2 Point

Intro to Fabrication

Molly Ritmiller | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 242 | Thur 09:00am to 12:00pm in 370 Jay St, Room 410 Meetings:7-First Half
2 Point, Elective, In-Person, No Tags, Physical Computing and Experimental Interfaces (Old Structure), Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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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/IMA 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.

Code! 2

Dave Stein | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 2 | TBD Meetings:7-Second Half
2 Point, Elective, online, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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This online course builds on concepts introduced in Code! by applying JavaScript programming skills to interactive media projects. Using the p5.js creative coding library, students will design dynamic visual experiences for the web across desktop and mobile platforms. Students will have the opportunity to experiment with topics such as sound, basic game development, body tracking, and algorithmic art. Completion of Code! or equivalent experience is required. Prior knowledge of JavaScript and the p5.js library is expected

Code!

Dave Stein | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 1 | TBD Meetings:7-First Half
2 Point, Elective, online, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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This online course focuses on the fundamentals of computer programming (variables, conditionals, iteration, functions & objects) using JavaScript. In particular it leverages the p5.js creative computing environment which is oriented towards visual displays on desktops, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The course is designed for computer programming novices. What can computation add to human communication? You will gain a deeper understanding of the possibilities of computation–– possibilities that will augment and enhance the perspectives, abilities and knowledge you bring from your field of study (e.g. art, design, humanities, sciences, engineering). Each week you will complete a coding exercise and reflect on your process in a short forum post along with a wrap-up assignment at the end. At first it may feel foreign, as foreign as learning a new language or way of thinking. But soon, once you get some basic skills under your belt, you’ll be able to make projects that reflect your own interests and passions.

Interactive Multi-Screen Experiences (Topics in Media Art)

John Henry Thompson | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 281 | Tuesday 12:20-3:20 in 370 Jay St. Meetings:7-Second Half
2 Point, Computation and Data (Old Structure), Elective, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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We experience screens daily in many forms: in our hands, on our desktops, on walls and public installations as we travel. This course will explore the creative possibilities of real-time interactive and reactive art on screens in various forms. Using the recently developed p5VideoKit we will create standalone installations. p5VideoKit is a new library of live video effects – building on p5js – presented as a dashboard for mixing video in the browser. This library allows the user to apply visual effects to live video from connected cameras and sensors or streaming from devices on the internet. p5VideoKit is open source and can be extended with the user’s p5js code for a plethora of visual effects and interactivity. One possible application of p5Videokit would be a public facing installation allowing anonymous people on the street to use their hand held devices to interact with large street facing screens, thereby collaborating on real time creation of “digital graffiti”.

Building on Creative Computing, students will learn how to adapt simple sketches into components of p5VideoKit so that algorithms can be quickly composited and orchestrated into more complex works. Students will also learn how to edit and share code beyond the p5js editor, use nodejs/javascript to automate deployment of installations, and remotely configure dedicated computers with long running installations. Several dedicated computers and screens will be available to preview installations on the floor and street facing areas of the 370 Jay Street campus.

Prerequisites: Creative Computing or equivalent coding experience.

About John Henry Thompson: http://johnhenrythompson.com

Comics (Topics in Media Art)

Tracy White | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 281 | Tues 12:20pm to 3:20pm in 370 Jay St, Room 408 Meetings:7-First Half
2 Point, Elective, In-Person, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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Open to anyone who wants to create comics regardless of drawing experience. Drawing experience UNNECESSARY! In this course students will learn the building blocks of comics – the myriad ways to pair words and images, panels, borders and color – by doing weekly assignments, in class drawing exercises and studying specific graphic novels, comics books and digital/interactive comics.

The last two weeks of class will be devoted to a specific project that can be combined with work in another class. Comics are a powerful medium to tell personal stories, narrative medicine stories, as a tool for advocacy, and for producing a riveting tale of your choosing. We will discuss how comics can be used for entertainment as well as a tool for change. Mostly we will MAKE COMICS.

Please bring:

A notebook of your choosing to class.
A uni ball black pen, fine tip.

Caring for Media Arts (Topics in Media Art)

Regina Harsanyi | IMNY-UT 281 | Monday 3:40-6:40pm Meetings:7-Second Half
2 Point, Elective, New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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Drawing on the instructor’s experience as a preventive conservator and curator of time-based and digital media, this course shares strategies for proactive preservation of artworks in contemporary practices for artists. Students will learn how thoughtful documentation and technical awareness can sustain the integrity and longevity of complex artworks over time, addressing the material and digital vulnerabilities that arise from inadequate planning.

Each week, students will examine conservation case studies to understand the practical and ethical challenges of maintaining variable and evolving media. Through hands-on projects, they will apply preservation workflows to their own works-in-progress or existing projects.

Students will:

Conduct technical questionnaires and develop detailed process documentation.

Establish file naming and organizational systems suited to sustainable studio practice.

Select appropriate file formats and plan for long-term storage and migration.

Identify material vulnerabilities across digital and physical components of their work.

Engage with foundational material science principles relevant to artists and media practitioners.

Participate in collaborative preservation exercises by documenting peers’ projects and implementing shared archival protocols.

By the end of the course, students will have developed adaptable workflows that reinforce a collective responsibility to preserve contemporary art as a living, evolving practice.

3D in the Browser (Topics in Media Art)

Aidan Nelson | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 220 | Tuesday and Thursday 12:20 Meetings:7-First Half
2 Point, Elective, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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3D in the Browser provides students with a foundation for designing and creating engaging 3D web experiences from the ground up. Students will learn aspects of 3D web programming through a series of practical exercises – drawing inspiration (as well as photos, video, audio, 3D captures, “gaussian splats” and more) from their own lives together into a series of mini-sites.   Project outcomes might include elements of collage, self-portrait, and experimental interactivity, with a focus on bringing meaningful content together in space, developing a personal aesthetic sensibility and learning to work creatively within constraints.

On the technology side, students will develop a familiarity with the three.js Javascript library for 3D rendering, techniques for gathering and preparing media content for the web, and the creative potential of emerging machine learning / artificial intelligence-enabled approaches to 3D capture (Gaussian Splats) and 3D mesh generation within this space.

Creative computing or equivalent web programming experience is a prerequisite.

Re-Plasticing (Topics in Fabrication)

Molly Ritmiller | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 251 | Thur 09:00am to 12:00pm in 370 Jay St, Room 410 Meetings:7-Second Half
2 Point, Elective, Physical Computing and Experimental Interfaces (Old Structure), Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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The central focus of this fabrication class is ‘replasticing.’ Replasticing: the act of remaking/reforming single use plastic into new objects.

In addition to learning about plastic’s properties, various forms and history, students will also learn how to fabricate and 3D Print PLA Plastic, DIY recycle and use extruders and injection molds to recast “waste” plastic in their class projects. Students will then take a close look at the waste stream in NYC and Brooklyn, and research the end-of-life cycle for plastics.

The class will culminate in a collaborative project contributing to and creating new solutions for the Tandon Makerspace in managing their excess of PLA 3D print waste. Solutions can be anything from designing recycled plastic objects and tools, to systems for community engagement and efficient processing of the PLA scraps in the Makerspace.

By creating opportunities for communities to have access to DIY recycling, we will re-imagine waste; re-configure design practices; and re-value plastic’s potential in a circular economy.

Prerequisites: Intro to Fabrication

Introduction to Assistive Technology

Holly Cohen | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 241 | Mon 5:20pm to 8:20pm in 370 Jay Street, Room 316C Meetings:7-First Half
2 Point, Elective, In-Person, Physical Computing and Experimental Interfaces (Old Structure), Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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Assistive technology is a term that includes a wide variety of technologies for people with disabilities. This two-point survey course is designed to provide students with an overview of the field of assistive technology. Field trips, readings, and guest speakers will provide students with an understanding of current research and development as well as processes used in determining appropriate technologies. Weekly assignments and a final research project.

 Histories and Critical Media Theories of the Digital (Topics in Media Art)

Rae Bruml Norton | IMNY-UT 281 | Tuesday 9am - 12pm
2 Point, Elective, New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Tech and Society (New Structure), Undergraduate
Last updated: October 30, 2025
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This course introduces students to the various ways scholars have discussed the “digital” and its associated phenomena, including computability, information, algorithms, and networks. Drawing on classic and contemporary texts in philosophy, political economy, and media studies, we will investigate how the categories of race, class, gender, and labor are necessary to any analysis involving the production of digital technologies. If algorithms, data, and the circulation of information help constitute the digital, what kinds of work are necessary? Who does the work? We will keep these questions in mind as we clarify and critique the ways that the digital has been defined. We will take note of our different interpretations and how our various definitions of the digital change over the course of the semester.