Networks, Tactics, Breakdown

Participatory Media: Zones of Emergency - Networks, Tactics, Breakdown, a set of two courses taught by Amber Frid-Jimenez, is a collaborative effort between students of the Visual Arts Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and students in the Graduate Studies Program at the Rhode Island School of Design.

  • MIT 4.381/4.366 Introduction to Online Participatory Media: Zones of Emergency - Networks, Tactics, Breakdown
  • RISD GRAD-103G-01 Participatory Networks: Emergencies, Tactics, Breakdown

The objective of this course is to introduce an overview of web-based platforms as means through which to explore the cultural, social, political, and economic impact of mediated communication. Hands-on design exercises and experiments are continually framed and examined by critical reflection and discussions. An overview of historical “art for all” and participatory art practices of early net-art and public art practices will show how digital communication and culture have altered the way in which collaboration occurs, changing conventional notions of authorship and giving rise to the collective elaboration of meaning.

Both courses will be taught with the specific focus on zones of emergency as they pertain to web culture and other related networks. Students will have the opportunity to participate in a public lecture series at MIT entitled Zones of Emergency, co-organized by MIT Visual Arts Program Director Ute Meta Bauer, Visiting Lecturer Amber Frid-Jimenez and Visiting Lecturer Jae Rhim Lee, through the discussion-based video blog and/or in person, as the schedule permits. Lectures will range from philosophical and cultural understandings of emergency to practical “on the ground” operating organizations to current use of networked technology examining its own breakdown.

Please follow the links below to visit the ongoing student projects and class resources. These sites are in progress. We are planning a show of student work at the end of the Spring 2008 term, where we will exhibit finished projects. Online documentation will be available after the show.

MIT Team

RISD Team

Resources