Course

Week 1: Course Introduction

Overview over course structure and class projects
Discussion of similarities and differences of cinema and interactive media
Screening and discussion of examples both domains


Week 2: Form and Phenomenon of Cinema

Lecture on the characteristics of film and narrative
Screening and discussion of relevant examples
Reading: David Bordwell / Kristin Thomson: The Concept of Form in Film, in Bordwell / Thomson: Film Art, 1990 (Download text)

Week 3: Form and Phenomenon of Interactive Media

Lecture on the characteristics of interactive media
Screening and discussion of relevant examples of interactive cinema
Reading: Gonzalo Frasca: Simulation versus Narrative, in Wolf / Perron: The Video Game Theory Reader, 2003 (Download text)
Assignment due: Presentation of individual research on the concept of interactive cinema

Week 4: Open Work – Open Forms

Lecture on open works and alternative narrative forms
Reading: Umberto Eco: The Poetics of the Open Work, in Eco: The Open Work, 1989 (Download text)
Due: Presentation and discussion of project concepts

Week 5: Introduction to the production of interactive experiences / Programming 1

Hands-on introduction into the main production methods for interactive experiences and
introduction into programming; part 1

Week 6 Introduction to the production of interactive experiences / Programming 2

Introduction into design strategies for interactive experiences and
introduction into programming; part 2


Week 7: Construction of Meaning: Combination / Recombination

Lecture on montage, database narrative, and the creation of meaning through combination
Screening and discussion of relevant examples
Reading: Lev Manovich: Database as a Symbolic Form, in Manovich: The Language of New Media, 2001 (Download text)


Week 8: Deconstruction of Meaning: Counter Narrative and Hacking

Lecture on deconstructive approaches to film and narrative, and counter strategies in interactive media
Screening and discussion of relevant examples from the domains of cinema and interactive media
Reading: Italo Calvino: Cybernetics and Ghosts, in Calvino: The Uses of Literature, 1986 (Download text)

Week 9: Spring Recess

Week 10: Intermediate Screening

Due: Intermediate presentation of the class projects


Week 11: Crossover – Database: Peter Greenaway’s Tulse Luper Suitcases

Lecture on the art of exhaustion
Screening and discussion of works of Peter Greenaway: The Tulse Luper Suitcases (interactive), The Stairs (installation), and excerpts from The Moab Story (film)
Reading: Benjamin Noys: Tulse Luper Database: Peter Greenaway, the New Media Object and the Art of Exhaustion, in Image and Narrative, 2005 (Download text)


Week 12: Crossover – Memory: Chris Marker

Lecture on aspects of memory and memory distortion
Screening and discussion of works of Chris Marker: Sans Soleil (film), Immemory (interactive)
Reading: Jaques Derrida: The Book to Come; in: Paper Machine, 2005 (Download text)


Week 13: Crossover – Altered Perception: Michael Snow

Lecture on reality, virtuality, and the reality referent
Screening and discussion of works of Michael Snow: Wavelength (film), Digital Snow (interactive)
Reading: Roland Barthes: Camera Lucida, No. 34 to 37, in Barthes: Camera Lucida, 1981 (Download text
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Week 14: Crossover – Psychoanalysis: Zoe Beloff

Lecture on psychoanalysis, spatial representation and forgetting
Screening and discussion of works of Zoe Beloff: Charming Augustine (film), Here Where Where There There Where (interactive), The Somnambulists (installation)
Reading: Bob Rehak: Playing at Being, in Wolf / Perron: The Video Game Theory Reader, 2003 (Download text)


Week 15: Final Screening

Due: Final presentation of the class projects
Class round-up and evaluation


Download the Syllabus here