Welcome to the Division of Expanded Media

School of Art & Design
Alfred University
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The Division of Expanded Media was created to support and embrace an experience and understanding of art and art making that transcends the divisions that have traditionally existed among the disciplines of printmaking, design, digital interactive arts, video, and sonic arts. The vocabularies and practices that once separated film, video, sound, digital imaging, graphic design, and printmaking have converged in one of the most productive and wonderfully complex set of possibilities, one comparable in significance and impact on art and society to the invention of the printing press and the advent of photography. This is due in part to the development of new technologies, specifically the new tools computer hardware and software offer the arts, that allow for this cross-pollination. The Division of Expanded Media recognizes the ways in which these technological developments, arising out of the common interest and vision of artists, engineers, and computer programmers to invent new ways of imaging, sounding, and understanding the world, are especially significant to all of these art forms. Each area within the division strives to offer the experience, knowledge, skills, and understanding of the tradition of each discipline combined with the creative vision necessary to expand the potential inherent to each medium. This parallel approach within the division simultaneously provides a strong foundation that prepares young artists to explore the range of possibilities within a singular medium as well as the flexibility to approach the infinite possibilities for hybrid forms continually emerging in contemporary art. Rather than placing the emphasis on new media, which suggests a separation between the new and traditional, the division emphasizes the idea and process of expanding media. The division is grounded in an exploration of the new forms that grow out of creative investigations of the medium (pl. media) ç defined both as any means, agency, or instrumentality, as well as any material used for expression or delineation in art. Historically, in both art and art education, there have been traditional divisions into the practice of a single medium that have allowed artists to discover the range of possibilities for artistic expression offered by the processes and materials of that discipline. To expand, extend, open, unfold, to spread oneís wings to the creative potential each medium offers an artist, through discovering the forms of expression that mirror and embody oneís artistic vision, is the goal of the Division of Expanded Media. The Division of Expanded Media is comprised of faculty whose experience is grounded in extensive backgrounds within each area, who within their own work and area within the division have a common interest in investigating what the new tools of digital technology offer each medium. Out of this investigation extensive state of the art facilities have evolved which include three computer labs of high end Macintosh computers, wide format digital printing facilities, as well as the specialized equipment comprising the video and sonic art studios. Following the freshman foundation experience, the sophomore year provides an introduction to a wide range of forms and processes within each area to expose students to the languages, processes, and forms of each media. This foundation prepares students technically and conceptually to move into the more concentrated experience of the next two years. In the junior year, students begin to develop their ideas, personal voice, and artistic vision through more in-depth investigations. The senior year provides an independent structure for the student to work closely with two faculty advisors on a weekly basis, in order to help focus and develop his/her ideas into a cohesive body of work that culminates in a senior exhibition. The Division of Expanded Media, through the progression of courses within each area combined with the fluidity of movement available for students to move across and between areas, offers an experience of expanding the definitions of what video art, printmaking, sonic art, digital art, and design are, while simultaneously revealing the ways in which all of these forms converge.