Major Code: VA29

VISUAL ARTS DEPARTMENT

INTERDISCIPLINARY COMPUTING AND THE ARTS MAJOR

 

The Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts major in the Music and Visual Arts Departments draws upon and aims to bring together ideas and paradigms from computer science, art, and cultural theory.  It takes for granted that the computer has become a metamedium and that artists working with computers are expected to combine different media forms in their works.  All of this makes the program unique among currently existing computer art or design programs which, on the one hand, usually focus on the use of computers for a particular media (for instance, specializing in computer animation, or computer music, or computer design for print) and, on the other hand, do not enter into a serious dialogue with current research in computer science, only teaching the students “off-the-shelf” software.  The goals of the program are to prepare the next generation of artists who will be functioning in a computer-mediated culture; to give students necessary technical, theoretical and historical backgrounds so they can contribute to the development of new aesthetics for computer media; to prepare students to mediate between the worlds of computer science and technology, the arts, and the culture at large by being equally proficient  with computing and cultural concepts; and to give students sufficient understanding of the trajectories of development in computing so they can anticipate and work with the emerging trends, rather than being locked in particular software currently available on the market.

 

LOWER DIVISION                                                           8

UPPER DIVISION                                                           12

TOTAL COURSES REQUIRED                                    20

 

ALL COURSES TAKEN FOR MAJOR REQUIREMENTS MUST BE TAKEN FOR A LETTER GRADE, AND ONLY GRADES OF C- OR BETTER WILL BE ACCEPTED. REFER TO COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FOR ENFORCED PREREQUISITES.

 

 

wIndicates Production Course

 

LOWER-DIVISION

ARTS  (4 Courses Required)

MUS 4          Introduction to Western Music

VIS 1            Introduction to Art-Making: Two-Dimensional

                                Practices

VIS 22          Formations of Modern Art

VIS 70N       Introduction to Media

 

COMPUTING AND THE ARTS  (1 Course Required)

ICAM 40/VIS 40   Introduction to Computing in the Arts

 

COMPUTER SCIENCE  (1 OR 2 Courses Required)

CSE 11          Intro. to Computer Science and Object-Oriented

                                Programming: JAVA

OR

CSE 8A/AL  Intro. to Computer Science: JAVA (and Lab)

CSE 8B         Intro. to Computer Science: JAVA continued

 

MATHEMATICS  (2 OR 3 Courses Required)

MATH 20A  Calculus for Science and Engineering

MATH 20B  Calculus for Science and Engineering

OR

MATH 10A Calculus

MATH 10B  Calculus

MATH 10C  Calculus

 

UPPER-DIVISION

 

SURVEY  (1 Course Required)

ICAM 110    Computing in the Arts: Current Practice

 

FOUNDATION  (3 Courses Required)

ICAM 101/VIS 140w       Digital Imaging: Image and Interactivity

ICAM 102/VIS 145Aw    Digital Media I: Time, Movement, Sound

ICAM 103/MUS 170w     Musical Acoustics        

 

ADVANCED  (4 Courses Required)

Choose three from:

ICAM 120w                 Virtual Environments

ICAM 130/VIS 149     Seminar in Contemporary Computer Topics

VIS 109w                     Advanced Projects in Media

VIS 131w                                  Special Projects in Media

VIS 132w                      Installation Productions and Studio

VIS 141Aw    Computer Programming for the Arts I

VIS 147Aw                 Electronic Technologies for Art I

VIS 174w                    Media Sketchbook

MUS 171                    Computer Music I

MUS 173                    Audio Production: Mixing and Editing

MUS 174 A-B-C        Recording/MIDI Studio Techniques

MUS 176                    Music Technology Seminar

 

Choose one from:

VIS 141Bw                 Computer Programming for the Arts II

VIS 145Bw                 Time and Process Based Digital Media II          

VIS 147B                    Electronic Technologies for Art II

MUS 172                    Computer Music II

 

THEORY AND HISTORY  (2 Courses Required)

ICAM 150/VIS 159    History of Art and Technology

 

Choose one from:

VIS 123CN                 Early Print Culture: The First Media

                                                Revolution

VIS 125E                    History of Performance

VIS 150                      Histories and Art of the Silent Cinema

VIS 151                      History of the Experimental Film

VIS 152                      Film in Social Context

VIS 153                      The Genre Series

VIS 154                      Hard Look at the Movies

VIS 155                      The Director Series

VIS 157                      Video History and Criticism

VIS 158                      Histories of Photography

VIS 194S                    Fantasy in Film

MUS 111                                Topics/World Music Traditions

MUS 114                                Music of the Twentieth Century

MUS 175                    Musical Psychoacoustics

 

 

SENIOR PROJECT (2 Courses Required)

ICAM 160A                           Senior Project in Computer Arts I

ICAM 160B                Senior Project in Computer Arts II