Instructor: Sarah Grant
Contact: teaching@chootka.com
Class Meetings: 4-15 January 2021, Monday-Friday
  • Section 1: 10:00-12:00 CET
  • Section 2: 18:00-20:00 CET

Workshop Meetings: 11-15 January 2021, Monday-Friday
  • Section 1: 13:00-15:00 CET
  • Section 2: 21:00-23:00 CET

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 15:00-17:00 CET

Description

This course will critically engage with the communication and networking technologies we readily use for ourselves and our communities. Questions around the control of data, software, hardware and infrastructure will be tied to larger themes of access, power, resilience and sustainability. An ethos of artistry and activism will be infused throughout the course as students experiment with peer-to-peer networks and DIY methodologies.

Learning Objectives

  • Gain an understanding of the technology stack that powers the internet as we know it
  • Learn about alternative networks such as peer-to-peer and mesh networks
  • Develop a holistic view of the political issues surrounding the internet, from its development to its use primarily through the world wide web
  • Speculate on the concept of networks as both a place and a material for artistic exploration and experimentation
  • Survey the history of internet-based art, from early net.art to hacktivisits to post-internet works
  • Learn how to use basic command line and software tools for our own net-based projects

Structure & Teaching Methodology

This will be a two-week course consisting of lectures, workshops, readings, and short films. By the end of the term, we will have produced a collaborative peer-to-peer network which will host our individual projects developed during class.

Class time spent together will consist of both lectures and hands-on workshop sessions. Lectures will provide students with an overview of artistic and technopolitical movements foundational to the class theme of "Radical Networks." Workshop sessions will serve as an introduction for total beginners to the software tools needed for developing our own net-based projects. Outside of class, we will have reading and video assignments to help round out our understanding of concepts learned in class.

Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to ask questions, share ideas, and receive feedback on their work as we progress. Ultimately the goal is for us to gain a broad understanding of the internet beyond its technical definitions, coming to terms with the social and political issues surrounding its development and use, and seeing how that informs our own creative practice.