Media Arts and Design

This minor focuses on these rapid developments in media and design that have changed the character of contemporary life, opening these phenomena up to historical study, theoretical critique, and hands-on experimentation. The minor offers pathways through video game design, transmedia puzzle development, digital filmmaking, electronic sound design, digital storytelling, algorithmic theater, podcast development, data visualization, computational imaging, speculative design, and media history and theory.
The minor is comprised of six courses. Of those six courses, students must take at least one course in each of the following core areas: (1) Media Theory, (2) Media History, and (3) Media Practice and Design.
Courses that qualify for each distribution requirement are listed here.
Students will also need two elective courses from offerings in such areas as video game design, electronic sound design, computational imaging, or speculative design. Any MAAD course may count; students may use outside courses with approval of the director.
To complete the minor, students must enroll in MAAD 29400 Media Arts and Design Capstone Colloquium. As part of the colloquium, each member of this student cohort prepares a portfolio of digital media artworks and/or historical and theoretical writing that they submit by the end of Winter Quarter of their final year.
Prospective minors should meet with the program director as soon as possible to discuss their interests and course plans and to obtain advice and approval. In order to declare the minor, students must complete the Consent to Complete a Minor Program form and have the form signed by the program director. This form must then be returned to the student's College adviser by the end of Spring Quarter of the student's third year.
Courses in the minor program may not be (1) double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors or (2) counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for quality grades, and more than half of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.
MAAD 10430. Gender, Sexuality, Imagination. 100 Units.
This course explores the relationships between theories of the imagination and those of gender and sexuality, with a particular emphasis on the relevance of this exploration to cinema and media studies.
Instructor(s): K.Keeling     Terms Offered: Winter Equivalent Course(s): CMST 20430, GNSE 20430, CMST 30430, GNSE 30430
MAAD 11004. Afrofuturism. 100 Units.
This course focuses on audio-visual cultural productions that have been or might be considered under the rubric of "Afrofuturism," with particular attention to the aesthetic, social, political, and/or cultural contributions and interventions they make.
Instructor(s): K.Keeling     Terms Offered: Winter Equivalent Course(s): CMST 21004
MAAD 11730. Science, Technology and Media via Japan. 100 Units.
This course will explore issues of culture, technology, and environment in Japan through the lens of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Media Studies. The course is designed for undergraduate students. Its overall aim is to introduce students to some of the fundamental concepts, themes, and problematics in these fields via the particular social and historical circumstances in Japan. Some of the central concerns will be around issues of environment, disaster, gender, labor, media theory, gaming, and animation. In addition, we will devote attention to the recent emergence of the term media ecology as a framework problematizing technologically engineered environments.
Instructor(s): M. Fisch     Terms Offered: Winter Note(s): This course qualifies as a "Discovering Anthropology" selection for Anthropology majors. Equivalent Course(s): ENST 21730, ANTH 21730, EALC 21730
MAAD 12005. Filming the Police. 100 Units.
Filming the police" as a research topic has been taken up in a range of disciplines and subfields from legal and information studies to surveillance and police studies. In film and media studies, the 1991 George Holliday video of the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD played an important and controversial role in the formation of documentary studies as a subfield and in debates about indexicality, the nature of photographic evidence, and realism-issues at the core of the discipline. While this course will survey the topic of the filming of police from multiple perspectives, it aims to construct a specifically disciplinary framework for research on police violence. Topics to include dashboard and body cameras; surveillance, sousveillance, and the regime of visibility; investigative and citizen journalism; records management and archiving; evidence in court proceedings and in the public sphere; police, media, and ideology; the ethics and politics of looking at black suffering; art about police violence; filming the police in an international frame.
Instructor(s): S.Skvirsky     Terms Offered: Winter Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 27005, CMST 27005, CMST 37005, HMRT 37005
MAAD 12151. Anthropology of Media. 100 Units.
Anthropology of Media. Description coming.
Instructor(s): Michael Fisch     Terms Offered: Autumn. Autumn 2019 Prerequisite(s): This course qualifies as a "Discovering Anthropology" selection for Anthropology majors Note(s): This course is designed specifically for undergraduate students. Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 22151
MAAD 12320. Critical Videogame Studies. 100 Units.
Since the 1960s, games have arguably blossomed into the world's most profitable and experimental medium. This course attends specifically to video games, including popular arcade and console games, experimental art games, and educational serious games. Students will analyze both the formal properties and sociopolitical dynamics of video games. Readings by theorists including Ian Bogost, Roger Caillois, Nick Dyer‐Witheford, Mary Flanagan, Jane McGonigal, Lisa Nakamura, and Katie Salen will help us think about the growing field of video game studies. This is a 2019-20 Signature Course in the College. (Theory)
Instructor(s): Patrick Jagoda     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): CMST 27916, SIGN 26038, GNSE 22320, ENGL 12320
MAAD 12351. The Sonic Image. 100 Units.
The Sonic Image offers a unique opportunity to work with three senior researchers exploring the bridge-making and sense delimiting articulations of sound & sight together. We will examine the potency of sound in a world largely understood through its visualization as a world picture. Readings in sound studies, visual studies & media studies explore sound, sounds that evoke pictures, the forensics of sound, sound art, & films including The Conversation, Blow Out & Amour. Each faculty collaborator brings distinct interests to the course. WJT Mitchell's renowned theorization of images naturally extends to his theorizing the possibility of the sonic image. Artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan's commitment to the value of earwitnessing asks the listener to extend forensic knowledge to the very core of what it means to be a human being in the world. For the course, Hamdan will develop a workshop comprising a series of practical exercises that experiment with the conditions of testimony or claim making, enabling an exploration of how the law come to its truths and how can we use sonic imagination to trouble & contest established modes of enacting justice. Performance scholar, Hannah B Higgins, examines how musical notation, performance & sound bear on the relationships between sound & vision in recent art practices. An intervention from composer Janice Misurell-Mitchell will add a dimension of musical testimony to our investigation.
Instructor(s): W.J.T. Mitchell, Hannah Higgins, Lawrence Abu Hamdan     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Open to all levels with consent of the instructors. All interested students should please email the instructor () a one page statement of interest, explaining why they want to take the course, and what they will bring to it. Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 22351, ARTV 40351, ARTV 20351, ARTH 32351, ENGL 42351, ENGL 22351
MAAD 14110. Digital Cinema. 100 Units.
Since the 1970s, movies have become increasingly dependent on digital technologies. This course explores a range of issues related to the digitization of cinema's production, distribution, and exhibition, including the cultural contexts and aesthetic practices surrounding these technological shifts as well as their experiential and political dimensions. In particular, we will explore such topics as digital cinematography's relation to cinematic realism, emerging trends in editing practices, the political implications of digital special effects, and the ways that other digital media influence cinematic techniques. Texts discussed include works by Lev Manovich, Stephen Prince, Kristen Whissel, Hito Steyerl, Steven Shaviro, and Vivian Sobchack. Screenings include works by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Agnes Varda, Bong Joon-Ho, Michael Bay, Brad Bird, and Leos Carax.
Note(s): This course does not satisfy the general education requirement in the arts. Equivalent Course(s): CMST 27110
MAAD 14204. Media Ecology: Embodiment & Software. 100 Units.
Media ecology examines how the structure and content of our media environments-online and offline, in words, images, sounds, and textures-affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value; or alternatively, media ecology investigates the massive and dynamic interrelation of processes and objects, beings and things, patterns and matter. At stake are issues about agency-human or material-and about determinism-how does society or culture interact with or shape its technologies, or vice versa? This course investigates theories of media ecology by exploring systems of meanings that humans embody (cultural, social, ecological) in conjunction with the emerging field of software studies about the cultural, political, social, and aesthetic impacts of software (e.g., code, interaction, interface). In our actual and virtual environments, how do we understand performing our multiple human embodiments in relation to other bodies (organism or machine) in pursuit of social or political goals?
Instructor(s): M. Browning     Terms Offered: Winter Equivalent Course(s): HUMA 25202, LLSO 27801, TAPS 28452, CMST 25204, HIPS 25203
MAAD 14205. Computers, Minds, Intelligence & Data. 100 Units.
How are we co-evolving with our machines? How do we teach ourselves and our computers how to learn? What kinds of human intelligences do we promote in liberal education in comparison with artificial intelligence(s)? Through our distributed cognition with tools of all kinds, as we engage in participatory culture using digital computers and networks, we provide information that generates the basis for big (and small) data. At the crux of our investigation-on the one hand into reading and conversation and on the other hand into algorithms and information theory-are issues about human action and the multifaceted agency of the universal Turing machine-as mobile phone, laptop, internet, robot.
Equivalent Course(s): HUMA 25205, HIPS 25205
MAAD 14865. Adaptation: Text and Image. 100 Units.
A course concerned with the marriage of image and text that explores films, illuminated manuscripts, comic books/graphic novels, children's picture books and present day (perhaps local) theater productions that deal at their core with the balance and dance between story and picture. Examples of work studied would be Chris Marker's La jetée, Alice in Wonderland and its many adaptations, the comics of Winsor McCay, Seth, Chris Ware, etc, and William Blake's engraved poems and images. The theatrical collaborations between the instructors themselves ("The Cabinet" and "Cape and Squiggle," both produced by Chicago's Redmoon Theatre) will be discussed as well.
Instructor(s): M. Maher, F. Maugeri     Terms Offered: Spring Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 20215, TAPS 28465
MAAD 16001. Censorship in East Asia: The Case of Colonial Korea. 100 Units.
This course examines the operation and consequences of censorship in the Japanese Empire, with focus on its effects in colonial Korea. It begins with two basic premises: first, both the Japanese colonial authorities' measures of repression, and the Korean responses to them, can be understood as noticeably more staunch and sophisticated when compared to any other region of the Empire; and second, the censorship practices in Korea offers itself as a case that is in itself an effective point of comparison to better understand other censorship operations in general and the impact of these operations across different regions. With a view to probing an inter- and intra-relationship between censorship practices among a variety of imperial/colonial regions, this course studies the institutions related to censorship, the human agents involved in censorship-both external and internal-and texts and translations that were produced in and outside of Korea, and were subject to censorship. Overall, the course stresses the importance of establishing a comparative understanding of the functions of censorship, and on the basis of this comparative thinking we will strive to conceptualize the characteristics of Japanese colonial censorship in Korea.
Instructor(s): K. Choi     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): CRES 33001, EALC 23001, EALC 43000
MAAD 16210. Media Art and Design Practice. 100 Units.
This studio-based course explores the practice, conventions, and boundaries of contemporary media art and design. This can encompass areas as diverse as interactive installation, app design, and the Internet meme. Through projects and critical discussion, students engage with the problems and opportunities of digitally-driven content creation. Fundamental elements of digital production are introduced, including basic properties of image, video, and the global network. Further topics as varied as-though not limited to-web production, digital fabrication, interfaces, the glitch, and gaming may be considered. Sections will vary based on the instructor's fields of expertise. This course counts towards the General Education requirement in Art-Music-Drama.
Instructor(s): J. Satrom     Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): HUMA 16000 and HUMA 16100 or instructor consent Note(s): This course meets the general education requirement in the arts. This course may not count toward the Media Arts and Design minor. Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 16210
MAAD 16312. Reforming Religious Media: Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. 100 Units.
The Protestant Reformation began with a carefully orchestrated media event, when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of a church in Wittenberg. Concurrently, he resorted to the still new medium of print to disseminate more widely his scathing critique of the Catholic Church's use of indulgences to communicate God's grace. This was only the beginning of Luther's sweeping attack on the Church's role as the sole mediator of salvation. No religious medium or communicational practice remained unquestioned, resulting in their comprehensive reform. Soon other reformers joined in, pushing the critique even further by questioning the need and validity of all religious mediation. Approaching the Protestant Reformation as a reform of religious media, this lecture course will give particular attention to the congenial alliance between Martin Luther's religious message and the emerging technology of the printing press, the role of Scripture in legitimating Protestant theologies of communication, controversies around particular religious media, like images or the eucharist, and the role of direct inspiration in radical reformers. This research course will be a combination of lecture and discussion. The course will culminate in an exhibition at the Special Collections Research Center of Regenstein Library, which will first take the form of a virtual web exhibit and then an actual, physical exhibition in the Winter Quarter 2020. All students will contribute to the web exhibition
Instructor(s): Christopher Wild     Terms Offered: Spring Equivalent Course(s): SIGN 26051, RLVC 32312, RLST 22312, GRMN 22312, HCHR 32312
MAAD 16600. Chance in Performance. 100 Units.
The course will cover the historical, theoretical and practical issues surrounding the use of chance in artistic production, with an emphasis on how these techniques have been used in live performance. We begin with the historical avant-garde, particularly Dada and Duchamp, continue with mid-century experiments by Cage/Cunningham and Fluxus artists, and finish with contemporary work like "No Dice" of Nature Theatre of Oklahoma and "Algorithmic Noir" by Eve Sussman. By creating performance projects using, or responding to, the techniques studied, students will have an opportunity to develop their own critical and practice-based point of view.
Instructor(s): A. Dorsen     Terms Offered: Spring Note(s): Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory. Equivalent Course(s): TAPS 32600, TAPS 22600
MAAD 16718. Approaches to Live Electronics. 100 Units.
Hand-built circuits, tape loops, feedback, filters, ring modulators, turntables, live-processing software environments, microphones, and human-machine interface designs. In this course, we will study current and historical approaches to the performative use of hardware and software environments in music, and will follow the practice as it continues to redefine music composition and improvisation in the 21st century. Study will be repertoire-based, drawing from the work of artists ranging from David Tudor to Herbie Hancock to Grandmaster Flash to Kaija Saariaho.
Instructor(s): Sam Pluta     Terms Offered: Autumn Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 26718, MUSI 36718
MAAD 18500-18600-18700. History of International Cinema I: Silent Era; History of International Cinema II: Sound Era to 1960; History of International Cinema, Part III: 1960 to Present.
This sequence is required of students majoring in Cinema and Media Studies. Taking these courses in sequence is strongly recommended but not required.
MAAD 18500. History of International Cinema I: Silent Era. 100 Units.
This course provides a survey of the history of cinema from its emergence in the mid-1890s to the transition to sound in the late 1920s. We will examine the cinema as a set of aesthetic, social, technological, national, cultural, and industrial practices as they were exercised and developed during this 30-year span. Especially important for our examination will be the exchange of film techniques, practices, and cultures in an international context. We will also pursue questions related to the historiography of the cinema, and examine early attempts to theorize and account for the cinema as an artistic and social phenomenon.
Instructor(s): A.Field     Terms Offered: Autumn Prerequisite(s): Prior or concurrent registration in CMST 10100 required. Required of students majoring or minoring in Cinema and Media Studies. Note(s): This is the first part of a two-quarter course. Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 28500, CMLT 22400, CMST 28500, ENGL 48700, CMST 48500, ARTH 38500, MAPH 33600, CMLT 32400, ARTV 20002, ENGL 29300.
MAAD 18600. History of International Cinema II: Sound Era to 1960. 100 Units.
The center of this course is film style, from the classical scene breakdown to the introduction of deep focus, stylistic experimentation, and technical innovation (sound, wide screen, location shooting). The development of a film culture is also discussed procedural/algorithmic art, digital labor, and competing notions of the virtual.
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