Digital Media and Video
Medium Labs developing Quantopia VR with Roger Antonsen and Greg Niemeyer
Quantopia VR by DJ Spooky and Greg Niemeyer, 2019
Media Innovation is the process of creating new media: content and ways of sharing that did not exist before. The thermometer was once a new medium: It was invented to observe a phenomenon and communicate that observation beyond the phenomenon itself. The thermostat took the concept one step further by creating a feedback loop between observation and action. AI and Robotics deepen such feedback loops. As human needs and the environments we live in change, we at times need to innovate new media to help us understand and adapt to these changes.
From 1969 onward, media innovations were concentrated in the area of Information Technology. and many media innovations looked like art projects before they became part of mainstream culture. In courses including Data Arts, Game Design Methods, and Video Art, UC Berkeley students study the history of these innovations, methods for pursuing and realizing ideas collaboratively, and methods for critically understanding the impacts of new media on humans, communities, systems, environments, cats, and other living things. Towards a Data Culture!
An outstanding example of new media art is work of Alumnus Ian Cheng, who created a new way of making art with his autonomous interactive agents, and of many others who contributed to the development of new games, new cultures, and ultimately, new ways of life.
We do not specialize in commercial art fields such as character animation, illustration, graphic design, logo design, fashion, or UX design. Students seeking these specific disciplines are encouraged to find an alternate program.
Courses rotate between these selections:
ART 23AC: Digital Media: Foundations
ART 26: Moving Image: Foundations
ART 138: Temporal Structures: Video and Performance Art
ART 142: New Genres
ART 145: Contemporary Rituals: New Forms in Performance and Video Art
ART 160: Special Topics in Visual Studies
ART 171: Video Projects
ART 172: Advanced Digital Media: Computer Graphics Studio
ART 173: Electro-Crafting
ART 174: Advanced Digital Video
ART 178: Game Design Methods
More information on the Digital Media Labs, including facilities for Video, Digital Photography, Game Design, and Sound Art.
Location: Anthropology + Art Practice Building, second floor
Faculty oversight:
Anne Walsh, Associate Professor
Asma Kazmi, Assistant Professor
Chris Kubick, Senior Continuing Lecturer
Greg Niemeyer, Professor