Course

This course enables students to explore individualized topics for interdisciplinary research. It provides students with a foundation in innovative practices that bring together the arts and sciences irrespective of medium or modality. This exploration will be conducted in relation to students’ current research focus or creative interests. Students will engage in research and/or creative work centered on a specific topic and identify how this relates to their evolving academic and professional career and existing body of work. Students conceive project concepts independently or collaboratively, execute, complete and document the project by semester’s end.

Participants

Ermir Bejo

Jeremy Deutsch

Gussan Jalil

Amelia Jaycen

Sam Johnson

Max Parola

Gabriel Vega

Projects

Always Making the Shot

Always Making the Shot, Gussan Jalil, Gussan Jalil

As a freelance photographer I find that my lens will get very dirty if I don’t remember to clean it. Countless lens cloths have gone missing or gotten dirty from my camera bag. Often I wonder about how much time I have spent digging into my camera bag trying to find a little square cloth to clean my camera. How many photographic moments have I missed because of the arduous cleaning...
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The effect of sound on presence

Max Parola, Sam Johnson, Sam Johnson, Spring 2015 Independent Research Projects, The Effect of Sound on Presence

Description: We want to isolate and evaluate the effect that sound has on presence experienced in a virtual environment (using established methods for measuring presence). Plan We currently have all resources we will need other than test subjects. These resources include an oculus rift, a variety of VR software experiences supporting sound (we haven’t decided which we will use yet), hardware capable of supporting a seamless experience for the user, and a nondescript, neutral space to conduct the experiments....
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Mindful Improvisational Music and Dance

Jeremy Deutsch, Jeremy Deutsch, Mindful Improvisational Music and Dance, Spring 2015 Independent Research Projects

The purpose of this project is to begin to explore the experience of improvisational music and movement while paired with mindfulness meditation practices, and its application in people’s lives. The materials are basic but crucial- an instrument to create melodies (and possibly rhythms) and space for the movement of at least few people. In this first stage of the project, I will produce a repeatable format for an interactive experience between movers...
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Digital Manipulation of Local Geography and Landscape

Digital Manipulation of Local Geography and Landscape, Gabriel Vega, Gabriel Vega, Spring 2015 Independent Research Projects

Inspired by American landscape painter Thomas Cole, I will be creating large scale prints of the local landscape and geography. For this particular project I will be continuing my work in the field of generative and algorithmic based art-making by using code to manipulate raw image data. I will predominantly be using existing satellite imagery for this project. The change of the landscape over time is something I am interested in exploring. Man made...
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