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01/29/2013

TEACHING: "GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames" (CCA, Spring 2013)

Last but not least, here is the abridged syllabus for GameScenes: Art in the Age of Videogames, my new course at California College of the Arts.

  

GameScenes: Art in the Age of Videogames

VISST-300-09

Visual Studies Program

California College of the Arts

Spring Semester 2013

Instructor: Matteo Bittanti

Meeting Place & Time: San Francisco Campus, Graduate Building, GC1

Mondays 4:00 - 7:00 PM

Start Date: January 28, 2013

End Date: May 06, 2013

Office hours: I am available to students for consultations by appointment


Table of contents

1. Course Description
       1.1 Course Format and Requirements
       1.2 Learning Outcomes

2. Bibliography

    2.1 Required Texts
    2.2 Course Blog
    2.3 Recommended/Optional Texts

3. Assignments Overview

    3.1 Final Project 
    3.2 Final Project Proposal
    3.3 Final Project Presentation
    3.4 Evaluation Criteria

4. Class Discussions & “Ten Minute Lectures”

5. Measurement of Student Performance

6 Classroom Conduct & Attendance Guidelines
       6.1 Policy on Academic Honesty

7. Schedule
  7.1 Important dates


1. Course Description

GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames investigates the relationship between art and videogames. It examines a variety of artistic interventions inspired by video games or explicitly employing game-based digital technology, including the use of patched or modified video games or the repurposing of existing games and/or game mechanics. GameScenes also examines the influence of gaming - both digital and traditional on painting, sculpture, street and graffiti art, performance, visual culture, and sampling/remix culture. During the course of the semester we will critique art games, machinima, in-game interventions, and performances, site-specific installations, site-relative mods, but also board games, simulations, and toys. Course topics include sexual and political representation, ideology and politics in game-based artworks, Game Art criticism and the interplay between games, Modern Art and Contemporary Art.

1.1 Class Format & Requirements
Classes will consist of lectures, screenings of videos and documentaries, in-class exercises and discussions, online contributions, and student presentations. Students are required to read and discuss different texts, give formal presentations, submit a detailed proposal, write and present in class a critical paper.

Attendance is mandatory. Students are required to attend the full length of all classes. Students are expected to come to class with the reading/viewing done and demonstrate ability to participate appropriately - that is, using the pertinent critical terminology - in a seminar-style intellectual community. All papers, assignments, presentations, and final projects must be completed on time and in full. No exceptions. Try to think of class meetings as a resource session in which you can get  your questions answered and at the same time, learn what concerns are driving your colleagues.

Please note that GameScenes carries a significant workload. If you plan to attend this course be prepared to devote several hours per week.

1.2 Learning Outcomes
1. Students will develop a general understanding of videogame-based art:
a. Understand the history, vocabulary, taxonomies, and methods of Game Art;
b. Understand how Game Art addresses issues such as the representation of identity and difference;
c. Recognize the interdisciplinary nature of Game Art and the larger cultural, theoretical/ideological and historical context in which the visual artifacts under consideration are created and received.
2. Students will develop skills for analyzing game-based and game-inspired artworks from a visual and critical perspective:
a. Ethics: Recognize how game-based artistic interventions comment upon such themes as war, sex, religion, ideology etc.
b. Critical Analysis: Use principles of art criticism to analyze game-based and game-inspired artworks:
c. Cultural Diversity: Develop an understanding of cultural diversity in relation to the representation of sex, class, gender and power in Game Art.
3. Students will develop projects and class presentations using ideas and concepts discussed throughout the semester:
a. Research: Engage in research and organize content in a clear, concise, and cogent manner;
b. Visual Literacy: Demonstrate the ability to analyze and compare artworks using principles of art criticism and visual studies;
c. Written, Oral, Visual Communication: Present projects in a professional manner as a final paper and an oral presentation with visual images.


2. Bibliography

2.1 Required books:

  • Flanagan, Mary. Critical Play. Radical Game Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2009.
  • Clarke, Andy and Grethe Mitchell. Videogames and Art. Chicago: Intellect Books. 2007.
Additional essays/texts/videos/documentaries – both required and optional – will be posted on the password-protected course blog.

We will also read chapters and essays included in the following books:
  • Becker, Howard. Art Worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1982.
  • Bittanti, Matteo & Lowood, Henry (Eds.), Machinima! Theories. Practices. Conversations. Milan: Edizioni Unicopli, 2013. 237-251.
  • Getsy, David (Ed.). From Diversion to Subversion: Games, Play, and Twentieth-Century Art, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2011
  • Dunbar, Elizabeth. Not So Cute and Cuddly: Dolls and Stuffed Toys in Contemporary Art. Ulrich Museum of Art. 2003.
  • Galloway, Alexander. Gaming. Essays on Algorithmic Culture (Electronic Mediations). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2006.
  • Gelber, Steven M. Hobbies. Leisure and the Culture of Work in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.
  • Lowood, Henry and Nitsche, Michael (Eds.). The Machinima Reader. Cambridge, MA; MIT Press. 2010.  
  • Sihvonen, Tanjia. Players Unleashed! Modding The Sims and the Culture of Gaming, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press. 2011.
  • Stals, Jose L., Bordes, Juan & Perez, Carlos (Eds). Toys of the Avant-Garde, New York: Hudson Hills, 2010.
  • Stevens. Quentin. Play and the Urban Realm, in The Ludic City. Exploring the potential of public spaces. London: Routledge. 2007.

2.2 Gamescenes Blog
In addition to the password-protected course blog, throughout the semester, we will use the GameScenes.org blog for purposes of criticism, analysis, and discussion. Students are encouraged to navigate the archives to find inspiration about possible topics for their final project.  

2.3 Recommended/optional texts:
  • Bittanti, Matteo & Quaranta, Domenico. GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames. Milan: Johan & Levi, 2006.
  • Catlow, Ruth, Garrett, Marc and Morgana, Corrado (Eds.). Artists Re: Thinking Games. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2010.
  • Homo Ludens Ludens, Laboral Centro De Arte y Creacion Industrial, exhibition catalogue, 2007-2008. 
  • Playware, Laboral Centro De Arte, Laboral Centro D’Arte y Creacion Industrial, exhibition catalogue, 2007-2008.

3. Written Assignments Overview
Throughout the semester, students will be required to give two presentations and submit two kinds of written assignments. Specifically:
1) Final Project proposal (4 pages);
2) Final project (10 page minimum essay).

3.1  Final Project (May 6 2013)
Students are required to write an essay of 3500-4000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography. The paper is designed to help students reflect, analyze, and discuss core themes and ideas encountered in GameScenes, engaging with primary and secondary materials, and develop a background in the area that will allow students to pursue more in-depth research projects in the future, e.g. a thesis or a dissertation.

The essay must be critical in nature, that is, analytical and interpretative and not merely descriptive. In order to successfully complete this task, student will be required to deploy research and close visual analysis in the development of a thesis that reflects independent thought about Game Art in a ten page paper utilizing the conventions of scholarly writing, literate English and no less than six legitimate sources.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

- A critical assessment of a series of works by a single artist discussed throughout the semester;
- An in-depth critical examination of a single game-based or game-inspired artwork.
- A comparative analysis of several game-based or game-inspired artworks focusing on a specific subject (e.g. war, religion, sex, space, time, identity, death, etc.) or share the same medium (e.g. video, game mod, painting, photography, installation, sculpture etc.);
- A critical examination of Game Art genres, their genesis and evolution.
- An investigation on the different approaches, styles, rhetoric, strengths, and weaknesses of Game Art criticism.
- A comparative analysis between videogame-based art practices and other forms of technologically-driven form of art (e.g. digital art, net art etc.)

Examples for each category will be provided on the blog.
For the Final Project, students are expected to use the essays discussed in class as a starting point for a poignant investigation, but they are also expected to gather, evaluate, and integrate additional information. Students are also encouraged to include images in the final paper, but only to make a point, not for mere decorative purposes. Images must be referenced and discussed in the text. Additionally, all images must be properly accompanied with credits and captions.  

Technical requirements: The Final Paper is a document of 3500-4000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography. It must be formatted in Chicago Style and use the following parameters: Arial Font, Size 12, Spacing 1.5.  For the electronic version, the paper must be saved as a .RTF or .DOC format. Other formats, e.g. .PDF, are not acceptable.

Submission methods: The final paper must be submitted in two ways: 1) as a printed document - yes, on good old fashioned paper! - handed brevi manu to the instructor on the last day of class and as 2) an electronic file, sent to the instructor via email no later than 4 pm on May 6, 2013. Late papers will not be accepted. Failure to submit the paper on time in both printed and electronic format will result in a “F” grade.

The final paper requires a Proposal and a literature review.

3.2 Final Project Proposal (April 1 2013)
Students must submit a 1500 word page proposal that provides a detailed description of the final project and outlines plans for research as well as relevant questions and concerns. Like any solid proposal (for a grant or exhibition), this proposal should be persuasive and demonstrate why this project is creative, compelling and worth pursuing. The four essential elements of the proposal are:

1. A title, subtitle, and description of your object of study, its significance, and the key issues or questions you want to address in your research. Do you have a novel approach or hypothesis? If so, describe it.

2. A concise, tightly-focused review of the scholarly literature on your topic. What are the most significant scholarly contributions in your area of investigation? You must explain how your work will relate to the works you cite.

3. A brief discussion of research methods. What kind of research methods will you use to answer the questions you have posed or to test your hypothesis? Why are those the methods best suited for this case? What will they allow you to discover? Do you need any special resources to complete your research?

4. A timetable. What are the key parts of your project (research, writing, etc.) and by when will you have them completed? What are the milestones?  

Technical requirements:  The Final Project Proposal  is a 1500 word document excluding footnotes and bibliography. It must be formatted in Chicago Style and use the following parameters: Arial Font, Size 12, Spacing 1.5.  For the electronic version, the paper must be saved as a .RTF or .DOC format. Other formats, e.g. .PDF, are not acceptable.

Submission methods: The final paper must be submitted in two ways: 1) as a printed document - yes, on good old fashioned paper! - handed brevi manu to the instructor on on April 1, 2013; and as 2) an electronic file, sent to the instructor via email no later than 4 pm on April 1, 2013.

A graded/reviewed version of the document will be returned to the student within a week.

Tip: It is essential to discuss your ideas with the instructor before developing and submitting full proposal. It is also a very good idea to look ahead in the syllabus and get started early.

On April 22 2013, we will have an in-class discussion, workshop and individual meeting related to your final project. Bring your essay drafts and work-in-progress material for review.

3.3 Final Project Presentations (April 29 and May 6, 2013)

During the last two weeks of the semester (April 29 and May 6, 2013) students will give a 20 minute* formal/professional presentations of their final projects. These presentations must include visual material and should make full use of presentation tools such as Keynote, Powerpoint, SlideRocket, Prezi or other available digital tools. The presentations will be followed by questions and class discussion. Students are required to make appropriate arrangements for showing visual material in advance.  Students are expected to use their own computer equipment for the presentation: the instructor will not provide a laptop. All students are required to attend both presentation days. Presentation resources, including tools and tutorials, are available on the course blog.

No make-up presentations.

* Exact duration of presentation TBD - based on overall number of enrolled students.

3.4 Evaluation Criteria

Written assignments will be evaluated on the basis of the Visual Studies Assessment Grid (available here: Download Visual Studies Assessment Grid) which includes the following criteria: thorough research; clear, logical, and original arguments; critical and creative analysis of visual material supported by visual examples; serious effort, preparation, and engagement in the subject matter.

Visual presentations will be evaluated on the basis of the students ability to look critically and express their ideas in oral and visual form. The assessment guide is available here: Download Visual Presentation Rubric

Each area of assessment corresponds to the following numeric evaluation:
1   insufficient
2   developing skills
3   proficient skills
4   exceptional skills

4. Class discussions & “Ten Minute Lectures”
One of the primary goals of this class is to help the students develop a critical eye. This class presents elements of both seminar and lecture courses. As such, students will be asked to provide relevant input, during discussions and in-class critiques. Moreover, each week, two students will be asked to lead, present, and moderate a class conversation. To do it effectively, students will need to be able to summarize the key ideas of the assigned reading and suggest how they relate to our ongoing dialogue. Students will also need propose questions for subsequent discussions. Students are strongly encouraged to prepare a formal presentation using the most appropriate medium at their disposal for the task (Prezi, Sliderocket, Concept Maps, video, slideshows etc).

5. Measurement of Student Performance

The final grade for the course will be determined by evaluation in the following are:
  1. Attendance, In-Class 10m Presentation and Participation    25%
  2. Final Project Proposal    15%
  3. Final Project Paper    40%
  4. Final Project Presentation    20%

5. Classroom Conduct & Attendance Guidelines

 

1) Promptness is a basic requirement. Persistent lateness lowers your class participation grade considerably. Three unjustified late arrivals (>10 minutes) will be counted as one absence.

2) The use of all electronic devices, gadgets, and gizmos - including smart phones - during class is not permitted. Note-taking on a laptop is not allowed. Please wait for the break to make phone calls, texting or to use the internet. Computers may only be used for students' presentations. In class texting will automatically result in a lower grade.

3) Sleeping, chatting in the back of the room, reading external materials, working on external projects during the class session - any of these can result in immediate ejection from the class.

4) If more than one class is missed due to illness, students must submit written verification from a physician and notify professor via e-mail or in writing immediately. Written medical documents must be submitted within two weeks of an absence. CCA has a college-wide attendance policy that3 unexcused absences can be cause for failing the course. In addition, 3 "lates" equal to an absence.

5) Students are not allowed to eat during class.

6) There are no make-up presentations and assignments.

7) Students who miss a class must collect the material discussed in class. In most cases, such material will be available on the class blog. At any rate, always make sure to contact the instructor via email about the availability of such materials.

Thank you for your cooperation!

6.1 Policy on Academic Honesty

Academic Integrity Code & Plagiarism: CCA has an Academic Integrity Code stated in our Student Handbook and plagiarism is clearly prohibited. Consequences for plagiarism can range from re-doing the assignment from scratch, to failing the course and dismissal from the college. Please read the following excerpt very carefully:

“The reputation of a university and the value of its degrees rest upon the study and research carried on at that institution.  The policy for maintaining academic honesty is:

A. Each student is responsible for performing academic tasks in such a way that honesty is not in question.

B. Unless an exception is specifically defined by an instructor, students are expected to maintain the following standards of integrity:

1. All tests, term papers, oral and written assignments are to be the work of the student presenting the material for course credit.

2. Any paraphrase, quotation, or summary (that is, any use of words, ideas, or findings of other persons, writers, or researchers) requires explicit citation of the source.

3. Deliberately supplying material to another student for purposes of plagiarism (to take and pass off as one's own ideas, writings, or work of another) is dishonest.

C. Each instructor is responsible for a learning environment supportive of academic honesty.

1. If a faculty member has reason to suspect academic dishonesty in or out of class, the faculty member should require additional and/or revised work that is unquestionably the work of the student.

2. A faculty member who has proof that academic honesty has been violated should take appropriate disciplinary action, which may include refusal of course credit.

3. A faculty member shall bring to the attention of the Vice President, Academic Affairs, all violations of academic honesty.  The Vice President may place on probation, suspend, or expel any student who violates the policy on academic honesty.” (CCA Academic Integrity Code)



7. Schedule

This schedule is tentative and may change as needed.

Links, audiovisual material, and additional texts will be added on the blog on a weekly basis.



Week 1. Monday, January 28, 2013

  • Introduction to GameScenes: Themes, Goals, Requirements
  • Syllabus Walkthrough

Week 2. Monday, February 4, 2013
THE DEFINITION(S) GAME: GAME/ART/GAME ART

Required Reading:
  • Flanagan, Mary. “Introduction to Critical Play” in Critical Play. Radical Game Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2009. 1-17. 
  • Huizinga, Johan. “Play-Forms in Art” in Homo Ludens, London: Routledge. 1955 [1938]. 158-173. 
  • Becker, Howard. “ArtWorlds and Collective Activity” in Art Worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1982: 1-40. 
  • McLuhan, Marshall. “Games” in Understanding Media. The Extension of Man. New York: McGraw Hill. 1964:  234-246.
  • Stockburger, Axel. “From Appropriation to Approximation”. in Clarke, Andy and Grethe Mitchell. Videogames and Art. Chicago: Intellect Books. 2007. 25-38.
Recommended reading:
  • Betts, Tom. “Game Art: Theory, Communities, Resources”. in various authors, Digital Artists Handbook, 2007-2009. 

Week 3. Monday, February 11, 2013
DOMESTIC CHORES

Required Reading:
  • Flanagan, Mary. “Playing House” in Critical Play. Radical Game Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2009. 17-63.
  • Dick, Philip D., “The Days of Perky Pat”, Amazing Magazine, 1963.
  • Gelber, Steven M. “Occupations for Free Time” in Hobbies. Leisure and the Culture of Work in America. 23-58.
  • Sihvonen, Tanjia, “Negotiating the Code”, in Players Unleashed! Modding The Sims and the Culture of Gaming, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press. 2011. 123-157.
  • Jansson, Mathias, “Britney Spears Pink Villa. Machinima and Contemporary Art in the works by Chris Howlett” in Bittanti, Matteo & Lowood, Henry (Eds.), Machinima! Theories. Practices. Dialogues. Milan: Edizioni Unicopli, 2013. 237-251.
Focus on: 

Week 4. Monday, February 18, 2013
THE ART OF BOARD GAMES

Required reading:
  • Flanagan, Mary. “Board Games” in Critical Play. Radical Game Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2009. 63-117
  • Naumann, Francis & Bailey. Bradley, Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess, Readymade Press, 2009. 5-45.
  • Szerlip, Alexandra. “Colossal in Scale, Appalling in Complexity”, The Believer, May 2012. 15-22.
In class screening:
  • Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story (Zachari Levi, 2010, US, excerpts)
  • “A Game of Chess With Marcel Duchamp” (N/A, 1963, France, excerpts).
  • Handy (Jam) Organization, “To The New Horizons” (USA, 1940, excerpts)

Week 5. Monday, February 25, 2013
LANGUAGE GAMES

Required Reading:
  • Flanagan, Mary. “Language Games” in Critical Play. Radical Game Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2009. 117 - 149.
  • Temkin, Daniel & Manon, Hugh. “Notes on Glitch”, World Picture Journal, no. 6, Winter 2011. 1-15.

Recommended Reading:

  • Krapp, Peter, Noise Channels: Glitch and Error in Digital Culture, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011.
Focus on: 
In class screening:
  • Knappenberger, Brian. We Are Legion: We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists (US, 2012, excerpts).
  • Jason Scott, Get Lamp. The Text Adventure Documentary (US, 2010)

Week 6. Monday, March 4, 2013
TOYS, GAMES AND LUDIC ARTIFACTS

Required Reading:
  • Flanagan, Mary. “Performative Games and Objects” in Critical Play. Radical Game Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2009. 117 - 149
  • Hoch, Medea. “Toys and Art. Interdependency in the Modern Age”, in Stals, Jose L., Bordes, Juan & Perez, Carlos (Eds). Toys of the Avant-Garde, New York: Hudson Hills, 2010. 107-135.
  • Barthes, Roland. “Toys” in Mythologies. New York: Hill & Wang. 1972: 52-56.
  • Bazzano-Nelson, Florencia. “Subversive Toys. The Art of Liliana Porter” in Getsy, David. From Diversion to Subversion: Games, Play, and Twentieth-Century Art, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2011. 130-146.
Focus on:
  • Playful interventions: Maurizio Cattelan, Mike Kelley.
  • Dioramas of death: Jake and Dinos Chapman, Brian Conley.
  • Appropriation & Subversion: Zbigniew Libera’s Concentration Camp LEGO (1996)
In class screening:
  • Haynes, Todd. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (US, 1987, excerpts)
  • Malmberg, Jeff. Marwencol (US, 2010, excerpts)
  • Brathwaite, Brenda. “Train (or How I Dumped Electricity and Learned to love Design)”, Game Developers Conference, 2010.

Week 7. Monday, March 11, 2013
URBAN PLAYGROUNDS

Required Reading:
  • Flanagan, Mary. “Artists’ Locative Games” in Critical Play. Radical Game Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2009. 117 - 149
  • Stevens. Quentin. "Play and the Urban Realm", in The Ludic City. Exploring the potential of public spaces. London: Routledge. 2007. 26-54.
  • Sadler, Simon, “A New Babylon. The City Redesigned” in The Situationist City, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998. 105-151.
Optional Reading:
  • Schleiner, Anne Marie. “Dissolving the Magic Circle of Play. Lessons from Situationist Gaming”. in Getsy, David. From Diversion to Subversion: Games, Play, and Twentieth-Century Art, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2011. 148-158.
Focus on: 
  • Vito Acconci, Following Piece (1969);
  • Serendipitor (Mark Shepard, 2012);
  • Derive (Eduardo Cachucho, 2012)

Week 8. Monday, March 18, 2013
CRITICAL GAMING & TRANSGRESSIVE PLAY

Special Guest: Henry Lowood, Stanford University

Required reading:
  • Flanagan, Mary. “Critical Computer Games” in Critical Play. Radical Game Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2009. 223-251.
  • Galloway, Alexander. “Countergaming” in Gaming. Essays on Algorithmic Culture (Electronic Mediations). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2006.107-127.
  • Cannon, Rebecca, “Meltdown” in Clarke, Andy and Mitchell, Grethe, Videogames and Art. Chicago: Intellect Books. 2007.38-54.
  • Bittanti, Matteo. “Don’t Mess With The Warriors. The Politics of Machinima” in Lowood, Henry and Nitsche, Michael (Eds.). The Machinima Reader. Cambridge, MA; MIT Press. 2010.  315-339.
Focus on:
  • Marque Cornblatt, Grand Theft Auto 4 Abider Law (2008);
  • Douglas  Edric Stanley, Invaders (2008);
  • Jason Rohrer, Passage, game, 2007;
  • Richard Hofmeier, Cart Life, game, 2010;
  • Angela Washko’s “World of Warcraft Explains Feminism”, performance, 2012;
  • anna anthropy, various games.
Screening:
  • “Into the Night With Chris Crawford and Jason Rohrer”, Arte (France/Germany, 2009, excerpts).

Week 9. Monday, March 25, 2013
  • No class: Spring Break

Week 10. Monday, April 1, 2013
MAPS, TERRITORIES & GAMESCAPES

Deadlines:
  • Final Proposal Due Today
Required Reading:
  • Brown, Sheldon, Catalog for Scalable City, 2009
  • Morgana, Corrado, “In Arcadia: Landscape filming in a toxic wasteland. Game engine affordances and post-game narratives”, Forum, Special Issue: PLAY Conference, 2008. 
  • Pozo, Diana M., “War Games at Home, Home Games at War. Geography and Military First-Person Shooting Games”. Mediascape, Winter 2012.
  • Sadler, Simon, “Formulary for a New Urbanism. Rethinking The City” in The Situationist City, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998. 69-95.
Focus on:

Week 11. Monday, April 8, 2013
GAMING THE ARTWORLD

Required reading:
  • Becker, Howard. “Aesthetics, Aestheticians, and Critics” in Art Worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1982: 131-165.
  • Bittanti, Matteo. “Higher Performance Play. Miltos Manetas, The First Machinima Maker” in Bittanti, Matteo & Lowood, Henry (Eds.), Machinima! Theories. Practices. Dialogues. Milan: Edizioni Unicopli, 2013. 175-199.
  • Cates, Jon. “Running and Gunning in the Gallery. Art Mods, Art Institutions, and the Artists Who Destroy Them”, in Getsy, David (Ed.). From Diversion to Subversion: Games, Play, and Twentieth-Century Art, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2011. 158-168.
  • Clarke, Andy. “An interview with Brody Condon”, in Clarke, Andy and Mitchell, Grethe (Eds.),Videogames and Art. Chicago: Intellect Books. 2007.85-94.
  • Winet, Jon. “The Idea of Doing Nothing. An Interview with Tobias Bernstrup”  in Clarke, Andy and Mitchell, Grethe (Eds.),Videogames and Art. Chicago: Intellect Books. 2007. 94-107.
Focus on: 

Week 12. Monday, April 15, 2013
THE ART OF WAR/GAMES

Required reading:
  • Cahn, Dean. “Dead-in-Iraq: The Spatial Politics of Digital Game Art Activism and the In-Game Protest”. In Nina B. Huntemann and Matthew Thomas Payne (Eds.) Joysticks Soldiers. The Politics of Play in Military Video Games. London: Routledge. 210. 272 - 287.
  • O'Reilly Rove, Dan. “Welcome to the Desert of the Real. A conversation with Paolo Pedercini” in Bittanti, Matteo & Lowood, Henry (Eds.), Machinima! Theories. Practices. Dialogues. Milan: Edizioni Unicopli, 2013. 237-251. 
  • Halter, Ed. “Toy Soldiers. War and Games Before Computers”, in From Sun Tzu to Xbox.War and Videogames, New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, New York 2006. 3-67.
Optional reading:
  • Chen, Irene. “Playing Against The Grain. Machinima and Military Gaming”.In Nina B. Huntemann and Matthew Thomas Payne (Eds). Joysticks Soldiers. The Politics of Play in Military Video Games. London: Routledge. 2010. 272 - 287.
  • Höglund, Johan. “Electronic Empire: Orientalism Revisited in the Military Shooter”, Games Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, September 2008.
Focus on:  

Week 13. Monday, April 22, 2013
PHOTOGRAPHY AFTER VIDEOGAMES

Deadlines:
  • Bring your essay drafts and work-in-progress material for review.
Required reading: 
  • Porenba, Cindy. “Point and Shoot. Remediating Photography in Game Spaces”. Games and Culture, January 2007, vol. 2 no. 1. 49-58. 
  • Sigl, Rainer. “The Art of In-Game Photography, Videogame Tourism, July 25 2012.
  • Bittanti, Matteo. “Game Face. Players in photographs 2001-2011”, GameScenes.org. 2011.
Focus on:

Week 14. Monday, April 29, 2013
  • Final Project Presentations (1 of 2)
  • Students are required to attend all final presentations.

Week 15. Monday, May 6, 2013
  • Final Project Presentations (2 of 2)
  • Students are required to attend all final presentations.
  • Final Projects are due on Monday May 6 at 4 PM.

7.1 Important dates

Tuesday, January 22, 2013: Spring term courses begin [CCA]

Friday, February 1, 2013: Last day to add or drop courses [CCA]

Monday, February 4, 2013: First day to withdraw from courses [CCA]

Monday-Friday, March 25-29, 2013: Spring break - no courses [CCA]

Monday, April 1, 2013: Final Project Proposal due at 4 pm [EO]

Friday, April 5, 2013: Last day to withdraw from courses [CCA]

Monday April 22, 2013: In-Class Writing discussion and individualized meetings

Monday, April 29 and May 6, 2013: Students Final Presentations  [EO]

Monday, May 6, 2013: Final Project Due at 4 pm [EO]

Friday, May 10,2013: Spring term courses end [CCA]

Posted by on 01/29/2013 in art, game art, news, teaching |

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