an interactive seminar in which we will explore how the desire to change the world has led some artists to align themselves with wider social movements. Through lectures, discussions and presentations, we will set about to engage ourselves with the work of contemporary artists who have addressed issues related to the environment, racial and cultural identity, human rights, healthcare, and social justice. We will assume that understanding the work of others is necessary if we are to appreciate the potentiality of our own impact on the world. Part II of this course (A Collective Gesture Toward) will entail challenging ourselves to participate more fully in our immediate surroundings vis-à-vis the development and implementation of a work (or works) of art.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)

OART-UT 1018-000 (13646)
09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Mon
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by

Fall 2021, Graduate, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Live Video Performance Art (OART-UT 567)

This course will combine a history of video art and experimental film with practical training in the use of live video performance art technology. Students will explore new ways to create and edit films and videos using VJ software, projections, and multi-channel video surfaces. Workshops will demonstrate concepts and software that can be integrated into the creative process of video performance art and video art installations. COURSE OBJECTIVES At the completion of this course, the student will be able to: Draw inspiration from the recent history of incredible video and multi-media artists. Develop an understanding of audio and visual hardware used by VJ’s. Use live VJ software to manipulate digital media in real time to create Video Performance Art. Use Projection Mapping techniques to project video art onto 3D surfaces. Create original video performance art, video installations, and other performance pieces. Utilize skills to make video art in the professional market.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)

OART-UT 567-000 (23531)
01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Wed
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Nova, Max

Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Graduate, IMA Major Electives, January 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Summer 2021, Summer 2023, Summer 2024, Undergraduate

Urban Arts Workshop: New York (OART-UT 1925)

Urban Arts Workshop–New York is composed of lectures, presentations, screenings, readings, discussions, and visits from painters, photographers, filmmakers, writers, designers, architects, planners, restaurateurs, curators and critics designed to expose students to the key concepts and fundamental theories of urban studies, public art and the urban-inspired works of many great artists and writers based in New York City and around the world. Outside of class time, students will do readings, conduct research, watch movies, post reactions and do various assignments that engage the core course subject matter and themes. Each class will explore another form of urban art, including discussions about and encounters with graffiti, street photography, sculpture, installation art, architecture, music, dance, performance, theater, fashion, urban sound projects, large-scale projections, poetry, essays and short stories with an aim to understand how such art forms came into being and how they express a distinctly urban message to the inhabitants and visitors of New York City and cities across the planet. The instructor seeks to combine the critical and theoretical with the experiential and personal in order to lead students to a deeper and more fruitful relationship with cities, the arts and themselves. Further exploration will be conducted into the phenomenon of connectivity in the 21st century city providing a deeper perspective on globalism, the networked environment, and emerging technology’s role in the future of art, culture and urban living. Field trips may include: The Whitney, The High Line and Hudson Yards, Tiny Island, MoMA, Guggenheim, PS1, Museum of the City of New York, The New Museum, Transit Museum, Noguchi Museum, Governors Island and others based upon availability. Students will need a MetroCard for traveling around the city as well as approximately $50.00 to cover meals and museum tickets (this price varies depending on course itinerary).

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 6 Weeks

Sections (Summer 2024)

OART-UT 1925-000 (3375)
05/20/2024 – 07/02/2024 Tue,Thu
3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Bankert, Scott

Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, IMA Major Electives, January 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Summer 2023, Summer 2024, Undergraduate

Producing Essentials (OART-UT 1006)

The role of the creative producer in the entertainment industry is integral to bringing a project to fruition. This introductory course covers both the creative and physical production time-line and provides students with an understanding of the producer’s role through a semester-long team-based pitch project, which culminates in written and verbal pitch presentations. Students are encouraged to work on a project that best suits their area of interest: feature film, episodic/streaming, theatre, performance, podcasts, VR/AR or individualized multi-media. The course focuses on the dynamics of producing, including producer skill sets, tasks and responsibilities necessary to effectively and efficiently develop a project.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2024)

OART-UT 1006-000 (17802)
09/03/2024 – 12/12/2024 Mon
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Badal, Sharon

OART-UT 1006-000 (17803)
09/03/2024 – 12/12/2024 Thu
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by

January 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Undergraduate

Working with Groups in Community Settings (OART-UT 1017)

This course provides students interested in exploring their artistic field of study in community settings or providing community service through the arts, with a foundation for working with small and large group structures in community settings. Students will gain an understanding of group theory and stages of group development as they impact the visiting artist’s work with community groups. Overview of social, political and cultural contexts for creating community-based work will be discussed in relation to entering into and engaging community groups in the creative process. Students will work in small groups to practice concepts and skills of working with groups in community settings and will prepare and present an individual project design for a visiting artist’s work with a community group, drawing on specific fields of artistic study and taking into consideration material covered in class lectures and discussions.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 3 Weeks

Sections (January 2021)

OART-UT 1017-000 (1396)
01/04/2021 – 01/22/2021 Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Bitel, Mary

Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Undergraduate

Creative Fundraising (OART-UT 1093)

This course will cover both traditional and non-traditional financing and fundraising in the worlds of entertainment and the arts. Although our focus will be on the film world (with an emphasis on feature films), we will take occasional forays into the worlds of television, theatre, and music. We will also look at product financing. The goal of the course is to provide students with a framework for understanding the dynamics (as well as the specific routes) to raising funds for artistic endeavors. Many entertainment projects require significant capital before they can be realized. The negotiation and structuring of these deals may be a humbling experience, fraught with compromises that affect creative control over the final product. Producers need knowledge of financing tools and structures, an understanding of current economics driving the business, and skills in understanding new technologies and trends in funding. At its core, the course will help students develop a general understanding of fundraising and financing in the world of entertainment and refine the skills necessary to develop proposals that allow them to one day realize a creative vision.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)

OART-UT 1093-000 (14068)
01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Mon
9:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Sondervan, Sofia

Fall 2020, Fall 2022, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Programming & Data (Old Structure), Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Intro to Game Development (OART-UT 1601)

Introduction to Game Development is a practical course that introduces students to the methods, tools and principles used in developing digital games. Over the course of the semester, students will work alone to create a two digital prototypes or ‘sketches’, before building on them to produce a final polished game, using the lessons learned in the earlier prototypes. This is a hands­-on, primarily lab­-based course, and so the focus is on learning ­by ­doing rather than on reading and discussion.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 1601-000 (14382)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon,Wed
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by

Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, IMA Major Electives, Programming & Data (Old Structure), Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Intro to Programming for Games (OART-UT 1617)

Introduction to Programming for Games is a course that introduces students to the concepts, problems, and methods of computer programming, and how these apply to the creation of video games. Throughout the semester, students will have weekly programming assignments, first using Processing with the Java programming language, then the Unity3D Game Engine with C#. There will be a midterm game in Processing and a final game in Unity. The course assumes no prior programming knowledge, and is designed to touch on the basic principles of digital design in form of computer code. There will be an emphasis on programming fundamentals; they will be motivated through the lens of designing and producing video games.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 1617-000 (14383)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Popp, Karina

OART-UT 1617-000 (14792)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Smith, Kate

OART-UT 1617-000 (14793)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Thu
12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Pratt, Charles

OART-UT 1617-000 (20571)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Thu
12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Parker, Matthew

Fall 2019, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Collaborative Arts Lab I (OART-UT 100)

Collaborative Arts Lab engages students across disciplines and schools in a layered process of inquiry, dialogue, and creative research in response to different issues of urgency in our community. Each semester, a theme is chosen for the course which serves as both the introduction to the frame for research and the introduction to the class group. This semester, the course will be rooted in performance as a frame to examine what culture is built around the body as subject and explore perceptions of art based on the body and different physicalities. You will work individually and in groups in movement-based exercises, as well as in other artistic mediums, to explore social, historical, and cultural contexts, analyze existing research, develop questions for creative inquiry, and experiment with new ways of thinking about the body as subject and as inspiration for the creative process. This course has no prerequisites and welcomes students from all schools and from all/any creative backgrounds – writers, dancers, actors, musicians, visual artists, filmmakers, designers, photographers, etc. Students will be expected to create works together, and each student will have the opportunity to integrate different creative forms into their class projects.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
6 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2019)

OART-UT 100-000 (20657)09/03/2019 – 12/13/2019 Tue,Thu3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Bitel, Mary

Expressive Culture, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, IMA Major Electives, January 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Summer 2019, Undergraduate

Understanding Story (OART-UT 568)

Understanding Story is a class composed of lectures, discussions, screenings, readings, critical and creative writing, group critiques and presentations. The course is designed to expose the student to the fundamental principles of storytelling across a spectrum of mediums, including the written story, playwriting, film, poetry, dance, games, photography, fine art and music. How do all these different art forms tell stories? How can the student apply what is learned to their own creative work? History and theory of story will be studied and used to inspire personal and creative work in order to better understand how story can most successfully be expressed in different mediums and reach its audience.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 568-000 (14319)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon
3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Limoncelli, Rosanne

Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, General Elective, IMA Major Electives, Spring 2020, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Games 101 (OART-UT 1600)

Games 101 is the foundational course for the NYU Game Center. The focus of Games 101 is game literacy – a shared understanding of games as complex cultural and aesthetic objects. The class will incorporate lectures, discussion, readings, and writing assignments, but the primary activity of the class is critical play – playing games in order to better understand and appreciate them. The class will cover games on and off the computer, including classic and contemporary board and card games, sports, and games on the PC, internet, and consoles.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 1600-000 (14221)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Clark, Naomi

OART-UT 1600-000 (14345)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed8:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Jones-Brewster, Jordan

OART-UT 1600-000 (14346)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

OART-UT 1600-000 (14347)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

OART-UT 1600-000 (14348)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri8:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

OART-UT 1600-000 (14349)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

OART-UT 1600-000 (14722)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Expressive Culture, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, IMA Major Electives, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Studies (aka "Seminar") (Old Structure), Undergraduate

Intro to Game Studies (OART-UT 1606)

This class is an overview of the field of video games that approaches them from several theoretical and critical perspectives. No special theoretical background or prior training is needed to take the course, but to have had a broad practical experience with and basic knowledge of games is a distinct advantage. Also, an interest in theoretical and analytical issues will help. You are expected to actively participate in the lectures, which are dialogic in form, with ample room for discussion. The course will prepare the student to: – Understand and discuss games from a theoretical perspective – what are the components of a game? – Apply new theories and evaluate them critically. – Assess and discuss game concepts and the use of games in various contexts. – Analyze games, and understand and apply a range of analytical methods.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 1606-000 (14537)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Tue
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Pratt, Charles

OART-UT 1606-000 (14534)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Thu
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Pratt, Charles

OART-UT 1606-000 (14535)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Pratt, Charles

Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Undergraduate

Intro to Game Design (OART-UT 1605)

This is an intensive, hands-on workshop addressing the complex challenges of game design. The premise of the class is that all games, digital and non-digital, share common fundamental principles, and that understanding these principles is an essential part of designing successful games. Learning how to create successful non-digital games provides a solid foundation for the development of digital games. Students will analyze existing digital and non-digital games, taking them apart to understand how they work as interactive systems. A number of non-digital games will be created in order to master the basic design principles that apply to all games regardless of format. This course is subject to a non-refundable department fee, please see the Notes section for more detail.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 1605-000 (14719)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon,Wed
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by

OART-UT 1605-000 (14720)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Tue,Thu
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by Georgescu, Mary

OART-UT 1605-000 (14721)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon,Wed
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by

OART-UT 1605-000 (22965)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon,Wed
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Brooklyn Campus
Instructed by

OART-UT 1605-000 (22966)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed,Fri
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by

Art & Design (Old Structure), Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Graduate, IMA Major Electives, January 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Summer 2019, Summer 2021, Undergraduate

Intro to Digital Tools (OART-UT 823)

This course will explore the basic tools of digital imaging. We will cover the three main Adobe products for creative imaging – Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. Through a series of short assignments we will look at various graphic design and layout ideas using Illustrator and InDesign and will touch on the wealth of image enhancement techniques afforded by Photoshop. The short assignments introduce the basics of design, typography and compositing images. Students have the opportunity to complete a small project of their own for the end of the term. Class time will be divided between lectures, critiques, and work in class sessions. This course is not intended to completely cover the software listed, but will give students a fundamental understanding of the possibilities of digital imaging. While the majority of the class focuses on print media (images, books and magazines), we discuss the growing importance of screen output. We do not have time to cover specific web or media projects, but will address transferable skills and understanding. We will incorporate some Adobe apps to augment the desktop applications. Additional reading materials will be distributed during the semester. Students should have access to the Adobe Creative Suite through the NYU license.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 823-000 (14195)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Tue
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Fallon, Catherine

OART-UT 823-000 (14320)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Thu
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Fallon, Catherine

Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Graduate, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Spring 2020, Undergraduate

Cell Phone Cinema (OART-UT 566)

Hollywood in your palm. That is what this combination of lectures, screenings, demonstrations and practical production workshop will offer to the students in this course. There will be several professional guests making presentations and Q&A sessions from the mobile phone filmmaking industry. In addition to the historical and critical overview of the emergence and exponential growth of global cell phone cinema, students will shoot all footage on cell phones and download them for computerized editing. The final project will be under three minute shorts. Projects will include all genres of film and television: news, mini-documentaries, animation, music videos and narrative shorts. Completed student projects will be suitable to be posted on the Internet and entered into domestic and international mobile phone film festivals. For example, two minute long improvisations of Bollywood Style Music Videos shot on Cell Phones by the students have been projected at the Tribeca Cinemas as part of the New York Indian Film Festival. It is suggested but not compulsory that students bring to the class a cell phone capable of recording video.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2022)

OART-UT 566-000 (14368)
09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Wed
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Bardosh, Karoly

Graduate, IMA Major Electives, Media & Entertainment (Old Structure), Spring 2021, Summer 2019, Undergraduate

Making Webisodes (OART-UT 569)

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

Sections (Spring 2021)

OART-UT 569-000 (23613)
01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Wed
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Early afternoon)
at Washington Square
Instructed by Tunnicliffe, William