TEACHING
I am currently an Asisstant Arts Professor at NYUs Interactive Media Arts and Interactive Telecommunication Program.
Here’s a selection of the courses I’ve developed and taught:
THE POETICS OF SPACE
Interacitve Telecommunications Program, Tisch, NYU
Course Description:
"Memories are motionless, and the more securely they are fixed in space, the sounder they are." (from The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard). This course is about exploring the unique affordances of virtual (and physical) space in order to create VR experiences that transcend the (still awkward) headset. This class is meant to inspire critical thinking and creativity through lateral exploration and experimentation. We will draw inspiration from a variety of disciplines that may not seem to initially relate to VR at all: we will create that relationship through discussion and practice.
FIRST PERSON SOMETHING
Interacitve Telecommunications Program, Tisch, NYU
In this experimental seven week seminar/studio, we explore together media meant to be experienced from a first person point of view (ie, training simulations, found footage horror, first person shooters, Go Pro videos, Snapchat Spectacles, VR and AR), or that otherwise deals with “first person” perspectives.
Course Bibliography
CRITICAL EXPERIENCES
Interacitve Telecommunications Program, Tisch, NYU
How does one develop a creative practice grounded in research, and clarity around the impact of one’s work?
The course Critical Experiences offers skill-building in both research methods and experience design for artists/designers who are interested in participation/interaction and its relationship to social practice, critical design, and change-making. You will adopt a wide variety of conceptual tools and strategies in order to lay the foundations of your practice by considering ideas, materials, media, context, and audience, as well as one’s personal strengths and desires.
A research-based art practice brings together an eccentric mixture of skills, including traditional forms of research (library and interview techniques, informal ethnographies) and experimental hands-on research (hunch-following, experimentation, systems thinking, prototyping, daily practice, user experience design, and user-testing).
Co-developed with Marina Zurkow.
CONTENT AND ITS DISCONTENTS
Interacitve Telecommunications Program, Tisch, NYU
Course Description:
This is a crash course in working with the affordances (and shortcomings) of a new tool. We will go against the impulse to throw the paintbrush away after making one painting, and learn and practice creative and generative techniques for iterating, developing concepts, refining and presenting work.
DIRECTING VIRTUAL REALITY
Graduate Film + Interacitve Telecommunications Program, Tisch, NYU
co-taught with Carol Dysinger
Course Description:
How does an interesting piece of technology become a tool for making art?
When the Steadicam was invented, it was revolutionary technology, because it was a way to move a camera without laying track. But when Kubrick and the cinematographer who invented it, Garret Brown, got together on The Shining, it began to have a language and a meaning all its own.
In this class, Grad Film directing and cinematography students and ITP students will look at Virtual Reality and experiment with VR storytelling techniques.
Above all, this class will be experimental, focussing on the artistic possibilities of cinematic VR -- an antidote to the tech industry's impulse to churn out demos for the next newest hardware.
RENDERING WORLDS
Eugene Lang College, The New School
co-taught with Deborah Levitt
Course Description:
Rendering Worlds brings together theory and practice to explore how emerging media reflect on and create new forms of experience through the processes of world building. The central focus is on Virtual Reality (VR): The course explores media history and theory as these inform the new affordances and potentials of VR and, in turn, investigates how world building in VR might inspire new historical and theoretical perspectives.
HYPERCINEMA
Interactive Media Arts, Tisch, NYU
Course Description:
An introductory course designed to provide students with hands-on experience using various technologies including time based media, video production, digital imaging, audio, video and animation. The forms and uses of new communications technologies are explored in a laboratory context of experimentation and discussion.
IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES
Interactive Media Arts, Tisch, NYU
Course Description:
This course is designed to provide students with hands-on experience working with interactive and emerging applications for creating immersive experiences, with a focus on designing for virtual reality headsets. The class will also touch on related technologies, methods, and fields including experience design, virtual painting, augmented reality, interactive installation, and 360 video/audio. The course materials will also include readings and discussions on prior art/relevant critical texts.