Exploring “non-traditional media”

This course is about “non-traditional media”.   What does this really mean?

What does the term “non-traditional media” encompass?

Who are the artists in this field, and what kinds of work do they do?  Where would you see it?

What types of art in non-traditional media are you interested in creating? What do find exciting, or repulsive?

As a small group (3) of art students, you will explore and report on the answers to these questions.

Over two days, use the internet and any other resources at hand to form an informed view of the types of art covered under the umbrella of terms like non-traditional media, new media, avant-garde art and so on.

Your Powerpoint presentation should start with a definition of what you come to understand as the meaning of “non-traditional media”.

Your presentation should be a thorough review of the broad range of non-traditional art media.

Give us descriptions and examples of works and artists working in as many genres as you can come up with.  Think broadly – for instance, do the Japanese artists who lower themselves from high buildings to the ground at imperceptibly slow rates qualify?  (yes!)

Your mission is to inform and stimulate us, not to bore us with a mechanical reading of concepts you copied but haven’t really tried to understand.  Help us all grow in our understanding of the frontiers of art.

In some cases, you’ll find images on the net that you can incorporate as slides.  Be sure to include the URL (web address) on any “borrowed” image.  Ask me if you need to capture an image that’s on your screen but not directly saveable.  Same goes for sounds – we can capture anything playing through your speakers and put it in Powerpoint.

In other cases, such as video or sound clips, it may be best to save a link to the website so that you can quickly take us there during your presentation.

Include examples of media or artforms :

• 3 that are new and appeal to you
• 3 more that you would like to work in if you had the chance.
• 1 that uses photography in a new or unusual way. (this might be one of the 6 above)
• 1 that you find disturbing, questionable (as art), or repulsive.  For this one, tell us what bothers you about it, and try nevertheless to defend it as a legitimate artform.

It is expected that each member of the group will talk about one of the "new & appealings" and one of the "like to work ins". The whole group can identify the last 1, or you might have individual opinions.

Some Rules and Tips:

• All members of the team must be actively engaged in the research and creation of the presentation.  Don’t take turns or divide up responsibilities
• Individually, briefly keep track of the most inspiring parts your explorations and thoughts in your journal – a few rough notes, sketches, mind-maps and doodles.  This will be checked as part of your mark.
• You only have 2 ½ classes in which to do your research and finish your presentation.  At the end of this you will present, and your presentation will be collected from your workspace. You can't keep working on yours when others are presenting.
• You must give your full attention to other presentations.  You are expected to challenge, ask questions, etc.  Presenters should try to stimulate discussion.
• Where to Save: In the G: drive of one group member (the space where you log in and keep your work), create a new folder and name it AWT4.
• Go into your AWT4 folder and create a sub-folder.  Name it “NTM”.   If you use any other names or spellings, I can’t collect your work easily, and you’ll lose easy marks!
• What to Save: Save any necessary images etc. to the G:/AWT4/NTM folder. 
• Finename to Use: Create your presentation in the NTM folder, and name it name_name_name.ppt, where name means your first name & initial – enough to easily identify you.  E.g. mickj_keithr_woodr.ppt
• Clean Up: Each time you insert a file into your presentation, delete the original file from your folder, to keep the folder as small as possible.
• Put your names on your title screen. 
• DO NOT use time-consuming special effects, such as text that slowly appears. Just be clear, brief and to the point.
• Don’t forget to give URL sources for all images. Just paste it in under the pic, and make the font small. It doesn't have to look good.
• Use lots of examples – several works and artists for each genre, lots of genres
• The presentation should take about 10 minutes.  You should cover 8-10 different genres, maybe more if you go quickly.  This might mean you need 20 slides as examples and explanations.
• Avoid a lot of large text on the screen. Make your titles readable by the audience, but details can be in a small font, just big enough to cue you, the presenters. Make most of the slides predominantly visual.
• Remember to clean up. Keep an eye on the size of your presentation (e.g. in Details view). 10 Mb is fine, but 50 Mb means you're doing something wrong, like inserting huge pics and shrinking them. If you have eally big images to insert, ask me how to shrink them in PhotoShop.

Evaluation

Process – 10 marks

• All members of the team engaged at all times.  Serious attempt to discover as much as possible.
• presentation saved in the correct sub-folder on time; all unnecessary files deleted

Results – 20 marks

• The number and quality of legitimate genres of non-traditional media you discover counts here; so does being unique
• Good examples found, illustrating each genre and the breadth of the field
• Several different important genres and artists recognized
• Spans a wide variety of important modern NTM art.
• Unique results – find genres that others don’t think of; don’t just use the first thing that Google gives you!  Think outside the box!

Presentation – 20 marks

• Powerpoint show looks good, flows well, covers a broad range of genres
• Presentation adheres to the suggested time of 10 minutes, plus a minute or two of discussion.
• Audience is stimulated and well-informed by your presentation – it introduces them to some interesting forms of non-traditional media
• All group members have something to say (use the slides as illustrations for a talk, rather than just showing and reading slides)
• The presentation stimulates discussion.  If not, be prepared to ask the audience some questions.  The three required media examples (new & appealing; maybe like to work in it; bothered by it) might be the most provocative part.