This class covers the history of 20th century art and design from the perspective of the technologist. Methods for visual analysis, oral critique, and digital expression are introduced. Class projects this term use the OLPC XO (One Laptop Per Child) laptop, Csound and Python software.

A laboratory-based exploration of the principles, techniques, and applications of holography as a 3-D imaging communication medium. Begins with interference and diffraction, and proceeds through laser off-axis holography to white-light "rainbow" and reflection holography. Term project required, with oral presentation and written report. MAS.450 is a laboratory course about holography and holographic imaging. This course teaches holography from a scientific and analytical point of view, moving from interference and diffraction to imaging of single points to the display of three-dimensional images. Using a "hands-on" approach, students explore the underlying physical phenomena that make holograms work, as well as designing laboratory setups to make their own images. The course also teaches mathematical techniques that allow the behavior of holography to be understood, predicted, and harnessed. Holography today brings together the fields of optics, chemistry, computer science, electrical engineering, visualization, three-dimensional display, and human perception in a unique and comprehensive way. As such, MAS.450 offers interesting and useful exposure to a wide range of principles and ideas. As a course satisfying the Institute Laboratory Requirement, MAS.450 teaches about science, scientific research, and the scientific method through observation and exploration, hinting at the excitement that inventors feel before they put their final equations to paper.

This course is designed in the tightly controlled space between (national) security and (civil) liberty, student projects, guest presentations, readings and workshop discussions will attempt to develop positive answers to these questions. More specifically, the course will focus on the psychological, economical and political conditions of those who are marginalized and therefore deprived of parrhesia today: the silent victims and witnesses of any kind of social and cultural exclusions. "Parrhesia" was an Athenian right to frank and open speaking, the right that, like the First Amendment, demands a "fearless speaker" who must challenge political powers with criticism and unsolicited advice. Can designer and artist respond today to such a democratic call and demand? Is it possible to do so despite the (increasing) restrictions imposed on our liberties today? Can the designer or public artist operate as a proactive "parrhesiatic" agent and contribute to the protection, development and dissemination of "fearless speaking" in Public Space.

During this course, we will be exploring basic questions of architecture through several short design exercises. Working with many different media, students will discover the interrelationship of architecture and its related disciplines, such as structures, sustainability, architectural history and the visual arts. Each problem will focus on one of these disciplines and one exploration and presentation technique.

Investigates fundamental issues in photography, both analog and digital, and the nature of the photographic image as well as nontraditional ways of exploring the photographic vision. Explores relationship of image to language as well as the issues of meaning, interpretation, and their relationship to culture.

Introduces fundamental issues in sculpture such as site, context, process, psychology and aesthetics of the object, and the object's relation to the body. Explores issues of interpretation and audience interaction. Introduces a variety of materials and techniques including wood, plaster, and metal (welding and forging). This class introduces fundamental issues in sculpture such as site, context, process, psychology and aesthetics of the object, and the object's relation to the body. During the semester Introduction to Sculpture will explore issues of interpretation and audience interaction. As a significant component to this class introductions to a variety of materials and techniques both traditional (wood, metal, plaster) as well as non-traditional (fabric, latex, found objects, rubber, etc.) will be emphasized.

Introduction to artistic practice and aesthetic analysis through studio work and lectures. Students communicate ideas and experiences through various media such as sculpture, installation, performance, and video. Projects evolve through stages of conceptual and material development to final presentation. Lectures, visiting artist presentations, field trips, and readings supplement studio practice, providing an index to the historical, cultural, and environmental forces that affect both development of artistic vision and reception of works of art.

In this art history video discussion Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker consider Fernand Khnopff's "I Lock the Door Upon Myself," 1891. Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

They disucss the Symbolist painters and a poem by Christina Rosetti.

This art history video presents a conversation between Salman Khan and Beth Harris about Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" (c. 1503-1505, oil on panel) and its changing meaning. (Musée du Louvre).

In this art history video discussion Beth Harris and Steven Zucker look at the "Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus: Battle of Romans and Barbarians," c. 250-260 C.E., preconneus marble. Palazzo Altemps: Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome. This sarcophagus, also known as the Great Ludovisi sarcophagus (or the Via Tiburtina Sarcophagus), is thought to be a memorial to the wars between the Ostrogoths and Imperial Romans then taking place. It was found in 1621 and named after Ludovico Ludovisi, its initial modern owner.

In this course students create digital visual images and analyze designs from historical and theoretical perspectives with an emphasis on art and design, examining visual experience in broad terms, and from the perspectives of both creators and viewers. The course addresses key topics such as: image making as a cognitive and perceptual practice, the production of visual significance and meaning, and the role of technology in creating and understanding digitally produced images. Students will be given design problems growing out of their reading and present solutions using technologies such as the Adobe Creative Suite and/or similar applications.

In this art history video discussion Beth Harris and Steven Zucker consider Michael Pacher's "Saint Wolfgang Altarpiece," 1471-81, polychrome pine, linden, gilding, and oil (sculpture and painting). Parish Church, Sankt Wolfgang, Austria.

A free and open-source introduction to the art and science of cinema. From the earliest iterations to the latest innovations, this introductory text explores the tools and techniques of mise-en-scene, narrative form, cinematography, editing, sound and acting, how each has contributed to the evolution of cinematic language, and how that evolution implicates critical issues of representation in mass media. Moving Pictures offers in-depth examination of how cinema communicates, and what, exactly, it is trying to say.

This are history video discussion with Beth Harris and Steven Zucker looks at Myron of Eleutherae's "Discobolus (Discus Thrower)", Roman marble copy of an ancient Greek bronze, c. 450 B.C.E. (Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome).

In this art history video discussion Beth Harris and Steven Zucker look at Sir Peter Paul Rubens' "The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus," 1617-18, oil on canvas. Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Combines practical instruction, readings, lectures, and group discussions intended to foster an aesthetic appreciation of photography and digital imaging, and a critical awareness of how images in our culture are produced and constructed. Practical instruction in basic black and white techniques, digital imaging, fundamentals of 35mm camera operation, studio lighting, film exposure and development, and darkroom printing. A student-initiated term project provides opportunity to develop technical and perception skills. Work is presented in a critical form throughout term. students. Subject combines practical instruction, readings, lectures, field trips, visiting artists, group discussions, and individual reviews. Fosters a critical awareness of how images in our culture are produced and constructed. Student-initiated term project at the core of exploration. Special consideration given to the relationship of space and the photographic image. Practical instruction in basic black and white techniques, digital imaging, fundamentals of camera operation, lighting, film exposure, development, and printing.

This art history video presents a conversation between Salman Khan and Steven Zucker about sculpture and the language of representation. They examine Pablo Picasso's "Guitar" (1912-) 1914, made of ferrous sheet metal and wire. It's currently at the The Museum of Modern Art.

This art history video discussion looks at Fra Andrea Pozzo's "Glorification of Saint Ignatius" ceiling fresco in the nave of Sant'Ignazio, Rome, 1691-1694.

Subject engages a dialogue with architecture and urbanism from the perspective of the visual artist. Ideas investigated thematically from early modernist practices to the most recent examples of contemporary production. Art making as an adjunct to the design process is challenged by both synthetic and critical models of production. Visual art practice is examined as a conceptual prologue to architectural and urbanistic thinking, as an integrated part of the design process, and as a critical epilogue. Lectures and discussions lead to the development of realized projects to be coordinated with architectural studio. This seminar engages in the notion of space from various points of departure. The goal is first of all to engage in the term and secondly to examine possibilities of art, architecture within urban settings in order to produce what is your interpretation of space.

What are the circuits, mechanisms and representations that permit the recognition of a visual scene from just one glance? In this one-day seminar on Scene Understanding, speakers from a variety of disciplines -- neurophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, visual cognition, computational neuroscience and computer vision -- will address a range of topics related to scene recognition, including natural image categorization, contextual effects on object recognition, and the role of attention in scene understanding and visual art. The goal is to encourage exchanges between researchers of all fields of brain sciences in the burgeoning field of scene understanding.