Audiovisual Media

City Studio is an after school arts program run by the San Francisco Art Institute at several community centers through out city. Starting Wednesday, January 16, 2013, SOMArts welcome a new  semester of youth media class, “Sound and Light as Music.”

The class will be taught by teaching artist Erik Wilson at SOMArts (934 Brannan St.). Students 12–19 are welcome to sign-up. The max size will be 10 students.

The course runs every Wednesday starting January 16, 2013 from 4:30-6:30PM and ending Wednesday, May 8, 2013. The course is FREE, and students who successfully complete the class will receive their own digital camera.

Questions about this class can be directed by email to Erik Wilson.

CLASS DESCRIPTION
How we consume media largely effects the production of it. The process of passively receiving information from television and radio conglomerates is rapidly declining, and in its place lies a new generation of consumers/makers that actively pursue content on the Internet. The process of curating something as simple as a YouTube page requires more active attention to detail and awareness of contemporary culture than reading a newspaper or watching TV ever could.

The information generation has access to numerous everyday tools that enable the rapid re-interpretation of media, and in this sea of information created by fellow consumers/creators, it falls to artists to re-interpret and remix massive amounts of data in a way that reflects upon the past but moves toward the future.

This course will stress the importance of online networking skills and the importance of the Internet as a platform for collaborative art making. It will also cover the fine line between sound art and music in the sphere of performance and video. The gap between sound and video art is more slender than ever with new developments in multimedia software. Once familiar with the sonic end of the spectrum, students will use similar editing and collage strategies with video to create installation, performance, and screening based work. Drawing on the history of Musique Concrete and sampling culture from the 1950s to the present, we will examine sound as music. On the visual side of the course, we will explore effective strategies for the production and distribution of video art-work from a technical and philosophical standpoint. By the end of the course, students will produce a compilation of audio/visual material in the form of performance, installation, packaged products, or web-based projects.

TEACHING ARTIST BIO
Erik Wilson is a Bay Area Artist working in video, animation, sound, design, and education.  His work explores early motion graphics and the synthetic re-creation of naturally occurring systems.  Since receiving his BFA from The San Francisco Art Institute in 2009, his teaching credits include graphic design with the Youth Media Project at Galleria De La Raza, digital animation with the Young Artist Program and Pre-College at SFAI, and participation in Southern Exposure’s one-on-one mentorship project.  He also collaborated with art collective Torolab on a multimedia social art project in an exhibition at the Leon Biennial 2009 and plays regular audio/visual gigs around the Bay Area.

CLASS STARTS
Wednesday, January 16

CLASS SCHEDULE
Every Wednesday
January 16th–May 8th
4:30-6:30 pm

HOW TO APPLY
Complete an application on the first day of class. If possible, email  Erik Wilson in advance of the first class. A caregiver should attend the first class.

Pictured above: Surabhi Saraf performing at Night Light: Multimedia Garden Party 2012, photo by Sebastian Alvarez