Course Description

In the past decades, new forms of self-representation and new technologies have opened up entirely new possibilities for performance art. They also have triggered and reshaped vital social and cultural discourses on identity, ethnicity, or gender, among others. This course focuses on the experimentation and performative exploration of the “self” on social media, through video memoirs, or in new technologies such as virtual or augmented reality.  Together, we will examine case studies of artists using these technologies and focusing on intersectional and cyberfeminist feminist practice and ethnic futurism. The class is structured around individual projects, in-class exercises, lectures and activities.  Participants are encouraged to develop conceptual and creative links between their production and the work of other artists and they are given a variety of tools and techniques which will allow them to experiment and play with new technology and gain a critical understanding of the discourses embedded in them. 

COURSE OUTCOMES

Create an original video or digital art project with social media, video or AR
Build conceptual and technical skills for the creation of performative digital artwork 
Experiment with new forms in performative digital art
Learn how to observe historical and cultural issues in performative digital art from an intersectional lens
Develop a critical vocabulary for discussing and critiquing digital art 
Acquire an interdisciplinary, intersectional and intermedia approach to performative digital art 
 

REQUIREMENTS:

Participants need access to a working computer, reliable wifi and cell phone. Access to video editing software is ideal but students can complete the work without one. Participants will need to download a temporary app on their devices to complete the AR project.  The app compatible with both Android and IOS. 

Syllabus

Rah Eleh is a video, net and performance artist based in Toronto, Canada. Rah's work focuses on and critiques the visual stereotypes and performative aspects that shape female gender identity and national and ethnic identity. She is interested in how race and gender are performed from multiple layered perspectives: exilic, decolonial, queer and diasporic. Rah has lectured and exhibited extensively internationally at institutions including NYU Tisch, The New School, Alfred University, Dalhousie University, Images Festival (Toronto), Museum London, Carleton University Art Gallery (Ottawa), Williams College Museum of Art (Williamstown, MA), Miami Art Basel, Nieuwe Vide (Haarlem, Netherlands), Pao Festival (Oslo, Norway), Kunst am Spreeknie (Berlin, Germany), Kunsthaus Graz Museum (Graz, Austria), and Onassis Cultural Center (Athens, Greece). Rah is represented by VTape, Canada's leading artist-run distributor for video art.