Overview

Instructor: Adam Simms | hello@adamsimms.xyz

Teaching Assistant: Petrija Dos Santos | petrijadeobela.petrusicdossantos@concordia.ca

3 Credits

Concordia University is located on unceded Indigenous lands. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of the lands and waters on which we gather today. Tiohtià:ke/Montréal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. Today, it is home to a diverse population of Indigenous and other peoples. We respect the continued connections with the past, present and future in our ongoing relationships with Indigenous and other peoples within the Montreal community.

This territorial acknowledgement and resources were created by Concordia University’s Indigenous Directions Leadership Group (2017).

For more information, refer to native land and whose land.

Course Description

We live in a world flooded with images. Through our phones and computers, we navigate within excessive amounts of online content every day. This course will focus on the fragility of information in the digital age and will examine the accumulation and potential of data that images generate silently. Cultivating an aesthetic fascination for the screen, for its anxieties and demands, this course will address critical notions emerging from a wide range of horizons: technological utopianism, 1990s hacker culture, science fictionalization, conspiracy theories, etc. Working with and against algorithms, students will be encouraged to explore the tentacular structures of technology - its potential for sampling, editing and reconfiguring itself in a malleable oscillation between visual entity and abstract data.

The objective of this course is for students to invest themselves in the creation of works which will exist solely online, and their projects will have to address issues relating to digital globalization, image circulation/commodification, computer vision, surveillance capitalism, etc.

Overview

This course will emphasize the students’ understanding of the various possibilities of image-making in the context of online art practices. Lectures, workshops, readings, artist presentations, and activities will facilitate learning technical and theoretical knowledge relating to digital photography, net art, and post-internet art.

We will examine a conceptual understanding of screens, address the vastness and value of digital image circulation across existing and emerging economies, and the potential avenues and identities of photography navigating through these routes. Engaging in the semiotic nature of images, we will explore the internet as a platform for remix culture, social acceleration, and real-time surveillance.

Early in the semester, students will submit a proposal for a final research-creation project which will be presented and critiqued at the end of the semester. Work-in-progress will be presented and discussed throughout the semester in group critiques and individual meetings with the professor. The work should demonstrate a coherent resolution of the concerns the student has chosen to address as outlined in their project proposal.

Objectives

Create a conceptually coherent and technically accomplished research-creation project that questions and challenges issues relating to digital image-making in the context of internet culture.
Demonstrate a strong personal aesthetic voice built on the student’s deep understanding of the digital image in all of its complexities.
Reflect constructively on the works of others and show a capacity for in-depth analysis of the student’s own practice.
Present persistence and assiduity in the completion of all assignments, presentations, and readings.

Materials & Fees

Students who plan to use the photography facilities and/or borrow equipment must pay $80 per 3-credit course. Please pay online via your myconcordia.ca portal.

Students must bear the cost of all materials needed to complete their assignments and research-creation project.

Grading

Attendance: mandatory.
Participation: 20%
Moodle Responses: 10%
Group Presentation: 20%
Final research-creation project: 50%

Grading System

A+, A, A-: Outstanding - Work surpasses expectations. Highly resolved conceptually and technically.
B+, B, B-: Very Good - Above average completion and participation.
C+, C, C-: Satisfactory - Minimal completion of assignments and projects.
D+, D, D-: Marginal Pass - Work is completed, with little effort or personal investment.
F: Poor/Failure – Work is incomplete and/or unsatisfactory.

A+ 90-100   A 85-89. A- 80-84
B+ 77-79   B 73-76 B- 70-72
C+ 67-69 C 63-66    C- 60-62
D+ 57-59 D 53-56    D- 50-52
F 0-49

Please refer to the Concordia Academic Calendar, section 16.3.3 for additional Information on the Grading System.