Spring 2011
As expected, my time at ITP has passed quickly and the last semester is now under way. What happens after graduation in May is beginning to develop but there’s plenty to concentrate on between now and then. My schedule for Spring 2011 is as follows.
Thesis Project
We spent several weeks last semester thinking, sketching, and talking about ideas for thesis. I came away with an outline for the kind of project I’d like to pursue and a sense of momentum. Over the break, I stepped back a bit to reassess the form of my inquiry and I think the work will be better for it. Now it’s time to synthesize these efforts and I’m pleased to have Nancy Hechinger as a guide.
Designing for Digital Fabrication
Designing for Digital Fabrication is the only course I’m formally taking in addition to Thesis Project and I’m very excited about it. Taught by interactive artist and ITP professor Daniel Rozin, the course will explore methods for designing projects with CAD applications and algorithmic ways of creating designs from software like Processing. In my mind, the political and artistic implications of this medium are rather significant.
Architecture as Media
The Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, whose curriculum I’m often enamored with, is offering another gem this semester called Architecture as Media. I’ve been in correspondence with the professor, Erica Robles, since December regarding the subject matter of my thesis and she’s generously allowed me to sit in on the course. The reading will no doubt be demanding but its relevance to my research will almost certainly be worth the effort.
Conceptual Art
Georgia Krantz, with whom I took Recurring Concepts in Art, is back at ITP this semester with a new class surveying conceptual art. I’m honored to be helping out as a teaching assistant to Georgia and look forward to how the group dialog will evolve. Beyond the classroom, we’ll be making a number of visits to exhibitions around the area.
Internship
At the beginning of January, an internship at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center presented itself by way of Hans-Christoph Steiner, my Dataflow Audio Programming instructor from Spring 2010. I and another student are working with Hans on a starter kit for people interested in learning Pure Data, an open-source, graphical programming environment for audio, video, and image processing. This a great opportunity that I’m happy to be part of; I hope I can contribute as much as I’ve been learning along the way.
