TYGERBURNING: New England College MFA Program in Creative Writing: Concentration in New Media Poetics

MFA Program in Poetry Concentrated Studies

During each residency in addition to forming their study plan, participating in a rigorous schedule of writing workshops, attending lectures and readings, students may choose between different afternoon electives of six hours each in the areas of new media, translation, prose and performance. Students have the option to select a different elective each residency or continue with a particular focus for a total of 24-30 hours over the course of their time in the MFA program. Concentrated Studies are designed to enhance students’ academic work by providing hands on training in different aspects of poetic expression be it electronic, performative, hybrid prose, or translation

WINTER 2011 NEW MEDIA WORKSHOP

Taught by Francesco Levato while Tara Rebele is on leave.

The production of a poetry film is often a collaborative process. It can be as simple as something like a slideshow or something as complex as a feature film. With all the technology, software, and techniques that span multiple artistic disciplines required how do you, as the poet, navigate the process? How do you create your poetry film if you’re not an experienced filmmaker? In this workshop we’ll explore both the theory and practice of cinépoetry with a focus on the collaborative process. Participants will work as a film production crew to direct, film, edit, and produce a collaborative poetry film. Taught by Francesco Levato

Concentration in New Media Poetry

The New Media Poetry Concentration gives students an opportunity to explore the use of digital media in poetry and employ new media technologies as platforms for poetic experimentation. This concentration will familiarize students with the history and implications of “new” technology on contemporary poetry, address critical and theoretical issues pertaining to new media and poetics, and expand the range of possibilities for the creation, exhibition and understanding of new poetic forms. In residency workshops, students will develop the necessary conceptual and technical skills for writing/producing new media poetry through critical engagement with selected works, peer evaluation, readings and screenings related to the field, introduction to current software applications used in the production of New Media Poems, and hands-on exercises and projects. Throughout the semester students will have access to a new media faculty member for technological support and evaluation of new media works. Students will investigate possibilities for extending their poetic process/products to include elements such as digital imaging, time-based media (animation, video, sound), and networked/emerging technologies. To that end, students will be introduced to the software applications necessary for the creation of new media poems, including the Adobe Creative Suite programs, Final Cut Studio, and other emerging technologies.

Concentration Objectives

-Develop an understanding of the history, theory and currents of new media poetry

-Understand the relationship between new media poetry and traditional forms

-Locate new media poetry in relationship to its historical antecedents

-Acquire basic knowledge of techniques in video and sound editing, animation, digital imaging, networked/emerging technologies

-Apply this knowledge in the writing/production of new media poems

-Develop the ability to engage in rigorous critical discourse on one’s own new media work and the work of others

-Be able to locate one’s own work in historical, theoretical and cultural contexts

On-Campus Facilities:

During the residencies, New England College provides a state of the art design lab with seating for twelve students and instructor at Apple Macintosh MacPro newest Nehalem Xenon server workstations with ample resources for the latest applications (now and in the future), and available student storage for the most ambitious photographer or videographer. For the first time at the college, all workstations will be equipped with professional displays capable of managed color workflows for print and screen. The new lab shares the networked printing resources of our adjacent print annex that contains several medium format Epson Archival Inkjet printers. While those printers meet many of the needs of our Design and Photography students, our new addition to the lab should serve the larger college community for large format exhibition and promotional output. The new Epson Stylus Pro 9900 offers major improvements to archival digital printing with speed, larger gamut, and ease of use with roll or sheet paper up to 44” wide.The new lab is set in a comfortable, dedicated room with recently renovated environmental controls. The limited number of workstations will ensure small studio classes for greater interaction between faculty and individual students.
Facilities:

13 MacPro workstations with NEC SpectraView 26” widescreen wide gamut monitors and 1 Terabyte of added storage for students
52” LCD Classroom display
Next door access to networked Epson archival pigmented printers and scanners.
1-Epson Stylus Pro 9900 (44”) High Dynamic Range printer
2=Epson Stylus Pro 3800 (17”) UC k3 printers
3- Epson Stylus Photo R2400 (13”) UC k3 printers
2-Epson Perfection V700 Scanner
SB113D
17 Macintosh G5 workstations with 20” widescreen Cinema displays.
TOWER 21
11 iMac Workstations
1-Epson Stylus Photo R2400 (13”) UC k3 printers
1-HP Color Laser Printer
Faculty:

Tara Rebele is an interdisciplinary new media artist and writer. She has performed her multimedia solo works to live, proximal audiences in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Milwaukee, Boston, Richmond, and Atlanta, among other places and exhibited her live interactive works worldwide. She also works in networked art, new media writing and activist art. She has been an artist, board member and grant recipient for the Institute for Creative Exploration at the University of Georgia. Her first book, And I'm Not Jenny: Performance :: Writing, was published in 2005 by Slope Editions.

STUDENT WORK FROM SUMMER 2010