Looking Outwards

Browse various blogs and feeds (see below) or other resources in order to deepen your knowledge of the field of digital art.
Write three short reports on three project that interest you.

Your job is to browse blogs and other sources, and then report on artworks or other projects that you haven’t seen before. (For this course, it may be most appropriate to select projects that are made by individuals or small teams, rather than large companies, but that’s not a strong requirement). Researching project of which you’re already aware defeats the point of the assignment, which is to deepen your familiarity with the fields of new media arts and creative technology.

Try to find things that you aspire to make yourself. If you’re not finding projects that interest you, ask me for advice.

The newest stuff is rarely the best! Dig in the archives, browse by tag, author and associations, some of the websites listed below have been around for decades.


Where to research Looking Outwards subjects

You are encouraged to do research at our university’s library. It has books, films and other media that are not online.

If you prefer, below is a list of some prominent online feeds that present current work in new media art:


How to do a Looking Outwards report

In the discord server:

  • write a paragraph (~150 words) about the project that interested you, and
  • link relevant images and/or video documentation of the project.

In the paragraph you write, you should:

  • Explain the project in a sentence or two (what it is, how it operates, etc.);
  • Explain what inspires you about the project (i.e. what you find interesting or admirable);
  • Critique the project: describe how it might have been more effective; discuss some of the intriguing possibilities that it suggests, or opportunities that it missed; explain what you think the creator(s) got right, and how they got it right.
  • Research the project’s chain of influences. Dig up the ‘deep background’, and compare the project with related work or prior art, if appropriate. What sources inspired the creator this project? What was “their” Looking Outwards?