From Hacking to Production will explore the creative arsenal available to the contemporary electronics hobbyist. There will be in-class discussions about the flaws and triumphs of modern electrical devices. We will cover the basics of electrical theory, analog electrical technology, digital technology, 3D printing, circuit board design and micro controllers. This class will allow students to creatively engage in the world of electronics while also learning how to use electronics to create useful practical electrical devices that are ready for production.

This course is open to all film, photography, video, and installation concentrators and, by consent of the instructor, others working in adjacent disciplines in their first or second semester of Division III. Division III contracts must have been filed prior to enrollment. The class will integrate the procedural and formal concentration requirements of the College with the creative work produced by each student. Concentrators will offer a forum for meaningful criticism, exchange, and exposure to each other's processes and projects.

This course will focus on a wide range of topics in sound synthesis and music composition using the MAX/MSP and Max4Live program. Students will undertake projects in interactive MIDI composition, algorithmic composition, additive and subtractive synthesis, waveshaping, AM/FM synthesis, and sampling. Other topics to be covered include SYSEX programming, sound analysis, theories of timbre, and concepts of musical time.

This course is geared toward Division III students and Five College seniors completing or anticipating advanced architectural or other design studio projects. The Advanced Design + Media Lab course provides a structured and critical creative environment for students to explore, experiment and design in both an individual and collaborative studio setting. In this course, students will develop their own individual design projects, identifying their own approach, scope and thesis, then executing their creative acts throughout the semester.

We are currently living through a golden age of photobooks. Over the past decade, there has been an explosion of renewed interest in the creative and narrative possibilities of the photobook format. We will explore this resurgence by studying examples of notable historical and contemporary works in this medium, paying special attention to the changes in technology that have allowed for the growth of small press and DYI publishing. Along with becoming familiar with the current state of photobook production and discourse, students will create their own books as well.

Learn to make books that pop up, transform, unfold, expand, books that become theaters, movable structures or interactive experiences: movable books. Treat form and content as an interdependent whole as you create your own movable artists books in this hands-on, labor-intensive class. Research into historic and contemporary examples of paper engineering and movable books will inform our inquiry. If you have an interest in art, books, visual storytelling, or paper engineering and love to make things with your hands, this is a class for you.

Graphic design is a creative and critical practice at the intersection of communication and abstraction. The process of learning graphic design is two-fold, and students in this course will engage both areas: first, students will develop knowledge and fluency with design skills--in this case, software (Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator); second students will address the challenges of design head-on through discussion, practice, iteration, critique and experimentation.

In this labor-intensive class, we will explore the potential of illustration as visual narrative based on assignments and prompts, using a range of materials and artistic approaches. Students will create illustrations to accompany fiction and non-fiction works from fairytales to op-ed articles, from song lyrics to journal entries; purely visual pieces and works that integrate both words and images. We will examine narrative illustrations from a range of periods and cultures.

Since its founding, the US has closely regulated the bodies of Others and punished those that rebel against these socially-constructed designations. Utilizing an interdisciplinary amalgam of Critical Race Theory, Sexuality Studies, Queer Theory, Media Studies, Sociology, American Studies, Performance Studies, and Feminist Theory, this course will explore how the state, the media, and civilian institutions police the boundaries of race, gender, and sexuality by pathologizing, criminalizing, and stigmatizing difference.

This course is a thorough introduction to color/digital photography. Weekly project-based assignments and critiques address students' aesthetic and technical progress; readings and discussions will introduce students to historical and contemporary art practices, with an emphasis on current photographic theory. Lab sessions will cover a range of techniques including the nuances of color, color film, digital capture, color management and archival inkjet printing. An additional lab workshop will meet once a week for two hours.