ARTS 235 – Introduction to Media
Taught by Professor Josh Glick
How might different forms of media influence our lives and the world around us? In what ways do historical modes of communication resonate with our current moment? What are the progressive possibilities and pitfalls of emerging technology? This course explores the field of media with a particular focus on how artists and everyday people have experimented with technologies in ways that both reflect and transform culture. We’ll consider printed text and digital literature, early broadcasting and podcasting, animation and AI, as we investigate the ways in which media have continually constructed our perceptions of time, space, knowledge, and identity. Throughout the semester, we’ll discuss how contemporary media forms draw on, but also distinguish themselves from, past precedents in important ways. We’ll engage with theorists such as Walter Benjamin, Hito Steyerl, Benedict Anderson, Marshall McLuhan, Donna Haraway, and Stuart Hall. We’ll also spend time working hands-on with media, in order to assess our own positions as creative producers as well as users and consumers. This course fulfils one of the two central course requirements for the Experimental Humanities concentration.
