This seminar focuses on exploring technological textile practices to challenge and disrupt the hegemonic conceptions on art and technology, specifically on e-textile field. This seminar seeks to question the hegemonic technological tools, and the paradigms they involve, in order to create e-textile projects from a radical, critical, situated, and anticolonial perspective. Articulating textile techniques (embroidery, patchwork and sewing in general) with simple and low tech analogical electronic mechanisms (LED lights, motors, DIY loudspeakers, etc.), each student will create a e-textile piece. Electronics then will become part of the tissue: threads that conductive threads, batteries, LEDs, motors and speakers will invade the fabrics like a thread, a buttonhole or a button. The interactive and haptic aspect of the textiles, based on tactile stimuli, sonic devices, and light, will make visible political thoughts, actions and feelings. Going beyond the dominant and non-neutral narratives implies seeking into other forms of art practices to question the epistemological foundation itself. The goal of this seminar is to work from scratch in order to develop DIY, e-textile poetics, activism, techno-feminism, craftivism and social practices rooted in the territories themselves, interweaving with their own traditions, cultures and idiosyncrasies, in order to nurture resistant forms of conceiving digital and e-textile projects.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

"Art is either plagiarism or revolution" - Paul Gauguin. This studio course explores how AI’s rapid progress is challenging artists today. As we work with these exciting, terrifying new tools, we’ll discuss how artists have responded to transformative media of the past like the camera, the television, and the internet. How can we comment on the ethical concerns of AI technology? Should we change how we think about creativity? And who will the machines replace? 

Students will experiment with new tools as they are released throughout the semester, as well as interview machine learning researchers and digital artists. Authors include: Walter Benjamin, Ray Kurzweil, Harold Cohen, N. Katherine Hayles, and Ted Chiang. No coding experience is required. 

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

‘Camouflage as Praxis: Now You See Me Now You’ is a course exploring the forms, uses, and potentials of camouflage (or invisibility) as a strategy deployed by marginalized communities in the face of dominant hegemonies that seek to detect and disempower us. Grappling with the nuanced politics of representation and carefully unpacking the potential pitfalls and advantages of visibility, this course asks students to confront their own relationships with being in/visible, and create work from this place of definition/obscurity. 

The course considers various figures such as the undercommons (Fred Moten & Stefano Harney), Ditto (the formless pokémon), Banksy (the anonymous artist), and cuttlefish (camouflaging cephalopods), among others, to uncover what it means to cover and make visible what it means to be invisible. Readings include excerpts from Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility, For Opacity by Edouard Glissant, and Undrowned by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.

While course content will focus on film/video, animation, photography, and installation works, this course is interdisciplinary, and invites creative practitioners and scholars from all backgrounds and disciplines to consider how concepts of il/legibility apply to their chosen disciplines.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

This studio course explores the creation of interactive experiences that integrate digital fabrication and physical computing to address some aspect of wellbeing and daily lifestyle. By combining physical computing, digital fabrication, and sensory design, students will design interactive physical systems using speculative and interdisciplinary methodologies. Through in-class assignments, team projects, and critiques, students will develop and refine their technical and conceptual skills. The course culminates in a final team project focused on speculative design. Students will develop project proposals, pitch their ideas, and bring them to life through tangible prototypes, complemented by films and comprehensive documentation.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00

Elective

Sonic Practices is a graduate-level research group focused on acoustic, electronic, and/or computer-based means of sound production and reception. Participants explore audio culture and technology while developing experimental approaches to composition, performance, recording, and/or listening. Areas of investigation include, but are not limited to: audio programming languages, embedded/mobile computing for sound and music, spatial audio, sound synthesis, audio electronics, sonification and auditory display, electroacoustic music composition and improvisation, field recording and soundscape studies, sound installation and performance, and sonic interaction design. Each semester, course content changes in response to a new unifying theme upon which students base individual and team-based research projects. Meetings consist of discussions, workshops, critiques, and collaborations that support students' individual inquiries, the exchange of ideas, and the exploration of research methodologies.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 - $200.00

Elective

Sonic Practices is a graduate-level research group focused on acoustic, electronic, and/or computer-based means of sound production and reception. Participants explore audio culture and technology while developing experimental approaches to composition, performance, recording, and/or listening. Areas of investigation include, but are not limited to: audio programming languages, embedded/mobile computing for sound and music, spatial audio, sound synthesis, audio electronics, sonification and auditory display, electroacoustic music composition and improvisation, field recording and soundscape studies, sound installation and performance, and sonic interaction design. Each semester, course content changes in response to a new unifying theme upon which students base individual and team-based research projects. Meetings consist of discussions, workshops, critiques, and collaborations that support students' individual inquiries, the exchange of ideas, and the exploration of research methodologies.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 - $200.00

Elective

This graduate-level research studio explores concepts of entanglement through collaborative and cross-disciplinary artistic practices. We’ll be guided by critical texts and creative prompts, considering mycelial webs and rhizomatic thinking, quantum theory and intra-action, symbiogenesis and extended cognition, hydrocommons and queer ecologies, ecomedia and extractivism. We’ll learn from artist collectives around the world who engage conceptually and practically with entanglement and ecological relations through digital media, transdisciplinary practices and collective authorship. Participants will initiate cross-disciplinary dialogue with someone in a related field or practice, and will follow their own lines of inquiry to support creative work. Final projects will be research-based artistic engagements with entanglement (“research” casts a wide net here, referring to an array of embodied, scientific, theoretical and communal practices) and can be in participants’ media of choice. Thinking and making will happen independently, collaboratively and interstitially throughout the semester.

Elective

This combined studio and seminar forum for Digital + Media first year students supports the exploration of theoretical, social, material, technical and contextual research and concerns in new media arts practices during the first semester of the D+M MFA program at RISD. Students are introduced to a core set of methodologies and technologies from basic electronics, programming and interaction design to installation, and are encouraged to break comfort zones through experimentation. Students conceptualize and discuss their work and ongoing practice. The course is a mix of group discussions, individual meetings, required lecture and workshop series, and group critiques. The technical workshops are opportunities for students to experiment and test out aspects of their research in order to develop a sound practice. Guest lecturers and visiting critics may join during other portions of the class time on occasion.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 - $300.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media

This combined studio and seminar forum supports Digital + Media first-year graduate students during their second semester as they research and develop the theoretical, social, material, technical, and contextual aspects of their emergent arts practices. Students are encouraged to break comfort zones and practice through experimentation. Students pursue and refine individual interests, as well as collaborative projects within the department. Students conceptualize and discuss their work and their ongoing practice. Readings in critical cultural theory, media art theory, philosophy, semiotics and other areas further support the contextualization and grounding of the innovative practical and conceptual approaches of students. Each student is responsible to select readings and works important as references in individual research and to co-lead a discussion on a set of self-chosen readings and artists' works during the semester. The course is a mix of group discussions, group critiques, and individual meetings. Guest lecturers and visiting critics may also become involved with this class in terms of critical/research aspects. Each student will practice articulating their art process and work towards their thesis, and will contribute to the dialogue concerning the research and work of their classmates.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 - $300.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media

In this historical survey, we analyze the aesthetic conventions, narratives, and formats of works in new media. We examine the impact digital technologies and new media have had on existing media, as well as the ways in which new media function as a unique system of communication. While investigating the aesthetic conventions, economic conditions and infrastructures that affect the production of new media, we address the social and political contexts in which new media are disseminated, interpreted and privileged. We make connections across decades by focusing on the recurring themes of language, futurism, simulation, hyper-reality, transnationality and information.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Graduate Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media

The course supports the exploration of theoretical, social, material, technical, and contextual research and concerns in new media arts practice during the final semester of the DM MFA program. It is a combined studio and seminar forum for Digital + Media second-year students. (Students conceptualize and discuss their work and their ongoing practice and thesis process). The course is a mix of individual meetings, group discussions and group critiques. Guest lecturers and visiting critics will also become involved with this class in terms of critical/research aspects. Each student will practice articulating their art process and work towards their thesis and will contribute to the dialogue concerning the research and work of their classmates.

Estimated Materials Cost: $100.00 - $300.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Graduate Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media

This course supports the practical, conceptual, theoretical and historical development of the M.F.A. thesis (exhibition and written document). Students are required to work independently and in individual consultation with their thesis committee to develop and finalize the thesis exhibition and written document for presentation at the end of the year. The exhibition and written thesis should articulate one's personal studio art / design practice in an historically and theoretically informed context. Formal group critiques are required at the midterm and end of the semester. A major final critique with visiting critics is held in the context of the final MFA Exhibition. The accompanying written thesis is expected to be of publishable quality and is also placed within the public sphere through electronic publication and filing with the RISD Library. Final submissions for this course include the presentation of a final exhibition, submission of the final written thesis, and timely completion of work for preliminary deadlines throughout the semester (draft theses, exhibition plans and press materials). Please see Digital + Media Thesis Timeline for a clear sequence of required deadlines. Please refer to the DM Thesis Guidelines and Policies for clarification of the goals and expectations of the RISD DM MFA.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 - $300.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media

This seminar course analyzes the aesthetic conventions, narratives, and formats of works in new media. As a group, we will examine the impact digital technologies and new media have had on existing media, as well as the ways in which new media function as a unique system of communication. While investigating the aesthetic conventions, economic conditions and infrastructures that affect the production of new media, we will address the social and political contexts in which new media are disseminated, interpreted and privileged. Within this course, students will be expected to identify, analyze, and critique readings that critically inform and underwrite the foundations of their written thesis and studio practice. Students will contribute to the focus of the course through discussions and writings that contextualize their own work as it relates to critical theory. Class time will be mainly used for discussion of readings and concepts, critique of work and to introduce methods and theory.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Digital + Media Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Digital + Media

Over thousands of years, the materials and methods of drawing have evolved in response to the needs of artists and designers. Technical manuals, patents and other texts record specific drawing techniques. Research into these sources will lead to making actual drawing materials - inks, quill pens, grounds for metal point, chalks, etc. - which will be tested through a range of personal drawing projects and copies of historical works. Trials of newly available drawing materials will yield information about potential uses and permanency. Best practices for care and display of drawings will be covered throughout the course.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $90.00

Open to Sophomore, Junior or Senior Undergraduate Students.

Elective

The goal of Independent Drawing Projects is for students to develop a distinct, carefully conceived, and self-directed body of works through a process of investigation, critical assessment and production. Through a rigorous studio practice, students are expected to identify and develop their own conceptual interests and material approaches. Individual and group critiques support, facilitate, and intensify this process. While drawing concentrators will be given priority, interested students outside of the concentration and beyond the sophomore level may take this course. For the drawing concentrator, the work created for the Independent Drawing Project serves as the culmination of the Drawing Concentration program.

Elective

The course is designed as a drawing exploration of the relationships between various drawing media and as an introduction to strategies in developing a flexible dialogue between concept and process. Starting with large collaborative group drawings and responding to a series of visual and media prompts, this course challenges students to reconsider their drawings each week through various studio constraints, whether with different media, temporal, or physical limitations. Students will be guided through a generative production of drawings, which they can apply to their own studio practice in the later weeks.á Rather than starting with an idea, students will practice finding imagery and creating drawings that build on previous drawings. The course demands energy to engage with physically large drawings, a dedicated and consistent work ethic, and an openness to change and invent. Students are expected to work from both observation and imagination, draw in the studio both independently and collaboratively, attend class lectures, and participate in group discussions. Participants should be ready to experiment and be prepared for their work to go through several surprising transformations.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Elective

This course will focus awareness on the intertwined connections between the drawing BODY, ACTION and MARK. In this course, we will move our bodies in directed and experiential ways, sensitizing our bodies and minds to the possibilities of drawing as an embodied action. Embodied drawing practice focuses on drawing as a physical act, inviting awareness of the sensation and intelligence of the drawing body as a catalyst for practice. Through experimentation with embodied movement, action and making, students will experience their own drawing process as meaningful engagement with action. Studio experimentation and research will investigate the formal possibilities of ACTION as movement in time and space, then move to a critical consideration of ACTION in context and as methodology that can both contain and generate meaning. Course methodologies may include: process-focused practice; mindful investigation of movement; individual and collaborative studio experimentation and performance of drawing. Areas of study may include: motion visualization; algorithmic and choreographic approaches to action-based generative composition; body and technology; artistic action as meaningful methodology in social and cultural context.

This course will comprise of in-class studio exercises, slide/video presentations, critiques, short readings and discussions. Through these diverse modes of learning, students will have the opportunity to engage with foregrounding concepts and direct experiences of an embodied approach to drawing practice, focusing on the experience and potential outcomes of drawing as action in context. Students will also engage in independent research to be shared with the class, broadening the array of work we critically engage with. Independent studio research will be ongoing throughout the course, and will culminate in self-directed Midterm and Final Projects.

Elective

For the first two weeks class will be held Wednesday through Sunday, then starting the third week classes will take place Monday through Friday. A rigorous investigation of drawing from the model and/or large set-up sprawling across classroom. Deeper contact to the drawing experience through sustained exposure. Opportunity for re-invention, change. Confront problems of drawing, build on strengths. Emphasis on drawing consolidation, concentration, stamina, persistence. Regular critiques, slide talks, RISD museum trips. The goals of this course are to facilitate and maintain a continuous flow of drawing energy and examination. Students will re-examine the way they make drawings, in a progressive drawing environment. Through sustained contact with their drawing/s, students will make personal advancement.

Elective

Orature, or oral storytelling, places a strong emphasis on performative techniques that come to life most effectively when conveyed through both spoken and non-verbal means within a live social setting. It is “the creative and imaginative art of composition that relies on verbal art for communication and that culminates in performance”. Consequently, linear media recordings of oral storytelling experiences often fall short of capturing the immersive and interactive essence found in live storytelling sessions. 
This Wintersession course invites students to explore motion capture through the lens of traditional oral storytelling practices from indigenous communities. Students will actively identify the unique and distinguishing features of orature, and leverage their own cultural backgrounds, personal perspectives, and idiosyncrasies to create motion capture data that can be used in crafting an interactive digital retelling of a folktale. Using software and equipment in the Movement Lab students will plan segments for oral storytelling, record verbal story content in their own voice, prepare a character based on their 3D scans, set up mocap equipment, record their movement, clean-up and apply the movement data to a character, and finally compile the individual segments into a digital retelling that refracts one tale through diverse facets of embodied expression. Through in-class practical activities, daily assignments, demonstrations, screenings and suggested reading, students will acquire new appreciation for orature as well as experimentation with motion capture tools that can support new retellings of works of orature in digital media.

Elective

Myth of Selfhood: Queer Diasporic Film Craft is a studio course where students will explore alternative approaches to depicting marginalized bodies and desires on screen. These approaches have been concerned less with identifications or lost origins; instead, they have foregrounded intimacies which have been concealed by Euro-American cis-hetero-normative ways of seeing. Queer diasporic imaginaries, in their multifaceted, cross-cultural iterations, question the neoliberal myth of visibility and representation, wherein legibility equates to authenticity. They seek hybrid ways of being in the world and relating to one another.

During the course, we will examine works by queer diasporic filmmakers, animators, and contemporary artists. The discussions will be followed by aesthetic exercises and introductory technical workshops on experimental film and animation practices. Students are encouraged to experiment with techniques learned in class to create time-based works around queer diasporic aesthetics.

Elective