Web Art as Site

Spring
3 credits

This course addresses the history and practice of art/literature made for and inseparable from the web, while teaching basic coding (in HTML, CSS, and jQuery), web-VR frameworks, and AI collaboration tools. Web art is space/ place/ landscape/ setting/ site; it is not held or beheld, but filled and inhabited. So, while exploring the growing canon of web art, we will also consider a broader tradition of site-building or site-altering art practices, including installation, performance, and video games. Questioning what it means for art to occupy space, we will focus on work by web artists whose bodies have not historically owned or controlled physical sites in the US. In the first half of the course, students will make one mini-project each week, reflecting new technical skills. Students will then focus on a larger web artwork (either a website or a "web intervention"), for which they will independently develop their technical skills. For all sites, students will be encouraged to deploy language, music, video, painting, and/or any other media, as experts or novices.