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Fall 2008: I served on the Curriculum Committee in the department of art. Our main considerations were:
1) re-evaluation of major project for the BFA track; after consideration of all feedback from students and instructors, we decided to recommend to the department to break the class into a number of options: 1st, an “Art and Life” course, much in the style of the present “Art in the Twin Cities” course; as many of the BFAs do not go on to pursue careers in the arts, a fitting cap-stone course would be to assure that the know their local art world well and have experienced it aesthetically and critically. Another option would be an advanced studio; most BFAs do not get a lot of studio experience in our department (more than P are transfer students). An additional upper level studio would allow them valuable time to develop their voice
2) re-consideration of the Public Spaces position for grads: the last three graduate students have quit this position due to its unrealistic demands. A potential solution can be to make the BFA show juried, and therefore smaller.
3) re-consideration of the 2-year language requirement for BFAs. This question is to be investigated further
Fall 2008: ART 8400: Theoretical Constructions in Contemporary Art
First Year Graduate Seminar
Professors: Ali Momeni, Jenny Schmid
This course focuses on theories of contemporary art and how they have created a foundation for current art practices. In addition to reflecting on theory, this class seeks to collectively explore new paradigms in the ways that artists are working today- through the creation of collectives, the globalized community and artist-as-curator model. Can post-modernism shift to not just operate as a resistance against an historical Western paradigm, but rather formulate new approaches that are based in a globalized, less provincial and more dynamic way of thinking?
Here are links to the syllabus/course description, the class blog, and the assigned readings.
Fall 2008: COLA 1521/3521/4521: The Art of Collaboration
Professors or record: Ali Momeni,
Participating professors: Guerino Mazzola, Michael Sommers
A collaborative creative environment where over the course of a semester, students from different disciplines create a installation or performance that expresses their independent and collective talents and interests.
Find more information on the class blog.
Fall 2008: COLA 1001: The Art of Collaboration
Professors: Guerino Mazzola, Ali Momeni, Michael Sommers
This introductory course presents the characteristics and the challenges of collaboration through three representative approaches from the visual arts, music, and theater. The course unfolds around concrete problematic situations arising from the project of a collaborative and multimedia-enhanced project.
The class includes lectures by guest artists as well as exploration of the cultural landscape of the Twin Cities.
See the syllabus and class description or find more information on the class blog.
Check out this article in the Minnesota Daily, showcasing MAW’s activities as a student activities group. Here is the original link from MN Daily’s site.
An article by Chris Clayton on MAW in the Seattle Business Monthly…
This article in the New York Times by Julie Bloom covers The UnConvention and MAW’s participation in the event.
Check out this article on MAW which appeared in METRO magazine this week. Here is the original link on METRO’s site.
Between July 21-25 of 2008, I taught the 13th annual MaxMSP Night School, hosted by CNMAT. This was the 9th year I taught at the night school, crazy!
I have posted all course material on CNMAT’s 2008 Max/MSP Night School page.
Spring 2008:
I was recommended by UMN Vice President Steven Rosenstone to Weismann Art Museum Director Lyndel King to serve on the advisory committee for the museums expansion project.
The project involves the construction of several new gallery spaces, as well as a “Target Collaborative Studio”, on the front side of the museum.
The project should be completed by 2010.
I gave a lecture to a class of bright eyed Carletonites, makes me miss Swarthmore College….
Here is the announcement.
Spring 2008:
I was invited by Vice President for Scholarly and Cultural Affairs, Steven Rosenstone, to be a part of the 6-member technology advisory committee for the ambitious re-design of Northrop Hall, one of the oldest buildings on the UMN Twin Cities Campus.
We collectively came up with a list of wants, needs and ideas; they include: the maximization of public spaces, the allocation of the best spaces in the building to those public spaces, the need for a highly wired building, the possibility to use the outside of the building (e.g. projections) as well as the inside, the possibilities of visualizing the activity inside the space on the outside architecture.
Fall 2008:
Benjamin M. Johnson has been appointed to the position of Concerts and Lectures at the University of Minnesota, here‘s the announcement.
Video documentaiton of a panel discussion on Feb. 13, 2:30-4:30pm, in Regis Art Center’s In-flux space.
The participants were the following:
-Mary Altman, Minneapolis Art Commission Public Arts Coordinator (confirmed)
-Mike Hoyt, Director of Kulture Klub (confirmed)
-Nora Paul, Director of the Institute for New Media Studiesat the U of M (confirmed)
-Jim Nystrom, UMN Police officer responsible for West Bank and Athletic Facilities (confirmed)
-Tracy Smith, UMN General Council Attorney in charge of student activities (confirmed)
-Steve Johnson, UMPD Deputy Chief
I acted as a moderator for the first segment of the panel discussion (about one hour); we then open the discussion to questions and answers for another hour.
I was invited to give a lecture on my work as a part of the UMN Electrical and Computer Engineering Department‘s colloquia series.
Below, a video recording of the lecture….
I’m teaching a course along with Professor Doug Geers from the School of Music, on the topic of treating time. The course is titled Interdisciplinary Media Collaborations: Treating Time and here is the course description.
I received a grant from University of Minnesota’s CLA-OIT to support a course I devised inspired by Graffiti Research Lab. The course is titled Art for the people/Art on Wheels here’s the course description.
I am immeasurably excited about the possibilities of the course…
At last, thanks to my main man Mark Knierim, a map of this incredible facility call Regis Art Center.
Mark also told me about the Four Gates of Speech among his many wise words…
Here is the full size image.
To share my work with their Lemur controller, the cats at JazzMutant have selected me among their featured artists with this profile.
My first course at the University of Minnesota’s Art Department focusing on generative video with Max/MSP> and Jitter.
Check out the course’s blog.
It is finally official:
I have started a faculty position at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The position is a tenure-track assistant professorship, appointed in the Department of Art and the Interdisciplinary Program for Collaborative Arts (IPCA).
I am looking very forward to the new life, the new environment, new possibilities and my new immediate colleagues: Guerino Mazzola (Music), Michael Sommers (Theater), Diane Willow (Art, Time and Interactivity), and Lynn Lukkas (Art, Time and Interactivity) and Michael Cherlin (Music, Director of IPCA).
This fall, I will teach two courses; the first on Experimental Video, and the second on Time.
And the best part: my email address in a university with 60,000 people: ali at umn dot edu
Let the good times begin….
Course evaluation form results from 2005, 2006 and 2007, with 38 out of 62 students responding to the survey.
A PDF version of CNMAT’s MaxMSP Night School Student Evaluation is here.
Between July 23-27 of 2007, I taught the 12th annual MaxMSP Night School, hosted by CNMAT.
A few related links:
–Course Syllabus and Patches
–Course Evaluation Form (please fill it out if you took the course!)
–Evaluation Results
In the 2005 academic year, I taught interactivity design and real-time programming at ENSAD‘s ARi program.
My Max/MSP/Jitter patches for the initial intensive workshop are here by day:
–Monday
–Tuesday
–Wednesday
–Thursday
My students’ projects are documented here.
Between July 24-28 of 2006, I taught the 10th annual MaxMSP Night School, hosted by CNMAT.
A few related links:
–Course Syllabus and Patches
–Course Evaluation Form (please fill it out if you took the course!)
–Evaluation Results
A video profile produced by Sue C. and posted on Cycling 74.
In the 2004 academic year, I taught interactivity design and real-time programming at ENSAD‘s ARi program.
My Max/MSP/Jitter patches for the initial intensive workshop are here by day:
–Monday
–Tuesday
–Wednesday
–Thursday
–Friday
–One more day
My students’ projects are documented here.
Between July 11-15 of 2005, I thought the 10th annual MaxMSP Night School, hosted by CNMAT.
A few related links:
–Course Syllabus and Patches
–Course Evaluation Form (please fill it out if you took the course!)
–Evaluation Results
In the 2003 academic year, I taught interactivity design and real-time programming at ENSAD‘s ARi program.
My students’ projects are documented here.