UT | Material Media Movement
This class explores collaboration between bodies, technology, materials, and movement in the
creation of wearable and interactive artifacts. We will experiment with traditional and cutting edge practices in both digital media and costume fabrication including: wearable tech, responsive body mapping, coding, 3D printing, body mounted sensors, etc. The semester-long development process centers collaborative learning, personal and community exploration, and the intersections of multiple forms of knowledge. Through demonstrations, lectures, and guest artists, instructors will introduce techniques and practices for interacting with materials, media, and bodies in the devising of original creative work.
Skill Shares
The beginning of the semester is focused on learning and absorbing new concepts, techniques, and practices (“hard” and “soft” skills) both individually and with collaborators in small groups. The goal is for students to take a project to completion and fully integrate the hard/soft skill into their toolbox as well as understand the full scope of undertaking the task within a full process cycle. Skills include: Active dramaturgy, microcontrollers, projection mapping, sewing with conductive thread, and more.
Macro Project
Larger, collaborative projects that build upon skills learned during class. Projects begin with prompts, but how they manifest is fully determined by the group. The only requirement is that they generate an interactive artifact that embodies the tenants of materiality, media, and movement.
Prompt 1: If we are charged with imagining future liberated realities, let’s begin with the body. What would true body sovereignty look like? Throughout history people have utilized their bodies to make statements on both a small and monumental scale. From fashion, to protest, to drag, to performance, the body is a space that is under constant examination. How can creators draw inspiration from form and movement to create work that speaks to both the individual and the collective? Using the body as the primary source material, create an artifact designed for interaction with a performer (a group member or invited collaborator) that makes a statement.
Prompt 2: "Space has always been the spiritual dimension of architecture. It is not the physical statement of the structure so much as what it contains that moves us." (Arthur Erickson) Consider the dramaturgy of space. What stories does the land hold? How does an environment shape our mood, our imagination, our bodies? As we enter or interact with space, when do we feel most connected? Or disconnected? Using space as the primary source material, create an artifact designed for interaction with a performer (a group member or invited collaborator) that makes a statement.
