Course Overview

This 6-credit integrated studio and liberal arts course explores the impact of algorithmic processes on art practices and society from WWII to tomorrow. Looking through the lens of systems and a systems aesthetic, we will investigate cybernetic, kinetic, electronic, digital, net-art, biological, and AI-based art practices. We will explore the ways in which the world is converted into data and how that data is then made actionable in the world. We will examine the ethical implications of algorithms in society, with consideration of the explicit and implicit intentions of the authors of these performative codes as well as the inextricable role the observer/participant plays. Students will write algorithms using visual scripting tools to create work that is data-driven and research-based, integrating art historical, socio-political, and critical theory perspectives with concepts from the fields of mathematics, computer science, biology, and engineering.