New

The Nature of Code: Motion (Topics in Computation and Data)

Lenin Compres | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 220 | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Computation and Data (Old Structure), Elective, New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 2025
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Can we capture the unpredictable evolutionary and emergent properties of nature in software? Can understanding the mathematical principles behind our physical world help us to create digital worlds? This class focuses on the programming strategies and techniques behind computer simulations of natural systems. We explore topics ranging from basic mathematics and physics concepts to more advanced simulations of complex systems. Subjects covered include physics simulation, trigonometry, self-organization, genetic algorithms, and neural networks. Examples are demonstrated in JavaScript using p5.js.

This course covers the first six chapters of Daniel Shiffman’s The Nature of Code, introducing how motion and behavior emerge from simple physical rules. Students will explore randomness, noise, vectors, forces, oscillations, autonomous agents, and particle systems—building interactive, physics-based simulations that move, react, and evolve on screen. Through hands-on coding projects in JavaScript and p5.js, students learn to translate natural forces into digital motion, bridging physics, art, and computation to create lifelike kinetic systems. The course concludes with a look ahead to the book’s later chapters, which move beyond motion into emergent complexity—offering a glimpse of how similar principles can give rise to intelligence and self-organization in digital environments.

Prerequisites: Creative Computing

Alter Egos

Ali Santana | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 297 | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), Media Arts (New Structure), New, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 2025
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Alter Egos is a course that embraces abstract storytelling, improvisation, resourcefulness, ritual, performance and self-expression through art and technology. Students will develop original characters based on a series of stream of conscious exercises around identity. They will explore various creative techniques, including costuming, sound design, and multimedia collage while experimenting with unique methods of self expression via audio/visual performance. 

Students will assemble recycled materials, field recordings, emerging tech and textiles into costumes, props and digital worlds that embody their invented personas. This course will culminate as a live event showcasing audiovisual performances by participants in costume as their Alter Egos.

Class discussions will examine notions of identity, technology, community, health, privacy and encourage participants to venture outside of their comfort zone to radically imagine new approaches to creative expression.

Prerequisites: Communications Lab: Hypercinema
Instructor Website: http://www.alisantana.com

Caring for Media Arts (Topics in Media Art)

Regina Harsanyi | IMNY-UT 281 | TBD Meetings:7-Second Half
2 Point, Elective, New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 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 | TBD Meetings:7-First Half
2 Point, Elective, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 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.

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

Rae Bruml Norton | IMNY-UT 281 | TBD Meetings:
2 Point, Elective, New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Tech and Society (New Structure), Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 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.

Video Art (Topics in Media Art)

Motomichi Nakamura | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 287 | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), Media Arts (New Structure), New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 2025
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Video art is a time based media art form which emerged during the late 1960’s as video cameras and recorders became available to the general public.

Video art is a time based media art form which emerged during the late 1960’s as video cameras and recorders became available to the general public. In this class we will look at both the history of video art as well as new ways of implementing video and time based media installation today. The course will cover topics of projection, augmented reality, video sculpture, public art and interactive installation through a series of lectures and workshops. How do we create video artworks that are emotionally engaging with the audience while they truly represent who you are as an artist? What is a harmonious balance between art and the technologies we use? Through a series of weekly experiments and assignments, students will work with projection, video mapping and combine with various media to hack time based media into meaningful works of art. Class will be divided between lectures, guest speakers and critical discussion/presentation of work.

Game Show Design: Buzzers, Bells, and Big Ideas (Topics in Physical Computing)

Patrick Warren | Syllabus | IMNY-UT 240 | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, New, No Tags, Physical Computing and Experimental Interfaces (Old Structure), Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 2025
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Explore the art and craft of game show design in this hands-on, project-based course. Students will dive into the mechanics of classic game shows, reimagining them as analog experiences, then experimenting with mashups, blending elements of two shows into classroom-ready versions that incorporate custom buzzers, Arduino-based tech, and light fabrication. For the final project, students will work collaboratively to design and produce an original game show, incorporating technologies including, but not limited to projection mapping and live-streaming. Culminating in a live performance in the NYU Performance Garage, this course challenges students to think creatively, prototype fearlessly, and engage audiences in innovative, playful ways.

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

Rae Bruml Norton | IMNY-UT 281 | TBD Meetings:
2 Point, Elective, New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 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.

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

Rae Bruml Norton | IMNY-UT 281 | TBD Meetings:
2 Point, Elective, New, No Tags, Spring 2026, Undergraduate
Last updated: October 23, 2025
Show Course Description

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.

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

Rae Bruml Norton | IMNY-UT 281 | TBD Meetings:
2 Point, Elective, New, No Tags, Spring 2026
Last updated: October 23, 2025
Show Course Description

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.

Generative Filmmaking in the Age of Hypercinema (Topics in Media Art)

Gabe Barcia-Colombo | IMNY-UT 260 | Wed 3:40pm to 5:10pm in 370 Jay St, Room 407 Meetings:14
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2025, New, No Tags
Last updated: July 3, 2025
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The history of generative art dates back to the 20th century, with Dada and Fluxus artists using chance games and techniques to create spontaneous works of art. Today, generative art and entertainment continues to evolve with advances in artificial intelligence, but how do these advancements impact media making and the film and television industry? Video diffusion models, artificially intelligent avatars and generative soundtracks are among the emergent AI tools that can be used to create a film. This IMA and Film course will allow students to explore new tools in the creation of hypercinema. From RunwayML and Stable Diffusion to real time avatar puppeteering and virtual production, this course will provide a hands-on survey of generative media in the film industry.  How does generative AI change the way we tell stories? How do we deal with the ethical issues surrounding the use of generative media in film production? How will generative AI lead to dramatic changes in production and postproduction, distribution, and intellectual property ownership in the film industry? Class time will be split between lectures surveying the field of generative media and hands-on production using brand new tools and platforms.

CNC and More (Topics in Fabrication)

Phil Caridi | IMNY-UT 250 | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2025, New, No Tags
Last updated: July 3, 2025
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Take your digital fabrication skills to the next level. This class will focus on 3-axis CNC, 4-axis CNC, the Shaper Origin, the Bantam Desktop Mill, Metal Laser Cutting, advanced handheld router techniques, and the wood lathe. This course will also focus on exploring design considerations for digital fabrication.

Communications and Technology

Shawn Van Every | IMNY-UT 273 | Tues 12:20pm to 3:20pm in 370 Jay St, Room 407 Meetings:14
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2025, New, No Tags
Last updated: July 3, 2025
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From alphabets to virtual realities, this course will explore the development, reaction, and long term impact of various communication technologies. How have these technologies, such as writing, printing, the telegraph, television, radio, the internet and beyond, transformed society? And what changes can be observed both today and tomorrow? After students look closely at past and current inventions, students will speculate on the future of communication in a connected world by proposing their own transformative technology. Readings and discussion will cover communication theory, technical processes, creative applications, and critical investigation. Writing assignments will be paired with practical assignments where students will be challenged to bring their analysis and ideas to life. The web will also be utilized as a test bed for experiencing and experimenting with various forms of communication both old and new.

This course will be part seminar and part studio. In the seminar portion of the class, time will be spent engaging in short lectures, critical discussions, and reviews of both reading and writing assignments. In the studio portions, students will participate in hands-on creative and technical activities, share and evaluate project ideas, and present practical assignment work. Throughout the class, students will be encouraged to learn through play, experimentation, collaboration, and exploration. Both individual and group work will be assigned.

Anatomy of Truth (Topics in Design)

Yuliya Parshina-Kottas | IMNY-UT 271 | Fri 12:20pm to 3:20pm in 370 Jay St, Room 408 Meetings:7-First Half
2 Point, Elective, Fall 2025, New, No Tags
Last updated: July 3, 2025
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This course will explore current and historical misinformation, disinformation and propaganda campaigns in the global media landscape through the lens of visual information design. Students will identify misleading and malignant visual content in online and broadcast media and analyze it using a design framework grounded in information design principles, visual storytelling concepts, user research practices and journalistic ethics. Working in groups, students will apply the same design framework to create a media literacy campaign addressing a specific misinformation, disinformation or propaganda trend.

Electronics for Inventors (Topics in Media Art)

Pedro Galvao Cesar de Oliveira | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.260 | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, New, Spring 2025
Last updated: December 5, 2024
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Today we are no longer solely connected to the digital world through computers. The result of this push to connect the digital and the analog world is the increasing necessity for low cost, low power, and self-contained electronics.

This undergraduate course is an applications-driven introduction to electronics for inventors. Through a hands-on approach, students will learn basic concepts about analog circuits, digital devices interfaces, and low-cost code-free electronics.

Topics will include basic principles of electricity, as well as an understanding of electronics components such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, audio amplifiers, and timers.

Prerequisites
Prerequisites include an open mind, interest for electronics, the drive to make, and Physical Computing.

Immersivity Beyond the Display

MK Skitka | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.281 | Mon 7:00pm to 8:30pm in 370 Jay Street Room 450> Wed 7:00pm to 8:30pm in 370 Jay Street Room 450 Meetings:
2 Point, Computation and Data (Old Structure), Elective, New, Spring 2025
Last updated: December 5, 2024
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In recent years, “immersive digital experiences” have gained widespread popularity, from commercial exhibits like Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience to museums adapting spaces for digital art and brands leveraging interactive installations for promotion. But are these experiences truly immersive, and how can we evaluate them?

Immersivity Beyond the Display delves into the design of visual, interactive installations. Each week, students will modify existing sketches in p5.js to explore immersive design principles while building on foundational programming skills. “Demo days” will provide opportunities to test and reflect on each other’s prototypes. We will focus on narrative development, embodiment, social and emotional engagement and interaction mechanics to frame our exploration.  Weekly exercises will be enriched with relevant readings and discussions. By the end of the class, students will have developed their own model for evaluating immersivity in interactive digital experiences.

Prerequisite: Students should have completed Creative Computing or possess equivalent coding experience with p5.js and JavaScript.

After Creative Coding (Topics in Media Art)

MK Skitka | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.281 | Mon 7:00pm to 8:30pm in 370 Jay Street Room 450> Wed 7:00pm to 8:30pm in 370 Jay Street Room 450 Meetings:
2 Point, Computation and Data (Old Structure), Elective, Fall 2024, New, Spring 2025
Last updated: November 5, 2024
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This seven-week course challenges students to extend their knowledge of creative computing into the exciting realm of embodied interfaces. Building upon the fundamentals taught in Creative Computing, this course will explore the design and implementation of interactive systems that integrate the body as a controller of technology.

Going beyond the limitations of traditional mouse, keyboard, and screen interactions, we will investigate how movement, gesture, and physical interaction can be used to create engaging and meaningful user experiences. Through a combination of lectures and hands-on workshops, students will gain a deeper understanding of:

Sensor Technologies and Physical Computing: Working with sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes) to capture and interpret human movement and environmental data.

Movement Analysis and Interpretation: Techniques for analyzing movement patterns, extracting meaningful features, and mapping them to computational processes.

Performance and Embodiment in Technology: Investigating how technology can facilitate new forms of expression and performance.

The course will culminate in one proof of concept project utilizing one of the techniques explored in class.

Prerequisites: Completion of Creative Computing or equivalent experience with Arduino and Javascript p5.

Topics in Media Art: Electronics for Inventors

Pedro Galvao Cesar de Oliveira | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.260 | Tues 3:40pm to 6:40pm in 370 Jay Street, Room 426 Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2024, New, Spring 2025
Last updated: October 11, 2024
Show Course Description

Today we are no longer solely connected to the digital world through computers. The result of this push to connect the digital and the analog world is the increasing necessity for low cost, low power, and self-contained electronics.

This undergraduate course is an applications-driven introduction to electronics for inventors. Through a hands-on approach, students will learn basic concepts about analog circuits, digital devices interfaces, and low-cost code-free electronics.

Topics will include basic principles of electricity, as well as an understanding of electronics components such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, audio amplifiers, and timers.

Prerequisites
Prerequisites include an open mind, interest for electronics, the drive to make, and Physical Computing.

Topics in Media Art: Big Ideas in the History and Future of Technology

Theodora Rivendale | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.260 | Tues 7:00pm to 8:30pm in 370 Jay St, Room 413> Thur 7:00pm to 8:30pm in 370 Jay St, Room 413 Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2024, New, No Tags, Spring 2025
Last updated: October 11, 2024
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This class will provide students with a critical perspective on contemporary issues in media technologies and discuss the history, controversies, consequences, and ethical questions in emerging media. The first half of the class charts a history of media technologies from the 1940s to the present, focusing on the idealogical and social conditions that led to the creation of the technologies that exist now. The second half examines possible futures, and the tools we can use to predict (and build) those futures.

Instructor Website: http://alden.website

Topics in Media Art: After Creative Coding

MK Skitka | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.281 | Mon 7:00pm to 8:30pm in 370 Jay Street Room 450> Wed 7:00pm to 8:30pm in 370 Jay Street Room 450 Meetings:
2 Point, Computation and Data (Old Structure), Elective, Fall 2024, New, Spring 2025
Last updated: October 11, 2024
Show Course Description

This seven-week course challenges students to extend their knowledge of creative computing into the exciting realm of embodied interfaces. Building upon the fundamentals taught in Creative Computing, this course will explore the design and implementation of interactive systems that integrate the body as a controller of technology.

Going beyond the limitations of traditional mouse, keyboard, and screen interactions, we will investigate how movement, gesture, and physical interaction can be used to create engaging and meaningful user experiences. Through a combination of lectures and hands-on workshops, students will gain a deeper understanding of:

Sensor Technologies and Physical Computing: Working with sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes) to capture and interpret human movement and environmental data.

Movement Analysis and Interpretation: Techniques for analyzing movement patterns, extracting meaningful features, and mapping them to computational processes.

Performance and Embodiment in Technology: Investigating how technology can facilitate new forms of expression and performance.

The course will culminate in one proof of concept project utilizing one of the techniques explored in class.

Prerequisites: Completion of Creative Computing or equivalent experience with Arduino and Javascript p5.

Building Creatures for Interactive 3D (Topics in Media Art)

Yuliya Parshina-Kottas | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.260 | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2024, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), New, No Tags, Physical Computing and Experimental Interfaces (Old Structure), Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Last updated: August 5, 2024
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In this hands-on 3D course, we will design, model, rig, texture and animate fantastical creatures to populate digital landscapes. Using Blender as our primary software, we will master techniques for creating animation-friendly topologies, explore a variety of rigging methods, paint unique textures, work with Physically Based Rendering (PBR) materials, and bring our creatures to life with Blender’s animation tools. Our workflow will focus on exporting content for popular 3D engines and frameworks, such as Unity, Unreal Engine and Three.js.

3D Foundations for Interactive Projects (Topics in Media Art)

Yuliya Parshina-Kottas | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.XXXX | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2024, New, No Tags, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Last updated: August 5, 2024
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This hands-on course provides an introduction to fundamental 3D concepts, with a focus on creating assets for interactive projects. Students will master the basics of 3D modeling, UV mapping, texturing/shading, lighting, rigging, and animation, using Blender as their primary software. We will explore industry standards and best practices for multidisciplinary 3D collaborations as well as practical methods of applying learned skills to other 3D software.

Topics in Media Art: New Portraits

Alan Winslow | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.XXXX | TBD Meetings:
2 Point, Art and Design (Old Structure), Elective, Fall 2024, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), New, Spring 2025
Last updated: March 12, 2024
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“Portraiture stands apart from other genres of art as it marks the intersection between portrait, biography, and history. They are more than artworks; when people look at portraits, they think they are encountering that person,” says Alison Smith, chief curator at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

For thousands of years, artists have used cutting-edge tools and resources to create portraiture, giving viewers a glimpse into the subject’s life. A successful portrait embraces technology to bring the viewer closer to the subject but is not overshadowed by it.

In this course, we will delve into portraiture through the lens of volumetric capture using the Depth Kit system. Through hands-on assignments, students will learn the entire pipeline of volumetric capture, from configuring the system to capturing our subjects and final output. Simultaneously, we will focus on fundamental aspects of portraiture, such as lighting, storytelling, production techniques, and historical foundations.

The course will explain the techniques and considerations involved in creating volumetric portraits. We will explore various approaches to capturing subjects, employing advanced technologies to record their presence in 3D. Students will gain proficiency in the Depth Kit system to produce high-quality volumetric portraits that can be integrated into different mediums, including game engines, augmented reality (AR), or traditional 2D outputs.

Prerequisite: Comm. Lab (IMNY-UT 102)

Topics in Fabrication: Contemporary Sculpture in the Digital Age

Maya Pollack | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.0000 | TBD Meetings:
4 Point, Art and Design (Old Structure), Elective, Fall 2024, New, Physical Computing and Experimental Interfaces (Old Structure), Spring 2025
Last updated: March 12, 2024
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Why, in an era dominated by the digital, do physical objects endure? In this fabrication course, delve into the philosophical and practical considerations that underpin the enduring significance of sculpture in an increasingly virtual world. This course not only explores the tactile and spatial dimensions of sculpture but also prompts a critical inquiry into the unique qualities of physicality and how this not only persists but responds to our digital age. Throughout the semester, students will develop practical skills in class sessions, engaging in a variety of material studies and projects. They will produce three formal, finished, and meticulously documented works, drawing from the diverse materials and forms available in the ITP/IMA Shop. Including woodworking, metalworking, mold making, vacuum forming, laser cutting, spray painting, finishes, and 3D sewing/soft sculpture. Students are welcome to integrate skills, materials, and techniques acquired from other classes. In addition to hands-on studio prompts, students engage in class discussions, critiques, and gallery visits.  Assignments are designed to build art making skills, and explore the conceptual and formal properties of sculpture. This course aims to foster a deep engagement between individual making and the context it resides within theory, art and tech history, prompting students to consider how the technological revolution has reshaped our understanding of physical spaces and experiences, and the role sculpture can play to examine, reflect, and create the world today.

Topics in Media Art: eTextiles & Physical Computing

Staff | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.0000 | TBD Meetings:
2 Point, Elective, Fall 2024, New, Spring 2025
Last updated: March 11, 2024
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The eTextiles and Physical Computing course will focus on the practical application of electronics in textiles. Students will learn by doing, spending their time building circuits, soldering, programming, learning various textile construction techniques, and integrating sensors and controls into fabrics. The course aims to teach how both physical computing and textile technical skills to create interactive textile projects.

Prerequisite: Creative Computing (IMNY-UT 101)

In this course, eTextiles are a major focus. Students will learn to incorporate electronic circuits into textiles using conductive materials like fabrics, yarns, and threads. The curriculum will cover various topics through hands-on applications — for example, students will create fabric RFID tags with conductive fabrics while learning about electromagnetism and electronic components. Additionally, topics will include (but is not limited to)  555 timers, fabric speakers, analog soft circuits, sewing, weaving, and more, giving students a comprehensive understanding of how to create and use electronic textiles.

Topics in Media Art: Politics of Code

Joerg Blumtritt | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.260 | Mon 12:20pm to 3:20pm in Meetings:14
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2024, IMA Major Elective, New, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Studies/Seminar (Old Structure), Tech and Society (New Structure)
Last updated: October 20, 2023
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Current description based on NYUAD iteration of the course (https://github.com/jbenno/nyuad_politics_of_code). Please be advised this is in the process of being-updated by the instructor.

Deconstructing the design and implementation of software as a political medium and re-building functional alternatives.

Code is political. It is a means of political processes and activism. It is political inherently by the ethical choices often hidden in the black box of The Algorithm. In the course we aim to deconstruct the design, implementation, and data of software as a political medium. We will work through political applications such as simulations, ownership of intangible assets, predictive policing, algorithmic recommendations, suggestions, and filters, social networks, and the blockchain.

Along with an introduction to the related political theory and media studies, students will work on several hands-on projects to offer actual or speculative alternatives to the existing systems. To that end, this course will include several workshops in JavaScript, Python, and other tools.

Topics in Media Art: Shared Minds

Dan O'Sullivan | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.260 | Wed 12:20pm to 3:20pm in Meetings:14
4 Point, Computation and Data (Old Structure), Elective, Fall 2024, IMA Major Elective, New, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Last updated: October 20, 2023
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What capabilities does computational media have for depicting and conveying the experience of our minds? In using the new possibilities of machine learning networks to create media, what should we take or leave from cinema, social media and virtual reality?

In this course we will start out by turning inward to reflect on how our mind transcends time and space and how artificial neural networks might better capture the multidimensional space of our thought. We then turn to using cloud networking and databases to share our thinking with other people across time and space. Finally we need to flatten everything back into 4D interfaces that, while being stuck in time and space, can reach our embodied, emotional and experiential ways of understanding of the world.

The class will operate at a conceptual level, inviting students’ empirical, psychological and philosophical investigations of the nature of their experience and how to convey it with art and story. It will ask students to look critically at existing computational media’s tendencies to bore, misinform, divide or inflame its users.

But this is also very much a coding class where students will prototype their own ideas for new forms of media first with machine learning models like Stable Diffusion using Huggingface APIs or Colab notebooks, and then with networking and databases using Firebase or P5 Live Media, and finally with 3D graphics using the threejs library. Students can substitute other coding tools but game engines will not work for this class. The coding is in javascript, with touches of python, and is a natural sequel to Creative Computing.

Topics in Computation and Data: Nature of Code

Lenin Compres | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.220 | Thur 5:20pm to 8:20pm in Meetings:14
4 Point, Computation and Data (Old Structure), Elective, Fall 2024, IMA Major Elective, New, Programming and Data (New Structure), Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Last updated: October 20, 2023
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Can we capture the unpredictable evolutionary and emergent properties of nature in software? Can understanding the mathematical principles behind our physical world help us to create digital worlds? This class focuses on the programming strategies and techniques behind computer simulations of natural systems. We explore topics ranging from basic mathematics and physics concepts to more advanced simulations of complex systems. Subjects covered include physics simulation, trigonometry, self-organization, genetic algorithms, and neural networks. Examples are demonstrated in JavaScript using p5.js.

Prerequisites: Creative Computing

Instructor Daniel Shiffman Website: https://natureofcode.com/

Topics in Media Art: The Art of Perception

Duncan Figurski | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.281 | Tues 10:40am to 12:10pm in > Thur 10:40am to 12:10pm in Meetings:7-First Half
2 Point, Elective, Fall 2024, IMA Major Elective, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), New, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Studies/Seminar (Old Structure)
Last updated: October 20, 2023
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“How does our auditory and visual perception influence our understanding and interaction with the world? In this course, we will delve into the science and application of these senses, employing this knowledge as a foundation to create new works and challenge our perception of familiar ones.

Each week, we will dissect a particular aspect of our senses, investigate works that have capitalized on this understanding, and produce new creations that stretch the boundaries of our sensory comprehension. Drawing on fields from cognitive psychology to media theory, from psychoacoustics to philosophy, this highly interdisciplinary course will pull from a breadth of research to form a holistic perspective on how we perceive the world.

This course will be technology agnostic, instead emphasizing a format based on critique, any technical aspects will be taught in online tutorials outside of class. Students should be comfortable with sharing and discussing their work in class.”

Topics in Media Art: Generative Art with the Unity Game Engine

Dave Stein | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.281 | Tues 10:40am to 12:10pm in > Thur 10:40am to 12:10pm in Meetings:7-Second Half
2 Point, Computation and Data (Old Structure), Elective, Fall 2024, IMA Major Elective, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), New, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Last updated: October 20, 2023
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This course will provide an overview of important topics of generative art. On a weekly basis we will cover a new topic, review examples of work within this topic and discuss their influence in generative artworks as well as in a broader art context.

In addition, we cover the fundamental concepts of the C# programming language and its application within the Unity game engine. C# is a widely used, very fast and efficient programming language and can perform significantly faster than P5 and Processing. As such, creating generative art projects using Unity and C# will make our projects faster with higher definition and larger detail than a typical Javascript sketch.

This course is designed for students who want to continue their creative coding practice and are interested in more advanced coding techniques while building their knowledge of C# and Unity. Students should have a solid understanding of programming concepts such as arrays, classes and objects and be comfortable with creative coding (such as with P5).

Fluid Bodies

Snow Fu | Syllabus | IMNY-UT.0260 | Thur 2:00pm to 5:45pm in Meetings:14
4 Point, Elective, Fall 2024, IMA Major Elective, Media and Entertainment (Old Structure), New, No Tags, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Last updated: October 20, 2023
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Digital Bodies is an intermediate 3D imaging studio course that examines and explores the current technological applications and conceptual implications of post-photographic digital human simulations. We will regularly study the work that deals with digital bodies by contemporary artists and photographers such as LaTurbo Avedon, Chen Man, Quentin Deronzier, Hyphen-lab, Hayoun Kwon, and Gregory Bennett, and many digital art platforms in various categories, such as artificial human imaging, digital fashion models, and deepfake. We will be discussing the various theories relating to the idea of cyborgs and post-human conditions. Students will be learning 3D imaging skills for building, scanning, appropriating, and customizing prefabricated body models from multiple resources, exploring their movements that both imitate and go beyond the limits of reality and expanding conceptual themes. Besides the technical exercises, students are encouraged to create semester-long self-directed research and a final project using the imaging technology they’ve learned. Artist visits, field trips, and exhibition visits will also be arranged online or according to the public health safety situation. The exhibition of the student’s final projects will be arranged at the end of the semester. *The class is suitable for students with basic skills of 3D imaging in Maya.