Art and Technology Studies
Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Undergraduate Overview

Art & Technology / Sound Practices Undergraduate Overview

The Department of Art & Technology / Sound Practices offers a wide variety of courses in the technological and sonic arts. It is a place to build skills, learn concepts, and ask questions through rigorous coursework with expert faculty who will support and challenge your investigations.

Each semester, AT/SP offers more than thirty undergraduate courses to choose from, covering topics that include creative coding, experimental sound production, virtual and augmented reality, game design, electronics and kinetics, software and hardware interface design, hacking and circuit bending, live sound and media performance, text interfacing with technology and sound, bio art, olfactory art, sound and media installation, light projection, acoustic ecology,  sound for cinema, and many more.

Customize Your Education

Undergraduate students can plot their own pathway through the AT/SP curriculum in consultation with faculty and academic advisers. Introductory courses serve as a foundation for the wide range of upper-level studio courses focusing on skills, concepts, and topics relevant to an immersive and diverse education in the technological and sonic arts. This encourages an interdisciplinary approach that addresses the individual student's interests and at the same time encourages their explorations into unfamiliar territories with unlimited creative possibilities.

Admissions Requirements and Curriculum

  • To apply to SAIC, you will need to fill out an application and submit your transcripts, artist's statement, and letters of recommendation. And most importantly, we require a portfolio of your best and most recent work—work that will give us a sense of you, your interests, and your willingness to explore, experiment, and think beyond technical art, design, and writing skills.

    To apply, please submit the following items: 

    Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Portfolio  

    Submit 10–15 pieces of your best and most recent work. We will review your portfolio and application materials for merit scholarship once you have been admitted to SAIC.

    When compiling a portfolio, you may concentrate your work in a single discipline or show work in a breadth of media. The portfolio may include drawings, prints, photographs, paintings, film, video, audio recordings, sculpture, ceramics, fashion designs, graphic design, furniture, objects, architectural designs, websites, video games, sketchbooks, scripts, storyboards, screenplays, zines, or any combination of the above.

    Learn more about applying to SAIC's Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio, or view our portfolio preparation guide for more information.  
     

  • Studio72
    • CP 1010 Core Studio Practice I (3)
    • CP 1011 Core Studio Practice II (3)
    • CP 1020 Research Studio I (3)
    • CP 1022 Research Studio II (3)
    • SOPHSEM 2900 (3)
    • PROFPRAC 3900 (3)
    • CAPSTONE 4900 (3)
    • Studio Electives (51)

    PROFPRAC and CAPSTONE are now required for new incoming students beginning in the 2015-16 academic year.

    		 
    Art History18
    • ARTHI 1001 World Cultures/Civilizations: Pre-History—19th Century Art and Architecture (3)
    • Art History Elective at 1000 Level (3)
    • Art History Electives (12)
    		 
    Liberal Arts30
    • ENGLISH 1001 First Year Seminar I (3)
    • ENGLISH 1005 First Year Seminar II (3)
    • Natural Science (6)
    • Social Science (6)
    • Humanities (6)
    • Liberal Arts Electives (6)
    		 
    General Electives6
    Studio, Art History, Liberal Arts, AAP, or EIS 
    Total Credit Hours126

    * BFA students must complete at least 6 credit hours in a class designated as "off campus study." These credits can also fulfill any of the requirements listed above and be from any of the divisions (Art History, Studio, Liberal Arts, or General Electives).

    BFA With Distinction—SAIC Scholars Program

    The SAIC Scholars program is a learning community of BFA students pursuing rigorous study in both their academic coursework and their studio pathways. There are two opportunities for interested students to apply to the SAIC Scholars Program: at the time of admission to the School, and after they have completed 30 credits of study at SAIC. Students pursuing the latter option are required to formally submit an application to the Undergraduate Division. Once admitted to the SAIC Scholars Program, students are required to successfully complete a minimum of six designated scholars courses. Students who complete the program will graduate with distinction.

    BFA in Studio with Thesis Option (Liberal Arts or Visual Critical Studies)

    BFA students may complete a nine-credit, research-based academic thesis as part of their studies within the 126 credits for the BFA in Studio degree. BFA with Thesis course sequences are offered over 3 semesters through the departments of Liberal Arts or Visual and Critical Studies (VCS). Students who are interested in one of the thesis options should follow the steps outlined below in the beginning of the junior year.

    Requirements for the BFA: Studio Art with Liberal Arts Thesis

    Step One: Students are required to meet with the Chair of the Liberal Arts department in the beginning of their junior year.

    Step Two: With the Department Chair's approval, the student enrolls in the following courses beginning in the spring term of their junior year:
    SOCSCI or HUMANITY 3900 Academic Research and Writing (3 credits)
    LIBARTS 4800 Undergraduate Thesis: Research/Writing I (3 credits)
    CAPSTONE 4900 Liberal Arts Undergraduate Thesis: Research/Writing II (3 credits)

    Step Three: The completed thesis must be approved by both the Thesis II instructor and the Chair of Liberal Arts. Students must make a formal presentation and participate in the Undergraduate Thesis Symposium in their senior year.

    Requirements for the BFA: Studio Art with Visual and Critical Studies (VCS) Thesis

    Step One: Students are required to meet with the Visual and Critical Studies Undergraduate Coordinator in or by the beginning of their junior year.

    Step Two: With the VCS Coordinator's approval, the student enrolls in the first of the three-course sequence beginning in the spring term of their junior year:

    • VCS 3010 Tutorial in Visual & Critical Studies (3 credits)
    • VCS 4800 Undergraduate Thesis Seminar: Research & Writing I (3 credits)
    • CAPSTONE 4900 VCS Undergraduate Thesis Seminar: Research & Writing II (3 credits)

    Step Three: Completion of thesis must be approved by both the Thesis II instructor and the VCS Undergraduate Coordinator. Students must make a formal presentation and participate in the Undergraduate VCS Thesis Symposium in their senior year.

    Total credits required for minimum residency66
    Minimum Studio credit 


     

Course Listing

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

This course will introduce students to basic techniques of working with sound as an artistic material. As a prerequisite for many of the department?s upper level offerings, the class is designed to familiarize the student with both the technology and the historical and aesthetic background relevant to our facilities and courses, to the field of ?sound art? and experimental music in general, and to the application of sound in other disciplines (video, film, performance, installations, etc.) Equipment covered will include microphones, mixers, analog and digital audio recorders, signal processors and analog synthesizers. Hard-disk based recording and editing (ProTools) is introduced, but the focus is on more traditional analog studio technology. The physics of sound will be a recurring subject. Examples of music and sound art, created using similar technology to that in our studios, will be played or performed and discussed in class. The listening list will vary according to the instructors? preferences. Readings are similarly set according to the instructors? syllabus: some sections employ more or less reading than others, contact specific instructors for details. Students are expected to use studio time to complete weekly assignments, which are designed to hone technical skills and, in most cases, foster artistic innovation. Some of these projects can incorporate outside resources (such as the student?s own computers and recordings), but the emphasis is on mastering the studio.

Class Number

2053

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

MacLean 420

Description

This course will introduce students to basic techniques of working with sound as an artistic material. As a prerequisite for many of the department?s upper level offerings, the class is designed to familiarize the student with both the technology and the historical and aesthetic background relevant to our facilities and courses, to the field of ?sound art? and experimental music in general, and to the application of sound in other disciplines (video, film, performance, installations, etc.) Equipment covered will include microphones, mixers, analog and digital audio recorders, signal processors and analog synthesizers. Hard-disk based recording and editing (ProTools) is introduced, but the focus is on more traditional analog studio technology. The physics of sound will be a recurring subject. Examples of music and sound art, created using similar technology to that in our studios, will be played or performed and discussed in class. The listening list will vary according to the instructors? preferences. Readings are similarly set according to the instructors? syllabus: some sections employ more or less reading than others, contact specific instructors for details. Students are expected to use studio time to complete weekly assignments, which are designed to hone technical skills and, in most cases, foster artistic innovation. Some of these projects can incorporate outside resources (such as the student?s own computers and recordings), but the emphasis is on mastering the studio.

Class Number

2054

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

MacLean 420

Description

This course will introduce students to basic techniques of working with sound as an artistic material. As a prerequisite for many of the department?s upper level offerings, the class is designed to familiarize the student with both the technology and the historical and aesthetic background relevant to our facilities and courses, to the field of ?sound art? and experimental music in general, and to the application of sound in other disciplines (video, film, performance, installations, etc.) Equipment covered will include microphones, mixers, analog and digital audio recorders, signal processors and analog synthesizers. Hard-disk based recording and editing (ProTools) is introduced, but the focus is on more traditional analog studio technology. The physics of sound will be a recurring subject. Examples of music and sound art, created using similar technology to that in our studios, will be played or performed and discussed in class. The listening list will vary according to the instructors? preferences. Readings are similarly set according to the instructors? syllabus: some sections employ more or less reading than others, contact specific instructors for details. Students are expected to use studio time to complete weekly assignments, which are designed to hone technical skills and, in most cases, foster artistic innovation. Some of these projects can incorporate outside resources (such as the student?s own computers and recordings), but the emphasis is on mastering the studio.

Class Number

2055

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

MacLean 420

Description

Consider how object based movement creates both meaning and tone, and how movement functions much like non-verbal communication. We'll attempt to approach the technical matters of controlling motion from the aesthetic perspective of an animator or a dancer. The course introduces basic techniques for creating moving parts appropriate for a broad range of creative and material practices. Technical matters covered through exercises include motors, speed control, fabrication of moving parts and simple circuits for motor control. Self-determined projects will demonstrate mastery of skills and concepts.

Class Number

1224

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

MacLean B1-07

Description

A rapidly increasing variety of objects in everyday life are acquiring an awareness of their environments, a repertoire of behaviors, and the ability to communicate with other objects, their owners, or, through networks, with more comprehensive integrated systems. This class explores the design processes, skills, and tools necessary to thrive in this exciting creative domain. The course incorporates substantial hands-on development experience in a lab environment. Students will conceptualize, prototype, and build working objects that respond to and cooperate with their owners and with each other.

Class Number

2183

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

MacLean 423

Description

This team-taught, introductory course provides a foundation for most additional coursework in the Art and Technology Studies department. Students are given a broad interdisciplinary grounding in the skills, concepts, and hands-on experiences they will need to engage the potentials of new technologies in art making. Every other week, a lecture and discussion group exposes students to concepts of electronic media, perception, inter-media composition, emerging venues, and other issues important to artists working with technologically based media. Students will attend a morning & afternoon section each day to gain hands-on experience with a variety of forms and techniques central to technologically-based art making.

Class Number

1211

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Game Design, Art and Science

Location

MacLean 401, MacLean B1-07

Description

This team-taught, introductory course provides a foundation for most additional coursework in the Art and Technology Studies department. Students are given a broad interdisciplinary grounding in the skills, concepts, and hands-on experiences they will need to engage the potentials of new technologies in art making. Every other week, a lecture and discussion group exposes students to concepts of electronic media, perception, inter-media composition, emerging venues, and other issues important to artists working with technologically based media. Students will attend a morning & afternoon section each day to gain hands-on experience with a variety of forms and techniques central to technologically-based art making.

Class Number

1211

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Game Design, Art and Science

Location

MacLean 401, MacLean B1-07

Description

This course examines neon techniques used in both traditional and current sign making and their application in creating artworks. Contemporary technical developments are explored.

Class Number

1230

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

MacLean B1-16

Description

Coding in time and space is as old as pottery or drumbeats. Magic was an executable code interfaced to the world long before computers and networks. Through selected readings and hackable code in Processing, this course will provide a perspective on algorithmic practices from incantations, weaving and tiling patterns to generative systems, glitching and software sourcery. The instructor, a master digital printmaker, will share his expertise, but student projects can be developed in any medium.

Class Number

2184

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Interaction and Participation, Art and Science, Theory

Location

MacLean 401

Description

This class will be an exploration of the electric light as an art medium. Through the demonstration of various electric light technologies the student will learn both the traditional use of lighting and installation and also an experimental approach to lighting that will produce unexpected visual effects. Students may work in individual or group projects that will span the range of light use from architectural design to performance as well as merging with other media such as sound.

Class Number

1225

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Public Space, Site, Landscape, Art and Science

Location

MacLean B1-16

Description

Studio Techniques is an intermediate-level course that approaches the analog recording studio and its technologies as a creative environment for sound manipulation and exploration. Beginning with the sound sample as a material basis, the course combines a detailed approach to the fundamentals of acoustics and auditory perception with thorough instruction on analog signal processing and mixing. Students produce assigned and independent projects using these sample-based analog techniques. Topics are supplemented by listening exercises and examples of various artists? works to give historical and cultural context. Topics in acoustics and auditory perception include sound localization, spatial characteristics of sound, frequency spectrum, and dynamics and loudness. Artists and musicians whose works serve as examples include Carl Stone, Jaap Blonk, John Wall, Laetitia Sonami, Moreno Veloso, and others. Assigned projects include generating disparate sound materials from simple sources; composing sound/music works using self-generated samples and sources; live mixing/composing using analog technologies; independent projects using technologies and strategies introduced in the course content.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: SOUND 2001 or permission of instructor.

Class Number

2297

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Location

MacLean 416

Description

This course is offered for those students interested in developing skills in the creation and application of digital audio. Using Apple's Logic software, students interested in exploring sound or music are introduced to audio manipulation techniques that allow them to create soundtracks, to record and produce songs or dance tracks, realize abstract sound pieces or manipulate sound for installations. Techniques of sound manipulation are introduced, including audio recording and editing, looping, and sound destruction. MIDI, drum programming, the use of software synthesis and basic music and composition techniques are addressed according to the needs of individual students. The class is structured to encourage the interaction of students with a wide range of technical ability in audio from beginners to advanced artists in the early stages of a professional practice.

Class Number

2298

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Location

MacLean 431

Description

Mirrors, alter egos, polarities, doppelgängers, gender binaries, impostors, twins, and shadows. Many auditory illusions also arise from doubles. For example, the two sides of the human head can produce psychoacoustic phenomena, such as binaural beats. The dual nature of audio-visual experiences can produce complex illusions, such as the McGurk effect. To knock at the door of these doubles, we will read a few words on doubles by doubles--Jung and Lacan, Sontag and Butler, Sartre and Fosse, Fanon and Said, Artaud and Bataille--and listen to sonic doubles in contemporary practice. Automatic writing will prepare us to create our own auditory illusions in recorded and performed stereophonic sound. Will these doubles sublate?

Class Number

2058

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Location

MacLean 522

Description

This course introduces students to the fundamental materials of music composition, the structures used to shape these materials, and techniques and strategies students can use to create fully formed pieces of music. Referencing traditional and experimental practices from many cultures and histories, we examine the basic musical elements of rhythm, meter, tonal organization, harmony, and timbre. These are applied in a digital studio environment via sampling, sound synthesis, looping, and live recording using Apple's Logic digital audio workstation. Musical works by artists from diverse backgrounds and identities are analyzed to understand how these materials and concepts are used to sculpt emotional expressions, narrative forms, abstract constructions, or conceptual statements. Students work with these references, elements, and materials to make their own work in genres of their own choice. No style of music is off limits. Course work will vary but typically includes participation in weekly experiments and the presentation of self-devised projects at midterm and the end of the semester. Students work with the materials, structures, and techniques introduced to make their own work in genres of their own choice.

Class Number

2300

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Location

MacLean 431

Description

Students will investigate scent as an expressive medium. They will have access to the ATS Perfume Organ and specialized lab equipment. Course content includes basic aromatic blending, hydro-distillation extraction techniques and how to impregnate scent into various media. At least TWO works of Olfactory Art are to be completed. The last one is considered the FINAL and should be an opus ready for gallery/performance/experiential application.Students should leave this class with the ability to thoughtfully engage Olfactory Work as practitioners, researchers and thinkers within personal, historical, theoretical and conceptual contexts.

Class Number

1222

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

Michigan B1-19

Description

This course focuses on the relationship of sound to moving image, and introduces post-production techniques and strategies that address this relationship as a compositional imperative. Thorough instruction is given on digital audio post-production techniques for moving image, including recording, sound file imports, soundtrack composition and assembly, sound design, and mixing in stereo and surround-sound. This is supplemented by presentations on acoustics and auditory perception. Assigned readings in theories and strategies of sound-image relationships inform studio instruction. Assigned projects focus on gaining post-production skills, and students produce independent projects of their own that integrate sound and moving image. Artists include Chantal Dumas, Walter Verdin, Deborah Stratman, Lucrecia Martel, Martin Scorcese, Abigail Child, Frederic Moffet, Gyorgi Palvi, Francis Ford Coppola, Gary Hill, and others. Writings in theory include texts by Michel Chion, Rick Altman, and others. The student?s independent image-and-sound work is foregrounded and supported; supplemental assigned projects include sound sequence composition and ADR recording and mixing.

Prerequisites

SOUND 2001 or FVNM 2004 or FVNM 5020

Class Number

2056

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

MacLean 1413

Description

This seminar critically and creatively examines noise in the context of experimental music and sound art: noise as music, noise in music, noise vs. music. We will closely read philosophical, musicological, and art historical texts, and analyze a range of sonic art works. Political connections will be highlighted, and the course will conclude by considering the role of noise (and music) in protests today. Required projects will be written and creative.

Class Number

2304

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Art/Design and Politics, Economic Inequality & Class

Location

MacLean 417

Description

This course explores the use of radio, light and sound as media through which an artist can create a public voice. This course takes a hands-on, do-it-yourself approach to these media, providing a basic background in electronics theory and practice, as well as in programming and use of microcontrollers. Topics covered in this course include, but are not limited to, low-power radio, locative media, hactivism and culture-jamming. Some examples of activities include the construction of AM/FM radio transmitters and receivers, laser projectors, persistence-of-vision displays and mobile audio rigs. A survey of the artistic significance of these media will be conducted throughout the course. Students are expected to research and present their findings in class, as well as to produce a personal or collaborative final project that augments their own practices.

Class Number

1214

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Art and Science

Location

MacLean 423

Description

As we adapt to the evolving demands of our politics and environment, we are often asked to prepare for a 'New Reality'. How are 'New Realities' imagined and formed? How can the act of imagining become a tool of creation?, This course will technically and conceptually explore what it means to create and simulate ?new realities? within game engines. As XR (extended reality) technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality devices have become untethered, video game entertainment has become as ubiquitous as film, and user familiarity with the rhetoric of virtual worlds has become more common, this course will expose students to the many modalities in which game engines can be used to produce artwork. Exploring histories of artists using digital media and simulation to produce interactive and highly immersive experiences, this course offers students technical guidance in creating artistic output from game engine tools, while learning from artist practices of that range from games, animation, simulation, to machinima (cinematic film captured from game engine worlds). With an emphasis on how interactive 3D worlds interact with our increasingly online and virtual routines, students will build projects that explore themes of participation, movement, behavior and world building to investigate our perceptions of ?reality?. The collected group of individuals in this class will act as an experimental lab of participants, collectively and individually pushing the boundaries between the virtual and the physical. Primarily working with the software Unity, this course will include technical demos, readings, and investigations into the histories of immersive media, machinima, and play as an artistic medium. Previous experience working with Unity recommended but not required. Course work will vary but typically includes weekly reading responses, a mid term project, a final project as well as in class demos and workshops. Students may work collaboratively on these projects if they choose.

Class Number

2186

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Furniture Design, Game Design

Location

MacLean 402

Description

This class is intended for advanced undergraduates and graduates who are interested in the use of sound in an installation context. It is expected that students may come from a diverse set of backgrounds, and as such this course will be to some degree determined by the background of the students, and their specific needs. The course will include critical discussions of sound art and related installation and media art practices: a brief history of the sound/art interface, a brief introduction to acoustics, and readings by theorists and artists such as R.M. Schafer, Sterne, LaBelle, Cage, Lucier, Kahn, Lockwood, Fontana, Panhuysen, Lerman, Neuhaus, Monahan, Kim-Cohen, Kubitsch, Hellstrom, and Wollscheid. The topic of real-life sound installation exhibition and social context will also be covered, with input from the SAIC Exhibitions and Events Department. The course will also cover various methodologies for using/creating sound in installations through tutorials that are designed to give functional knowledge of each particular technique, as well as an introduction to the possibilities these techniques. Depending on the students? backgrounds and needs, potential topics for these tutorials include: basic sound recording and playback techniques, basic sound synthesis and electronics for audio, digital sound recording and editing, the fabrication of mechanical systems which create sound, using MAX (a visual MIDI programming language used for control and for processing audio), basic electronics for environmental sensing (sound, light, motion, etc.). In addition to working on various preliminary individual and collaborative projects during the semester, students will write a proposal for and present an installation as their final project.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: SOUND 2001 or permission of instructor.

Class Number

2302

Credits

3

Department

Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study

Interaction and Participation, Public Space, Site, Landscape

Location

MacLean 522
An image of the Sound Department facilities at SAIC.

Freshman and Transfer Deadline: June 1

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