This course guides students in reflecting upon issues relating to interactivity in the context of contemporary media art and towards making meaningful interventions within this field. It highlights examples of contemporary art from a wide variety of media to expose students to the wide range of techniques, issues and approaches evident in interactive art. Issues surrounding digital art will be explored through readings, the study of artworks in historical context and the creation of works of interactive art. Students are taught to negotiate ongoing debates and artistic frameworks, while developing their own approach to interactive art practice.

Students will explore their own creativity within an artistic context.  Various approaches to generating and refining innovative ideas will be used to guide students through the creation of original works of interactive art. These creative techniques can easily be applied to other forms of creative endeavour, and will help students refine their expressive potential regardless of their field.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Identify and explain key works of interactive art,
• Evaluate and analyze interactive art within its artistic, cultural and technological contexts,
• Plan and implement rich and meaningful works of interactive art using a variety of different creative strategies, and
• Create compelling descriptions of their artistic vision and the technological requirements of their own works of art.

Delivery Method

Lecture and Lab workshops

• In lecture, students will be introduced to different approaches to interactivity in contemporary art. Students will be expected to participate in lecture activities that may include small group discussions, presentations and/or sketching. The completion of in-lecture activities will count as part of your in-lecture participation marks.

• There are no software tutorials in this course. Labs are organized as workshops. Each week students will engage in an exercise that is relevant to the weekly theme through different activities that may include small group discussions, presentations, interviews, performances, and individual sketches. Students will be required to bring different materials to lab.

• Students are required to read the weekly readings before lecture.
  

Required Materials

• Weekly reading materials available through CANVAS
• Sketchbook for In-Lab Activities

 Suggested Readings:

• Daniels, Dieter. 2008. “Strategies of Interactivity.” In The Art and Science of Interface and Interaction Design, edited by Sommerer Christa, Lakhmi C. Jain and Laurent Mignonneau, 27-62. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.
• Kwastek, Kaja. 2013. Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art. Translated by Niamh Warde. Edited by Dieter Daniels and Niamh Warde. Cambrige, Mass: MIT Press.
• Kluszczynski, Ryszard W. 2010. “Strategies of interactive art.”  Journal of Aesthetics & Culture 2 (1). doi: https://doi.org/10.3402/jac.v2i0.5525.
• Erkki Huhtmao, “Trouble at the Interface: Or the Identity Crisis of Interactive Arts”
• Moser, Mary Anne, and Douglas Macleod. 1996. Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
• Edward A. Shanken, 2009. Art and Electronic Media. Themes and Movements. London: Phaidon Press.
• Nathaniel Stern, 2013. Interactive Art and Embodiment : The Implicit Body As Performance. Arts Future Book. Canterbury, UK: Gylphi Limited.
• Judy Malloy, 2003. Women, Art, and Technology. Leonardo. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
• Oliver Grau. 2003. Virtual Art : From Illusion to Immersion. Leonardo. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.