- Design and build sculptures that electrically and/or mechanically activate an environment.
- Students will work on individual and group assignments while working with a range of tools and learning skills including simple soldering, sound processing, hacking, microcontroller usage, and communication between circuits and computers.
- Areas of responsive art to be explored include: kinetic/aural, electronic control, and sensory/reactive.
- Guest Artists will work closely with students as they lead them through hands-on demonstrations that apply concepts in art, sound, engineering, DIY, and electronics to building interactive sculpture.
- The workshop will include in a public exhibition/performance of student work.
Undergraduate: ART 420, 3 units
Graduate: ART 620, 3 units
$50
The course is designed for undergraduate and graduate students working at an intermediate or advanced level. Among the willing: sculptors, instrument builders, engineers, experimental theatre people, electronics geeks, musicians, and composers. Some experience in sound, circuitry, basic computing, and shop and hand tools will be a great asset. Collaboration on projects is a natural path towards covering the most amount of ground in this class; no one should feel as though they need to be an expert in all areas. More importantly, the opportunity to collaborate is the best part of this process.
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Prepare the following materials:
- A one-page written statement about what you do. How do kinetics, and/or aural aspects figure into your work? What skills do you already possess in these areas?
- A brief resume (one to two pages maximum).
- Five JPEGs of your work (if the work is kinetic/aural, a DVD can be substituted) - can be broadly construed as art or otherwise. Please include explanations of the work, if necessary.
- A letter of recommendation.
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Send the materials listed in Step One with your completed Registration Form to the
Summer Arts Registration Office by
May 17, 2010.
The deadline to apply for this course has passed.
Professor Sheri Simons
ssimons@csuchico.edu
530-898-4996
Trimpin
Trimpin is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Award, and has a long history as an internationally known sound artist. His installations use high and low tech means to achieve interactivity between place/viewer/object. He has invented “instruments” that respond to their environment (from the forest to the gallery) using parts as varied as microcontrollers, washing machine parts, and garage door openers. From Wikipedia: “Although most of his music is computer-driven, Trimpin almost never uses electronic sounds—not because he objects to them on principle, but because he thinks that loudspeaker design, basically unchanged for 100 years, has lagged behind the rest of electronic music technology.” An internationally renowned sculptor, he has conducted workshops worldwide at colleges and music centers, and has performed as a guest artist at symphonies and festivals.
Check out his websites at www.trimpin.blogspot.com and www.trimpinmovie.com.
Trimpin is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Award, and has a long history as an internationally known sound artist. His installations use high and low tech means to achieve interactivity between place/viewer/object. He has invented “instruments” that respond to their environment (from the forest to the gallery) using parts as varied as microcontrollers, washing machine parts, and garage door openers. From Wikipedia: “Although most of his music is computer-driven, Trimpin almost never uses electronic sounds—not because he objects to them on principle, but because he thinks that loudspeaker design, basically unchanged for 100 years, has lagged behind the rest of electronic music technology.” An internationally renowned sculptor, he has conducted workshops worldwide at colleges and music centers, and has performed as a guest artist at symphonies and festivals.
Check out his websites at www.trimpin.blogspot.com and www.trimpinmovie.com.
Mark Allen
“How can sculpture and performance affect the viewer in a deep, personal way? How can the viewer be moved from a passive position to a state of engagement and communal experience? I’ve been working with these concerns since I started graduate school, and my practice has transformed from studio artist, to include collaborator, facilitator and producer as I investigate these questions.
“My current role as curator/facilitator/producer at Machine has allowed me to expand the scale and approach to these ideas. Working directly and collaboratively with the gallery artists such as Jessica Hutchins, Brody Condon, David Burns and Matias Viegener, I facilitate and produce ongoing investigations in these questions. Under my direction, Machine functions as a research laboratory – investigating performance, sculpture and installation as lived experience for the viewer.”
Check out his website at www.markallen.com.
“How can sculpture and performance affect the viewer in a deep, personal way? How can the viewer be moved from a passive position to a state of engagement and communal experience? I’ve been working with these concerns since I started graduate school, and my practice has transformed from studio artist, to include collaborator, facilitator and producer as I investigate these questions.
“My current role as curator/facilitator/producer at Machine has allowed me to expand the scale and approach to these ideas. Working directly and collaboratively with the gallery artists such as Jessica Hutchins, Brody Condon, David Burns and Matias Viegener, I facilitate and produce ongoing investigations in these questions. Under my direction, Machine functions as a research laboratory – investigating performance, sculpture and installation as lived experience for the viewer.”
Check out his website at www.markallen.com.
Check out our other art and multimedia courses:
Drawing and Painting in Florence
Clay as a Medium for Sculpture
Telling Stories with Multimedia and Publishing Your Photo Book
Animation: Making a Hand-Drawn Commercial
Toy Design: Concept to Product
Remember, California residents can take two courses (up to six units) for the same tuition dollars!