Systems
not surfaces
Too often, media design
has simply been the arrangement of pixels and plug-ins. For us, the
computer and the networks are where dynamics that are aesthetic, social,
political, technical, spatial, linguistic, rythmic, economic, numerical, meet
and shape each other. The role of the designer is to track, sort and
remix these dynamics in relation to others.
Technology, theory,
practice
In a working context where software is doing half the thinking and
doing for you, where is the divide between theory, technology and
practice? This course is committed to a fundamental revaluation of the
division between these terms. We will look for and invent the technology
that is in media philosophy; find the conceptuality of an operating system;
and design in a way that synthesises the power of all three.
The course
started last year and maintains the excitement of a process that is still
being invented. For participants, work is carried out as a series of
group and self-initiated projects. In certain cases participation in
single projects may be arranged. A primary focus of the work is the internet,
education in these technologies is a staple part of our work. Core
themes in our programme are: transmission, use, behaviour, and experience;
knowledge and memory; the political economy of the information society;
citizens and consumers, public and private identities; urban and virtual
reality, network and diaspora.