Archives

Fall 2021

Alter Egos: Assuming New Identities Through Costume and Performance (ITPG-GT 2353)

Throughout history, musicians have channeled their creativity into outrageous fashion statements and invented personas: think MF DOOM, Sun Ra, Ghostface Killah, Daft Punk, Leikeli47 and Rammellzee. By embracing their alter egos in extreme and outlandish ways, artists have found their authentic creative voices. This course will introduce participants to the art of masquerade using their resourcefulness to create costumes from found materials, and performance as an exploration in creative expression using new media and technology. Students will be introduced to ideas surrounding abstract storytelling, experimental audio video production, and A/V performance using a combination of technical and hands-on approaches.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2353-000 (23987)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Mon9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment)
Fall 2021

Creative Resistance (ITPG-GT 2355)

Artists and creative practitioners are widely seen as responsible for destabilizing or critiquing dominant cultural norms and social systems; for example, in her book “Race After Technology”, Ruha Benjamin argues that artists “…can better understand and expose the many forms of discrimination embedded in and enabled by technology”. But when we talk about resistance or refusal enacted through creative means, what exactly do we mean? How does artistic work serve to resist, protest and subvert—and where does it sit in relation to the ideas it aims to critique? This class engages with the notion of “creative resistance”, unpacks the meanings and ethical stances associated with the term, and evaluates how it has been applied in both artistic and academic contexts. Students will explore theories of resistance, refusal and solidarity, and experiment with applying them to (or discussing them through) creative work. In the first half of the class, through reading, class discussion and student presentations, we will engage with scholarly and activist literature on resistance, protest and subversion, and look at examples of creative technological works that purport to achieve these goals. We will discuss commonly used strategies such as dark sousveillance (or “looking back” at the machine), speculative design, and distributed or guerrilla artmaking; examine their mechanisms of action; and debate their effectiveness in achieving their professed goals. In the second half, students will apply this thinking to their own project ideas. Students can choose to produce either a final project responding to the themes of the course, accompanied by a short written artist statement, or a more academic written piece that engages relevant literature from the class readings and beyond in service of an argument about the role of resistance in creative practice.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2355-000 (23989)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Fri3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Seminar/Studies)
Fall 2021

A Radical Thing (ITPG-GT 2357)

This course will serve as an incubator to imagine a speculative product advertisement in the year 2030. In films like Blade Runner, or Her adverts fill the world and become an important aspect of exposition for the film. And in the real world, works such as Alisha Wormlsey, Alexandra Bell, and Hank Willis Thomas begin to re-imagine advertisements as an art practice in society today. Our work will begin to speculate on near-future objects in which topics such as communication, energy storage, transportation can begin to be re-imagined in the next industrial revolution. Using 3D tools, students will gain experience in speculative design thinking, industrial design modeling, product lighting, and custom post-production methods. The final project will be a product advert that will be designed to promote a speculative design entirely made from 100% Biodegradable plastics. The course will look at the ready-made objects all around us as a launching pad. We will be starting with modeling an object in detail. Using Moi 3D, Maya, Render Engine TBD, After Effects, and premiere over the course of the semester. I will go through some of the latest tools within the VFX industry and support this course with a series of artists who have re-imaged the role of cultural production. The final will be an advertisement poster and animation.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 7 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2357-000 (23990)10/27/2021 – 12/14/2021 Tue12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment)
Fall 2021

What Happens Next? (ITPG-GT 2352)

Project-based development studio incorporating dramaturgy techniques, user/audience planning, and social/contextual awareness. You bring in a project. We explore how to make it more engaging through paying close attention to medium, context, and details. Students bring existing project ideas and we investigate various methods and ways to make and direct experience within the infinite combinations of contexts of the present moment together. This particular studio is just as appropriate for projects in the areas of interactive art, programming, physical computing, XR as it is in the areas of performance, sculpture, and sound walks (everything). Everything you make is time-based the moment a user interacts with it (even a painting). All time-based work can be thought of in terms of how a user is led (or not led) through it. I call this directing. We will apply various techniques of story-telling and world-building equally to seemingly “non-narrative” projects as we do to traditional-narratively structured projects. No matter what you are working on, I believe that you are a maker / director of experience. You are making / directing with intent (whether you know it or not). Your user (audience, tester, public, patron) brings with them the entirety of their life’s experience. Your intent cannot possibly meet every user’s lived experience. It is your job as the maker / director to draw a circle that encompasses both. This is the studio’s lens. Students will be directed to make using placeholders instead of waiting for perfection to manifest. Step one will tell you what step two is. We will pay rigorous attention to detail, while holding close to the notion that art-making thrives in adaptability. We will critique using various, structured, co-facilitated methods. Let’s pay close attention. Let’s learn through failure. Let’s listen to what we are making. And let’s listen to each other. Here we go.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2352-000 (23986)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Mon3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment)
Fall 2021

Interactive Storytelling for Liberation (ITPG-GT 2349)

If social change begins in the imagination, how then can creators better envision and render the more just and beautiful worlds we want to make? Storytelling has the power to be an alchemical force for revolutionary change. Together, we seek to interrogate and apply interactive storytelling as a technology we can deploy in service of our collective liberation. In this course, we pair a study of story as liberatory praxis with a hands-on grounding in emerging tech tools that allow viewers/players to take an active role. Interactive storytelling technology in video, audio, and text powerfully situates viewers inside constructed narrative worlds. Creators in these emerging media gain the capacity to design choices and respond accordingly, propelling imagination toward agency and enhancing empathic connections between viewers/players and characters. What will it mean to use these tools to tell deeper stories that ask urgent questions about how we want to live in the world? “Part of being a revolutionary is creating a vision that is more humane. That is more fun, too. That is more loving. It’s really working to create something beautiful.” —Assata Shakur

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 8 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2349-000 (23983)09/02/2021 – 10/26/2021 Thu6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment)
Fall 2021

Shape Our Future Through Speculative Design (ITPG-GT 2348)

This course aims to provide students with the analytical skills to interpret current trends, policies and problems into futuristic (5 years) product proposals and the thought leadership and communication skills to clearly articulate and pitch those ideas. Projects can range from how prolonged quarantine will impact home exercise to the future of entertainment in self driving cars. Students will research and explore an opportunity space of their choosing where they will infer future problems from current trends then create a speculative solution. They will package their product thinking into a pitch deck and present back to the class. The class format will include lecture, in-class and out-of-class design exercises that apply the concepts covered in the class lecture and a final presentation and critique.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 8 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2348-000 (23982)09/02/2021 – 10/26/2021 Mon6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Art & Design)
Fall 2021

Stories of Illness: Graphic & Narrative Medicine (ITPG-GT 2340)

Narrative holds a place in discourses of health, illness, caregiving, and disability, carrying and conveying the densely detailed, nuanced, and complex threads of personal emotion, social experience, and cultural meaning that accompany all instances of these subjects. Narrative also plays a growing role in clinical practice, research, and health education, as increasingly registered in the burgeoning field of Medical Humanities. This course introduces students to texts, practices and major works in the emergent fields of Graphic Medicine and Narrative Medicine, using traditional humanities methods of critical reading and analysis as well as experimental and creative methods including field observation and art-making in a variety of media. Building upon a series of practice-based assignments throughout the semester, students will complete a final project that exemplifies some of the ways narrative and graphic design foster understanding and knowledge in contexts of illness.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2340-000 (23972)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Thu12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Art & Design)
Fall 2021

Creating with TinyML (ITPG-GT 2339)

A new world is emerging at the intersections of machine learning and physical computation that will offer wide-scale access to bringing intelligence to everyday devices and spaces at extremely low costs. In this course, students are offered the opportunity to become pioneers in a new field of hardware machine learning as they are introduced to the most used machine learning platform in the world (TensorFlow) that has been embedded into an incredibly small microcontroller, called TinyML. Students will learn about building with machine learning, the ethics and societal impacts of ML, and how to start realizing creative computation through ML-based physical computing.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2339-000 (23970)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Wed6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data)
Fall 2021

Sensing the City (ITPG-GT 2090)

For most of its brief history, the domain of “smart cities” has belonged to large corporate vendors who promise and offer ubiquitous, citywide intelligence that utilizes their proprietary systems. More recently, an increasing number of startups have developed solutions which can make the technology somewhat more accessible. Unfortunately for municipalities, working with product vendors can be a heavy lift and the commitments involve lengthy procurement and contracting processes. In the past five years or so, the access to connected technology has increased and the hobbyist or “maker” movement has seen an uptick in offerings related to IoT. From the Arduino IoT Cloud and Adafruit.io software, to the Raspberry Pi and Particle hardware, building connected IoT devices has become easier than ever before. Through platforms like Google Coral and Nvidia Jetson, even edge computing and AI has become available to those with coding skills and a modest budget. What this course aims to explore is what happens when low-cost, readily available electronics platforms address the data needs of municipal governments. Rather than thinking of smart cities as large scale, big data projects that provide intelligence across a city, we will look at targeted applications that would be too small or costly to pursue as a conventional IoT procurement. What intelligence can be gathered in a short period of time with a small budget? During this course, we will examine successful and troubled smart cities projects, discuss the ethics of public technology projects, and review the prevailing best practices and guidelines relating to the Internet of Things in government use. Thinking in terms of “rapid IoT” and “little big data,” students will partner with NYC agency representatives* to uncover insights about a particular issue related to their work. Students will undertake a semester-long project, working to understand the agency’s data needs and develop an IoT solution to gather data for analysis that could inform the agency on planning, policy, or operational issues. The course will cover current connected microcontroller platforms and connectivity options like WiFi, Cellular, and LoRaWAN as well as the software tools needed to store and present data in user-friendly dashboards.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2090-000 (22673)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Fri6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces)
Fall 2021

Big Spaces (ITPG-GT 2342)

So much of life is circumstance, being in the right place at the right moment in time. Can we shape a life or at least a few brief moments of one by designing a space for it to inhabit? In this course, we will treat space as a time-based medium and ask how experiential spaces can generate narratives that are lived rather than told. We will look to a broad range of storytelling traditions to interrogate four so-called “space-narrative” forms: Wandering The Desert, Processions, Circles and Territories. Through play, discussion and technical and conceptual workshops, we will ask and attempt to answer some of the following questions: What constitutes a space? How do we experience a space over time? How does space shape our experience of time? How can space shape both a personal and collective narrative? We will build spaces with lighting, projection, sound and physical objects. Class time will be split between group improvisation exercises, playing-testing and critiquing projects. The class will culminate in a showing of work at the end of the semester.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2342-000 (23974)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Fri3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment)
Fall 2021

Art Toy Design (ITPG-GT 2196)

Is it a plaything? Sculpture? Nostalgia? A Product? Art toys exist at the center of a unique Venn diagram. Each student in this class will develop an original limited edition art toy. We will cover toy fabrication, character design, material selection, packaging design, and art toy culture. The class will be fabrication heavy, there will be weekly assignments, and a final project.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
2 credits – 8 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

ITPG-GT 2196-000 (22643)09/02/2021 – 10/26/2021 Tue12:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces)

New Interfaces for Musical Expression (ITPG-GT 2227)

The course focus is on the design and creation of digital musical instruments. Music in performance is the primary subject of this class. We approach questions such as “What is performance?” “What makes a musical interface intuitive and emotionally immediate?” and “How do we create meaningful correlations between performance gestures and their musical consequences?” Over the semester, we look at many examples of current work by creators of musical interfaces, and discuss a wide range of issues facing technology-enabled performance – such as novice versus virtuoso performers, discrete versus continuous data control, the importance of haptic responsiveness as well as the relationship between musical performance and visual display. Extensive readings and case studies provide background for class discussions on the theory and practice of designing gestural controllers for musical performance. Students design and prototype a musical instrument – a complete system encompassing musical controller, algorithm for mapping input to sound, and the sound output itself. A technical framework for prototyping performance controllers is made available. Students focus on musical composition and improvisation techniques as they prepare their prototypes for live performance. The class culminates in a musical performance where students (or invited musicians) will demonstrate their instruments. Prerequisites: H79.2233 (Introduction to Computational Media) and H79.2301 (Physical Computing). Prerequisite: ICM / ICM: Media (ITPG-GT 2233 / ITPG-GT 2048) & Intro to Phys. Comp. (ITPG-GT 2301)

Graduate

Class #
Section #
Meets

Class #: 16479
Section #: 001
Meets: M 3:20-5:50p

Fall 2025 Fall 2026 Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) Undergraduate
Fall 2021

Real-Time Media (IMNY-UT 285)

Real-Time Media is a 4-credit class using MaxMSPJitter to survey how real-time and reactive media can be used for art installation and performance. Classes will be a mix of coding labs, surveys and lectures on historical examples of the medium, guest artists talking about their practice, class field trips, and in-class performances and critique. While the primary focus will be on video and sound there will also be attention given to sensors, electronics, web APIs, and more. The class has coding assignments building to solo video and audio performances and final group installation project.

Interactive Media Arts (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2021)

IMNY-UT 285-000 (15835)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by

IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Undergraduate
Summer 2021

Topics in Physical Computing: Adapting Everyday Items Adapting Everyday Items (IMNY-UT 248)

Physical Computing is an approach to computer-human interaction design that starts by considering how humans express themselves physically and how computers can sense that expression. This course is designed to provide students with hands-on experience in researching, designing, and building physical interfaces for computers and other digital devices. Physical computing takes a hands-on approach. Students will learn to understand electronic sensors, connect them to computers, write programs, and build enclosures to hold sensors and controls. They will also learn to integrate all of these skills in the design of devices which respond to human physical expression.

Undergraduate

Class #
Section #
Meets

Class #: 13744
Section #: 001
Meets: M 5:20-8:20p

Fall 2026 IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) Undergraduate
Spring 2023 Summer 2021

50 Days of Making (ITPG-GT 2337)

50 Days of Making is a 1.0 unit online course that offers students the opportunity to pursue a creative passion and develop or refine a skill over a 50-day period. Students choose a topic of interest and produce an expression of that topic every day for 50 days. For examples of past projects from the 100-days version of the class see here: https://itp.nyu.edu/classes/100days/. This course will meet four times on a bi-weekly basis over the course of the 1st 7-weeks of the term (every other week). Class time is spent discussing student progress and reflecting on students’ creative journey. Note that this class is a heavy lift for 1.0 unit, so only committed students should consider registering for it. Failure to complete the 50-day challenge may result in an incomplete grade for the course.

Interactive Telecommunications (Graduate)
1 credits – 8 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)

ITPG-GT 2337-000 (22313)01/26/2023 – 03/09/2023 Thu6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Evening)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Ceballos Delgado, Paula

Graduate IMA Electives

Intro to Fabrication (ITPG-GT 2637)

Time to get your hands dirty. Prototypes need to be created, motors have to be mounted, enclosures must be built. Understanding how things are fabricated makes you a better maker. But hardware is hard. You can’t simply copy and paste an object or working device (not yet anyway), fabrication skills and techniques need to be developed and practiced in order to create quality work. You learn to make by doing. In this class, you will become familiar and comfortable with all the ITP shop has to offer. We will cover everything from basic hand tools to the beginnings of digital fabrication. You will learn to use the right tool for the job. There will be weekly assignments created to develop your fabrication techniques. There will be in class lectures, demos, and building assignments. Emphasis will be put on good design practices, material choice, and craftsmanship.

Graduate

Class #
Section #
Meets

Class #: 16498
Section #: 001
Meets: R 9:30a-12p


Class #: 16499
Section #: 002
Meets: R 9:30a-12p

Fall 2025 Fall 2026 Featured Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces) Spring 2026 Spring 2027

Intro to Physical Comp (ITPG-GT 2301)

This course expands the students’ palette for physical interaction design with computational media. We look away from the limitations of the mouse, keyboard and monitor interface of today’s computers, and start instead with the expressive capabilities of the human body. We consider uses of the computer for more than just information retrieval and processing, and at locations other than the home or the office. The platform for the class is a microcontroller, a single-chip computer that can fit in your hand. The core technical concepts include digital, analog and serial input and output. Core interaction design concepts include user observation, affordances, and converting physical action into digital information. Students have weekly lab exercises to build skills with the microcontroller and related tools, and longer assignments in which they apply the principles from weekly labs in creative applications. Both individual work and group work is required.

Graduate

Class #
Section #
Meets

Class #: 16488
Section #: 001
Meets: M 12:20-2:50p


Class #: 16489
Section #: 002
Meets: T 9:30a-12p


Class #: 16490
Section #: 003
Meets: T 9:30a-12p


Class #: 21078
Section #: 005
Meets: T 12:20-2:50p


Class #: 21988
Section #: 006
Meets: T 9:30a-12p


Class #: 21997
Section #: 007
Meets: T 12:20-2:50p

Fall 2025 Fall 2026 Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Physical Computing & Experimental Interfaces)

Application Security (CS-GY 9163)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu,Tue

This course addresses the design and implementation of secure applications. Concentration is on writing software programs that make it difficult for intruders to exploit security holes. The course emphasizes writing secure distributed programs in Java. The security ramifications of class, field and method visibility are emphasized. | Knowledge of Information, Security and Privacy equivalent to CS-GY 6813. Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Computer Science (Graduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Applied Cryptography (CS-GY 6903)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed,Tue
Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed,Tue

This course examines Modern Cryptography from a both theoretical and applied perspective, with emphasis on “provable security” and “application case studies”. The course looks particularly at cryptographic primitives that are building blocks of various cryptographic applications. The course studies notions of security for a given cryptographic primitive, its various constructions and respective security analysis based on the security notion. The cryptographic primitives covered include pseudorandom functions, symmetric encryption (block ciphers), hash functions and random oracles, message authentication codes, asymmetric encryption, digital signatures and authenticated key exchange. The course covers how to build provably secure cryptographic protocols (e.g., secure message transmission, identification schemes, secure function evaluation, etc.), and various number-theoretic assumptions upon which cryptography is based. Also covered: implementation issues (e.g., key lengths, key management, standards, etc.) and, as application case studies, a number of real-life scenarios currently using solutions from modern cryptography. | Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

Computer Science (Graduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Programming & Data) Spring 2026 Undergraduate

Game Design (CS-GY 6553)

Credits: 3
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Wed

This course is about experimental game design. Design in this context pertains to every aspect of the game, and these can be broadly characterized as the game system, control, visuals, audio, and resulting theme. We will explore these aspects through the creation of a few very focused game prototypes using a variety of contemporary game engines and frameworks, high-level programming languages, and physical materials. This will allow us to obtain a better understanding of what makes games appealing, and how game mechanics, systems, and a variety of player experiences can be designed and iteratively improved by means of rapid prototyping and play-testing. The course combines the technology, design, and philosophy in support of game creation, as well as the real-world implementation and design challenges faced by practicing game designers. Students will learn design guidelines and principles by which games can be conceived, prototyped, and fully developed within a one-semester course, and will create a game from start to finish. The course is a lot of (team)work, but it’s also a lot of fun. Programming skills are helpful, but not a hard requirement. Artistic skills, or a willingness to learn them are a plus. | Prerequisite: (Graduate Standing AND CS-GY 6533) for SoE students OR (OART-UT 1600 and OART-UT 1605) for Game Center MFA students OR instructor permission.

Computer Science (Graduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Fall 2025 Graduate IMA Electives IMA Electives (Legacy Structure - Media & Entertainment) Spring 2026