Admission requirements
This course is open to students from the Research master Arts, Literature and Media, the MA in Media Studies, and the MSc Media Technology, and as an elective at ResMA level provided that the student has a firm grasp and understanding of the debates in (media) theory.
Description
The rise of digital media technologies has been rapid and far-reaching, with new technologies and platforms emerging every day. In this course we will reflect on the implications of these developments on (the way we study) the arts and society today. How does the advent of the digital affect us socially, culturally, and politically? What consequences does it have for the subjects we analyse, for the ways in which we analyse them, and for what counts as knowledge production in the first place?
The aim of the course is to familiarize yourself with the state-of-the-arts theoretical debates that approach digitization as a global cultural political project, offering new ways of understanding the transforming and transformative relations between digital media, the arts, the social, the cultural and the political today. The discussions are organized around key concepts like: machine, algorithm, pattern, data, infrastructure, image, attention, work, disconnection, error and/or failure. Amongst the readings: Karl Marx, Gilles Deleuze, Marurzio Lazzarato, Meredith Broussard, Tarleton Gillespie, Sofia Noble, Antionette Rouvroy, Hito Steyerl, Nanna Bonde Thylstrup, Daniela Agostinho, Mel Hogan, Julia Velkova, Alexander Galloway, Lisa Parks, Susanna Paasonen, Aud Sissel Hoel, Lila Lee-Morrison, Yves Citton, Tiziana Terranova, Urs Stäheli, Clare Birchall and Neta Alexander. We will read these theoretical texts alongside and juxtaposed with artworks, films, songs and novels to anchor our analysis, so as to broach the ethical, political, cultural, and psychological questions that the machine centric logic of digital media give rise to today.
Instead of presenting your research findings in a canonical academic paper, you are invited to explore, engage with, and (virtually) contribute to and intervene in a scholarly way in the para-academic domain, that is the online spaces where new knowledge is researched, debated, and produced. Assignments include, besides a presentation, a series of smaller research-based mediations in the form of a listicle, a blog and a podcast.
To boost resilience in the face of these disconcerting times and theories, there will be an opportunity to practice mindfulness and meditation and engage with (the economies of) attention in different ways (albeit voluntarily).
Course objectives
Upon completion of this course, you
have mastered a critical purchase on the standing debates on digital media, new imaging technologies, and machinic cultures in relation to the arts and the political in the modern period and beyond;
have acquainted themselves with classical and current debates within this field;
have acquired an advanced set of methodological tools and theoretical concepts that allows you to carry out research in the field of digital media, the arts, and theory independently;
are able to demonstrate your knowledges and advanced skills in a series of assignments designed for the para-academic context;
are able to situate yourself in the para-academic context after exploring, situate yourself in and reflect on the debates that take place there and their relevance.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
The final grade is a based on a portfolio/ portfolio in which you reflect on what you hope(d) to get out of this class and what the class has brought you. To this end you are asked to fully engage in class-discussions, do a presentation where you take responsibility for opening up one theoretical text to class, and engage in a series of interventions in the para-academic field. Concretely, you will contribute to a listical, write a blog and together make a podcast. The aim of the assignments is to first find and describe an online space in which ‘para-academic’ knowledge is produced and debated (listicle); then contribute to the para-academic field in the form of a (virtual) blogpost, book review, case study, or thread-response based on your own research and analysis that adds to the field; andfinally, to reflect on the current debates on digital media and machinic cultures by situating yourself within the para-academic discourse in the form of a podcast (based on a research report including an annotated bibliography, a script, and a research question or hypothesis).
Weighing
The final mark for the course is based on the portfolio (100%). To be able to finalize the portfolio, all requirements of in-class participation, the presentation, listical, blog, and podcast must be met. To pass the course the final grade must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
The resit consists of the same subtests as the first opportunity (portfolio), except for in-class participation and the presentation.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Readings will be made available on Brightspace.
Registration
Enrolment through My Studymap is mandatory.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal.
Remarks
Not applicable.