MC416A - Media Theory:   The Interactee
Sara Roberts

William Blake     Urizen, 1794

Class description:
Exploring the nature, perceptual abilities, reflexes, and propensities of the "interactee" can lead to more effective work. This is a study of audience perception, in particular perception of music, media, and artwork. Starting with consciousness, and moving through gradually broader contexts: cognition, emotional perception, finally to the cultural "reading" of works. Class work will require reading. Lecture and in-class exercises are on topics complimentary to reading: presence, memory, anthropomorphism, and critique. Discussion groups, meeting every third class, will focus on synthesizing the reading and lecture topics.

Schedule:

Meeting 1 (Sept 13) Introduction

FIRST SECTION: CONSCIOUSNESS AND PRESENCE

Meeting 2 (Sept 20)
Reading : Nørretranders Ch 6
          Thompson, Consciousness and Empathy
Lecture Topic: Presence

Meeting 3 (Sept 27)
Discussion Groups

Meeting 4 (Oct 4)
First Paper due - reading and discussion of papers

Meeting 5 (Oct 11) - Holiday

SECOND SECTION: MEMORY

Meeting 6 (Oct 18)
First paper handed back  
Reading: Snyder, ch.1 Auditory Memory, ch.8 Schemas
Optional: ch.12 Rhythm, ch.13 Form
Lecture/Exercise: Memory Theatre

Meeting 7 (Oct 25)
Discussion Groups

Meeting 8 (Nov 1)
Second Paper due
Reading and discussion of papers

THIRD SECTION: THE QUALITY WITHOUT A NAME

Meeting 9 (Nov 8)
Second paper handed back
Reading: Alexander, from The Timeless Way of Building, ch.2 and from The Luminous Ground, The Ten Thousand Beings
Lecture Topic: Anthropomorphism and Empathy

Meeting 10 (Nov 15)
Discussion Groups

Meeting 11 (Nov 22)
Third Paper due
Reading and discussion of papers

FOURTH SECTION: WAYS OF "READING"

Meeting 12 (Nov 29)
Third paper handed back
Reading: John Berger Ways of Seeing sections 1-5
Lecture topic: What goes on in critique?

Meeting 13 (Dec 6)
Discussion Groups

Meeting 14 (Dec 13)
Fourth paper due
Reading and discussion of papers, and class in general

On reserve in the CalArts Library :

The User Illusion - Tor Nørretranders
Other texts on consciousness -
  Consciousness, an Introduction - Susan Blackmore
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind - J Jaynes
Empathy and Consciousness (paper)- Evan Thompson,
 (Also available online www.imprint.co.uk/pdf/Thompson.pdf)
Music and Memory - Bob Snyder
(mid- October) A CD of music examples for Snyder
The Art of Memory - Francis Yates
A Pattern Language - Christopher Alexander
The Timeless Way of Building - Christopher Alexander
The Luminous Ground - Christopher Alexander
Ways of Seeing - John Berger (both video and book

Email: