What types of performance can we create if we’re not limited to a physical stage or even a physical body? How much more can we communicate with video once our audience has the power to directly interact with the content, not just passively observe? We can create dynamic, digital experiences and innovative, virtual performances using Unreal Engine, a game engine and powerful suite of development tools. Students will learn the fundamentals of Unreal Engine, including 3D environments and assets, lighting, cameras, animations, audio, basic VFX, and programming interactivity using visual scripting blueprints. Then, we will incorporate external hardware such as depth cameras, LiDAR scanners, and motion capture suits to create our own digital assets, including virtual avatars of ourselves. Students will use this foundation in virtual production to create projects ranging from 3D music videos to choose-your-own-adventure memoirs to Performances with puppet avatars in an online 3D environment. The final assignment will be a part of a public show.
Archives
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 Tue5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by
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 Fri2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Hawk, Danny
Analog Photography (OART-UT 11)
Analog Photography is a course designed for students eager to learn the traditional methods of making photographs with black & white film and crafting prints in a darkroom. Using a 35mm SLR camera, students will learn how to properly and creatively expose film, process their own black & white negatives and use gelatin silver paper to make prints in a darkroom with an enlarger to produce museum quality archival photographs. Emphasis is placed on the application of technique in terms of personal expression through the selection and composition of subject matter. The course consists of technical lectures and demonstrations, working sessions in the darkroom, photography and written assignments, lectures on historical and contemporary photography, discussions about readings and assignments and several group critiques. Smaller photography assignments begin the semester; each student will work on a single larger project after mid-term. Each student must have access to a camera with manually adjustable focus, aperture and shutter speeds by the first week of class. In addition to the lab fee for this course, students will need to pay for a minimum of 7 rolls of film and 100 sheets of photographic paper.
Singing With Everybody (OART-UT 25)
Your voice is the most exquisite musical instrument known to humankind. Its infinite potential is multiplied and magnified through shared vibration with other voices. In Singing With Everybody, we will sing together and compose new vocal works that expand the range of our voices as spiritual-artistic-analytical tools.Students will study music composition in a two-pronged approach: through embodied singing practice, as both choral ensemble members and choral conductors, and through the study of musical forms including songwriting, folk, pop, classical, and experimental traditions. Throughout the semester, students will develop fundamental skills in music theory, digital audio processing, and creative organization in weekly composition etudes. This work will culminate in choral compositions to be performed by the class in a final concert open to the public. This final composition must take the form of a “score,” through which students develop a personal method for communicating their musical ideas to a performing ensemble of diverse skill levels. Class participation will often involve making loud, ridiculous sounds together as we dive into sonic discovery and musical mess-making. Students of all or no musical backgrounds are encouraged to join. Singing will become an everyday part of our lives as we explore the power and versatility of vibrating together.
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.
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.
Electronics for Artists (OART-UT 22)
This hands-on entry level electronics course is for students who want to invent, test, break, imagine, burn, surprise and build unusual interactive objects and devices that have never existed before. You don’t have to be an electrical engineer to be able to hack power and twist it for your own wild experiments. No matter what art/performance mediums you use in your creative practice, there are so many playful and cutting-edge ways to augment your craft with connected devices and computer-assisted fabrication. Some example projects include: interactive installations, moving sculptures, wearable devices for fashion, dynamic lighting, and DIY music devices. The course goes over the basics of electronic circuits and coding for Arduino — programmable micro-computers that process inputs from buttons, biofeedback sensors, and microphones and translate them into outputs expressed through LED lights, sounds, motors, and relays. We use laser cutters, 3D printers, woodworking tools, and sewing machines to assist us, and learn the best practices of creating robust circuits through soldering, component selection, and power supply. Each week we look to contemporary hardware artists for inspiration and use our classmates to test and analyze our prototypes, getting feedback on not just the practical design of the circuits and mechanisms, but the feelings, ideas, and creative effects our connected art elicits. No prior coding, hardware, or fabrication experience necessary, but time and dedication is — most projects will require out-of-class time spent in the shop. Students will need a laptop, but basic hardware and materials will be provided.
Multi-disciplinary Arts Practice with Community Groups: Theories and Practice of Group Work in Arts (OART-UT 1017)
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 combination lecture/activity-based class provides you with tools for better understanding how to enter into and engage others in collective creative work of purpose. Multi-Disciplinary Arts Practice with Community Groups: Theories and Practice explores the challenges and benefits of making artistic work with others and the tools needed to create meaningful collaborative projects. In this class we interrogate definitions of community and group, explore the balance between group process and producing an artistically excellent project, and examine the processes of creating artistic work with others to strengthen our own artistic voices while helping raise the creative voices of others. With its focus on social practice, this course provides a foundation for working with small group structures in a variety of community settings and professional creative work environments. The course satisfies a CA major requirement as well as a social science requirement for all other Tisch students.
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).
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.
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)
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.
The Visual Music Experience (OART-UT 1228)
Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 15 Weeks
Sections (Spring 2021)
OART-UT 1228-000 (24843)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Wed12:00 AM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Plotkin, Marc
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 Tue3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Benjamin, Ithai
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 Mon4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Brice, Mattie
Digital Photography (OART-UT 13)
A camera is a powerful tool for capturing moments, expressing artistic visions, and documenting the environment around us. Most of us carry a camera in our pockets daily, but sometimes, merely pulling out our phone and snapping a photograph isn’t enough. This course focuses on the technical and creative exploration of photography. We’ll discuss understanding and controlling depth of field to manipulate focus area, mastering shutter speed to capture motion or freeze time, and color and composition theories to enhance viewer engagement with your work. The class will view and produce in various photographic processes, from portraiture and collage to pinhole and documentary styles. By examining the works of influential photographers and the medium’s evolution, students will gain insight into photography as an art form. By the end, students will confidently navigate manual camera settings, edit images with Adobe Suite, and conceptualize projects that capture their vision. The tools and practices discussed in this class will help in the making of photographs and all visual art practices.
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.
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 Wed1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ross-Smith, Bayete
Live Video Performance Art (OART-GT 2567)
Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed
Open Arts Curriculum (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks