Contemporary Digital Practices: Student Work

This course aims to bridge artistic practice, digital technologies, and networked communications to provide students with opportunities for creative exploration andexploitation in the age of information. Through a critical awareness of contemporary and theoretical issues in art and society and via the development of creative skills thatencourage experimentation, students will blur and cross discipline boundaries in image, video, audio, electronic, time-based, and software forms including AI. Students will develop a unique style and voice that contextualizes digital and artistic practices within current social and philosophical issues that surround the rapid expansion of digital technologies and their impact on everyday life.

Here are a few examples of student projects that interpreted course themes in a variety of ways, descriptions below.

Description

“Meta-Neon”

How to reproduce the neon culture on the streets of Hong Kong in the style of Metaverse? In order to preserve the visual culture of Hong Kong’s neon signs, in this design, I conducted a field survey on the streets of Hong Kong, photographed and recorded the existing neon signs in Hong Kong, and finally took the neon signs as visual elements in the parallel world of the meta-universe. It reproduces the prosperity of neon lights on the streets of Hong Kong and the visual effects of neon lights in reality by using 3D holographic projection technology.

“Wabi-Sabi in Digital Art”

This project will focus on the two major traditional Japanese aesthetics: Wabi and Sabi. These aesthetics have a long history and deeply affect Japanese culture, and the people. Many of the art creations have a sense of these aesthetics, for example literature, painting, performant art, music, etc. The aim of this research is to integrate traditional Japanese aesthetics and digital visual art technology. Therefore, the research will focus on ‘What is Wabi-Sabi?’ and ‘How to present Wabi-Sabi in digital art?’.

“Understanding the Qualities of Digital and Physical Art”

For this research, I will mainly focus on the study of the qualities of digital paintings and physical paintings. I would like to explore a suitable way to create a piece of art which integrates the qualities of the two mediums. It is believed that there is always an alternative way for physical and digital artists to adapt to the dynamic contemporary world.