4.344 U / 4.345 G

Advanced Photography and Related Media is a studio seminar course that addresses Historical Memory and the Politics of Representation. 

The course is designed for students who wish to explore photography and related media as tools for artistic practice. Students are encouraged to explore analog, digital and new technologies while researching and studying the history of photography, film, art and visual culture at large.

Through lectures, readings, film screenings, student-driven projects, guest lecturers’ presentations and critique sessions, students experiment with a range of artistic strategies. Throughout the semester, they engage in cross-disciplinary research and work on a project individually or collaboratively. 

On a weekly basis, students discuss theoretical texts related to various artistic practices, cutting across a range of media and various historical contexts. Students are encouraged to work with a diversity of media and formats, including film, video, sculpture, multimedia installations etc., providing images/photography remain central to their projects. 

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version. Equipment available for checkout.

4.344/4.345 Syllabus (MIT Certificate Required)

Seminar connecting the arts and sciences by exploring methodological similarities and differences across disciplines: arts/architecture, humanities/social sciences, engineering, natural and material sciences et al. Aimed at fostering student collaborations across research interests: students develop their ideas for projects through targeted analysis of their disciplinary and interdisciplinary  interests. Each student will either enter with a project in mind, or develop their project ideas within the class. Students can choose to work individually or in groups.

This seminar’s goal to provide blueprints for developing interdisciplinary projects: final is a paper/ plan with goals/outcomes forming the basis for collaborative interdisciplinary projects.  Examples of such projects: artwork that makes use of cross-species communication, (Tomás Saraceno); project engaging the natural sciences, composed of material that endlessly transform, simultaneously functioning as an artwork, (Neri Oxman).

First half semester is targeted reading (articles) across disciplines – based in student interests – alongside discussion of case studies of successful collaborations in these disciplines. Analyzing case studies plus reading will enable an understanding of methodological specificities in different disciplines in relation to aesthetics and fabrication issues, and directly in context of the particular disciplines under consideration. Together this fosters reciprocal knowledge of the strengths and differences across disciplines. Case studies drawn from MIT’s history: CAST and CAVS, and from across the global ‘artworld’. Second half semester will be geared toward aiding students in better connecting across disciplines at MIT (and possibly beyond). This is trial and error, of course. However, final project, as a working plan for interdisciplinary collaboration, will provide the knowledge base and research skills applicable to future projects.
 

Explores the theory and criticism of intersections between art, culture, and technology in relation to contemporary artistic practice, critical design, and media. Students consider methods of investigation, documentation, and display and explore modes of communication across disciplines. Students develop projects in which they organize research methods and goals, engage in production, cultivate a context for their practice, and explore how to compellingly communicate, display, and document their work. Regular presentation and peer-critique sessions, as well as reviews involving ACT faculty and fellows, and external guest reviewers provide students with ample feedback as their projects develop.

4.390 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)

Series of tutorials that includes regular presentations of student writing in group critiques and supports independent thesis research and development by providing guidance on research strategy and written presentation. Sessions supplemented by regular individual conferences with thesis committee members.

4.389 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)

Introduces foundational texts in contemporary theory and criticism at the intersection of art, culture, and technology. Through presentations and discussions, students explore the necessary methodological perspectives required of an interdisciplinary approach to artistic practices. 

4.387 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)

4.373 U / 4.374 G

The intricate qualities of an object's color, luster, and texture are created by its nanoscale properties, including taste, smell, stickiness, transparency, and many other facets of a unique object design. These characteristics can be tailored and exquisitely shaped by influencing the nanoparticles. In this process, visualization and conceptual imagination play a pivotal role, with decisive microscopes and computer simulations becoming crucial for forming and visually interpreting a novel way of observing the uncovered knowledge.

Through this class, ACT (Art, Culture, and Technology program) and MIT.nano, driven by imagination and investigation, intertwine nanoscience and nanotechnology with toolsets and visualization methods that manipulate matter at an atomic and molecular scale to extend the bounds of what art and culture exploration can lead us to. MIT recognized this unique overlap between art and science a long time ago. The CAVS (Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT), founded by Professor Gyorgy Kepes in 1967, brought artists to collaborate with MIT scientists and engineers in probing "vision in motion" – new ways of imagining a fast-changing world altered by the proliferation of new technologies. This class is determined to set a milestone for reviving this collaboration for a new era.

After the first two weeks of introductory lectures and tours of Nano facilities and affiliated labs, the students will collaborate closely with two dedicated TA scientists to gain access to knowledge necessary for their individual or collaborative projects. The class plans to collaborate with two labs. We will provide a list of scientific papers related to the lab research and schedule training on specific lab equipment. Some spaces and equipment will be accessible to students directly and some through dedicated TAs. The art students' goal will be to understand a lab environment and the scientific methods used in the lab’s day-to-day work. On top of this understanding, the students will be asked to develop their own proposals for art projects which will be displayed in an exhibition at the MIT Nano building in the Spring 2023 semester.

Additional work required of students taking graduate version. 

4.373/4.374 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)

4.356 U / 4.357 G

What do the words “cinematic” and “migration” evoke? What does the conjunction evoke? How is “cinematic” being defined here? How is “migration” being defined here? How are both being thought in relation to each other?

Desire for cinema perhaps existed before its creation. Questions regarding this speculation and the variety of ways this longing has been addressed in the past and present form the basis of inquiry in this workshop.

The course explores how cinema has been transformed in and by online video and television, spatial installations, performance and dance, and an expanding range of formats and portable devices, as well as the theory and content of how cinema is categorized, disseminated, and analyzed. This workshop is meant to stimulate further experiments in transdisciplinary forms and to broaden students’ perception of cinema in the present.

The workshop will include explorations of the emergence of cinemas on local and national levels that have migrated through the world to varying effect. Readings will include philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s Cinema 1: The Movement Image, and Cinema 2: The Time Image. We will be screening and discussing films by film makers and artists such as: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Chris Marker, John Akomfrah, Harun Farocki, Chantal Akerman, Lucrecia Martel, Ousmane Sembene, Jia Zhangke, Agnes Varda, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Renee Green and Yvonne Rainer. Students are encouraged to produce time-based work in forms adapted to their interests.

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version. 

4.356/4.357 Syllabus (MIT Certificate protected)