Standing in front of the mirror, recognizing itself for the first time as both the same as and different from its reflected image, the child comes to know itself as “other,” or, as Lacan says, as a “split self.”

Kathy O’Dell
Contract with the Skin

Each new device adds another type of skin, another visible body to our actual body. The organism is turned inside out like a glove. The interior appears on the outside, while remaining within. For the skin is also the boundary between the self and the external world.

Pierre Lévy
Becoming Virtual

…our need to create stereotypes…has given rise to a fantastic variety of images of the Other, some of them quite remote from observable fact but all of them at one time or another solemnly accepted as veritable truth.

Sander Gilman
Difference and Pathology

…the real is positioned both before and after its representation; and representation becomes a moment of the reproduction and consolidation of the real…

Judith Butler
Force of Fantasy
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Samantha Krukowski
o: CMB 4.120A (the closet at the end of the long hallway) / 471.4222
samantha@rasa.net
office hours: by appointment

TA: Tray Duncan (tduncan@mail.utexas.edu)

GRA: Kris Swift (Raver99999@aol.com)

Tutors:

Maria Gonima (gonima@amoda.org)
Kristin Peterson (spazfoot@mail.utexas.edu)
Chris Roberson (ickymuffin@hotmail.com)
DW: Doug Denny (ddenny@cs.utexas.edu)

Things to buy (find/make/get)

(Most available in the basement of the Co-op on Guadalupe)
Unlined sketchbook
Sound recording device with microphone
Mini-DV camera and tapes
Costumes, props and materials necessary for persona enactment

Materials will vary for each project. Costs are a function of time and materials. The cost of materials can be altered somewhat by decisions you make (i.e.: resource pooling, bulk ordering, alternative methods). Be ready to spend what is required to effectively execute your work.

Things to know

In order to maintain official registration in this course, you must attend the Convergent Media orientation at 6pm on Friday, December 6.

You should be self-motivated to succeed in this course. Work is cumulative. If you are not used to setting your own goals and keeping a fast pace you may have trouble participating and producing work. We are here to help you as you develop ideas, interests and questions. Be prepared to work hard, collaborate with others, stretch your boundaries, share what you learn. Students with no prior background in analog or digital arts may have a harder time completing the work.

The course has a listserv: Your e-mail address will be added to the listserv after the first week of class. Use this listserv to communicate with us, your fellow students, ask technical questions, contribute ideas, share resources. You are encouraged to also subscribe to the converge listserv, a listserv that reaches the growing Convergent Media community. To do so visit the Convergent Media web site (www.aces.utexas.edu/convergentmedia) and go to the listservs link listed under the resources link.

Questions you have and develop may be resolved by practice or by other types of inquiry--theoretical, philosophical, scientific, poetic, etc. There should be times during the semester that you get stuck. You should develop the tools to unstick yourself. If you don’t know what to make, go look at what other people have made. If you don’t know what to say, go read something or watch something or listen to someone interesting. If you are still stuck, in all probability you are not making enough stuff to get yourself moving toward a question you can answer through practice or thought. A motto for the course: Make, make, make. If you show up for help, you will be asked what you are making and for evidence of your efforts and research in the direction of your inquiries.

Your technical ability will increase in proportion to your effort. Hack and be resourceful. There are many, many online tutorials and resources for various programs. Studio facilities are limited which necessitates cooperative scheduling. You may need to use resources in several locations, and finding the right equipment at the right time will probably require initiative on your part.

Readings

Most readings for this class are on overnight reserve. As there are many students in this course, and one copy of each text, plan your access to these readings well in advance of the date they are due. You may wish to purchase some or all of the books. The reserve list for this class extends beyond assigned readings, so take advantage of this catered-to-you mini-library. To see the reserve list for this course, go to: http://reserves.lib.utexas.edu/courseindex.asp

Grading

Projects 1-6 75%

Documentation and Presentation 25%

A high grade will be assigned to those students who work hard, participate extensively and continuously, demonstrate a clear understanding of the readings and course concepts, and produce work that shows evolution in terms of sensibility, process, craft and scope.

A failing grade will be assigned to any student who does not complete all of the projects, misses more than three class sessions, and / or who misses any part of the Final Review. Make sure you mark your calendar and arrange your schedule accordingly.

Documentation and presentation are both large parts of your participation in the course.

As in any creative class, grading criteria are necessarily subjective. You may not agree with our personal evaluation, but decisions are final and no post-grading negotiation will be permitted. I discourage incompletes.

Projects
**Note: you will be working on some of the following projects simultaneously

# 1 Auto|Biography

1a Locate the autobiography or biography of a person whose character and life story will be a continuous guide for you as you develop your persona. Make sure you choose something with enough meat and interest so that it will truly serve as a guide throughout the semester. Read it. Know it. Pay close attention to details that will help you invent a being.

1b Based on the text you choose, write up a substantial list of questions and observations that you anticipate will be important to the creation of your persona. E-mail the name of the text, your reasons for choosing it, and your derived list to the listserv.

# 2 Event Scene 1

As we go you will be getting visions of your persona, imagining it, clothing it, perhaps even enacting it a bit in impromptu and informal ways. Test your visions. Stage five acts-in-the-world for your persona. These five acts should be cumulative—each one should better the previous one and get you closer to understanding and being the persona you are developing. Create a document (any form) that describes each act, the reasons you chose it, and your observations about it. Where possible, include information about “audience” response.

# 3 The Questionnaire

3a Complete The Questionnaire. Do whatever research (personal or otherwise) and create whatever objects necessary. Flesh out details, watch for inconsistencies, have a reason for each choice you make. No answer should derive from your life, all answers should be based on locatable information (historical or present-day.) Include images, quotes, anything that adds richness, anything that thickens the soup.

3b Give a copy of your completed Questionnaire to a classmate. Make sure you keep a clean copy of the original. Take your colleague’s Questionnaire and evaluate it, asking questions, making suggestions, envisioning possibilities. Be critical of clichés and of under-developed ideas. Pay attention to those parts of the Questionnaire that do or do not seem to reveal a recognizable and believable persona.

3c Retrieve your Questionnaire, now considerably edited. Re-write and re-present your Questionnaire in response to your colleague’s evaluation. The final version of your questionnaire should be not only an ideological but a physical construction. Give it a form that is suited to the nature of its contents.

# 4 Event Scene 2

Choose three days and three nights during which you will live and act as your persona. Make sure you conceive this time period in such a way that your persona will not be interrupted. If you break persona at any time during the exercise, you must reconstruct it and begin again. Throughout this exercise, create an audio recording that is an aural document of your experiences for three days and three nights.

# 5 The Work

Your persona should be engaged with activities and production throughout the semester that result in three tangible object|productions. These object|productions are due at various points in the semester and should be used as props in your Document.

# 6 The Document

A video document that describes the character, depth, experiences and production of the persona you have enacted. This is a self | other interview.

6a Script

6b Video Document

Documentation: Sketchbook, Website and CD-ROM

Throughout the semester you should record your experiences and thoughts in an unlined sketchbook. You will also develop a website that documents your work in the course. This site should be designed in such a way that it evokes the character of the work you pursue and complete. You will be given a personal directory on the CM server where you can store your files. Post-dates are the same as project due dates. At the end of the semester this website and its dependent files should be duplicated on a CD-ROM for archival purposes.

Presentation and Final Review

You will be asked often to discuss readings, ideas and the progress of your work with the class and /or visitors. There will be a peer and faculty review during a screening of your work on Sunday, December 8, time TBA. Reserve the entire day for this review. This is an open review and you are welcome to invite anyone to observe and participate.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Faculty Information

To find out more about Samantha Krukowski see: www.rasa.net/samantha

University Speak

Regarding Scholastic Dishonesty: The University defines academic dishonesty as cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsifying academic records, and any act designed to avoid participating honestly in the learning process. Scholastic dishonesty also includes, but is not limited to, providing false or misleading information to receive a postponement or an extension on a test, quiz, or other assignment, and submission of essentially the same written assignment for two courses without the prior permission of the instructor. By accepting this syllabus, you have agreed to these guidelines and must adhere to them. Scholastic dishonest damages both the student's learning experience and readiness for the future demands of a work-career. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. For more information on scholastic dishonesty, please visit the Student Judicial services Web site at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs/.

About services for students with disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.

About the Undergraduate Writing Center: The Undergraduate Writing Center, located in the FAC 211, phone 471-6222, offers individualized assistance to students who want to improve their writing skills. There is no charge, and students may come in on a drop-in or appointment basis.