Aesthetics and politics cross paths and sometimes merge in the field of new media. Weaving together theory from Debord, Bloch, Baudrillard, and Brecht with examples of new media including The Yes Men, the Bureau of Inverse Technology, and the Barbie Liberation Organization, we will take a broad view of what constitutes new media, its syndication, Continue Reading »
From Patricia Piccinini’s sculptures to SymbioticA’s fish brain robot, many visionary artists are focused on the power of science and technology in culture. This course will offer an overview of artworks that use and critique science and technology, with an eye to how we can study these works and think about the tasks these pieces Continue Reading »
What is science? What is art? Are they two separate worlds? Or two cultures in the same world? Do they divide up this world? Is there anything outside of these two comprehensive realms? To get a grasp on these big issues, we will read and write about four themes: Representing Nature in Art and Science, Continue Reading »
From cabinets of curiosity to the charts and graphs that are central to scientific publications, science goes about the work of representation. Beginning with objects and models, two familiar forms of representation in science, this course will unpack science’s multifaceted relationship with representation. In “Modes of Representation: Visualization and Quantification,” we will consider the images Continue Reading »
Using Blade Runner, Steampunk short stories, Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams, Romantic poetry, and a Victorian fairy tale, this course will analyze poetry, new media, novels, short stories, and films inspired by nature, biology, robotics, physics, space, and more. Themes will include the politics of science and technology, technological determinism, the relationship between popular and technical Continue Reading »
