Live! IMA Low Res 2025

NYU IMA Low Res, Spring 2025 // Instructor: Carrie Sijia Wang

About

Description

This course focuses on designing, developing and delivering multimedia live performances via a virtual platform. Through an exploration of language, media, time, space, body, and object, students are encouraged to develop their unique artistic voices while utilizing the class as a platform for performative inquiry into subjects of individual interest.

Throughout the course, we will examine a wide range of examples, including algorithmic theater, live coding, desktop performance, performance lecture, participatory performance, and more. We will explore how we can utilize emerging technologies to design live-streamed projects that tell stories, convey ideas, and express feelings.

A few weeks into the course, students will propose final project ideas and develop the performances in subsequent weeks with support from the instructor. The class will culminate in a virtual event featuring live-streamed projects by the students.

Evaluation

Grades will be determined according to this criteria:

• Participation and Attendance 40%
• Homework Assignments 20%
• Final Project Development and Execution 40%

Attendance

Attendance is mandatory. Please email your instructor if you are going to miss a class. Any more than two absences is cause for failing the class. An unexcused lateness of 10 minutes or more is equivalent to 1/2 of an absence.

COMMUNICATION

You must check your email for important updates about class.

PARTICIPATION

ITP/IMA is committed to facilitating the fullest possible participation of all students. There are many forms of participation. Please communicate what kinds of engagement are best for you so it can be taken into account.

Examples of modes of participation can look like: asking questions, going to office hours, sending and reading emails, class group discussion, arriving on time, going to class, taking notes, listening to peers, submitting responses to a form (anonymous or not), following instructions, active listening, etc.

STATEMENT OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work as though it were your own. More specifically, plagiarism is to present as your own: A sequence of words quoted without quotation marks from another writer or a paraphrased passage from another writer’s work or facts, ideas or images composed by someone else.

Collaboration is highly valued and often necessary to produce great work. Students build their own work on that of other people and giving credit to the creator of the work you are incorporating into your own work is an act of integrity. Plagiarism, on the other hand, is a form of fraud. Proper acknowledgment and correct citation constitute the difference. 

Link to the Tisch Student Handbook 

Link to Suggested Practices for Syllabus Accessibility Statements 

STATEMENT ON ACCESSIBILITY

It’s crucial for our community to create and uphold learning environments that empower students of all abilities. We are committed to create an environment that enables open dialogue about the various temporary and long term needs of students and participants for their academic success. We encourage all students and participants to discuss with faculty and staff possible accommodations that would best support their learning.  Students may also contact the Moses Center for Student Accessibility (212-998-4980) for resources and support. Link to the Moses Center for Student Accessibility 

STATEMENT ON COUNSELING AND WELLNESS

Your health and safety are a priority at NYU. Emphasizing the importance of the wellness of each individual within our community, students are encouraged to utilize the resources and support services available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via the NYU Wellness Exchange Hotline at 212-443-9999. Additional support is available over email at wellness.exchange@nyu.edu and within the NYU Wellness Exchange app. Link to the NYU Counseling and Wellness Center

STATEMENT ON USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Laptops and other electronic devices are essential tools for learning and interaction in classrooms. However, they can create distractions that hinder students’ ability to actively participate and engage. Please be mindful of the ways in which these devices can affect the learning environment, please refrain from doing non-class oriented activities during class.

STATEMENT ON TITLE IX

Tisch School of the Arts is dedicated to providing its students with a learning environment that is rigorous, respectful, supportive and nurturing so that they can engage in the free exchange of ideas and commit themselves fully to the study of their discipline. To that end, Tisch is committed to enforcing University policies prohibiting all forms of sexual misconduct as well as discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. Detailed information regarding these policies and the resources that are available to students through the Title IX office can be found by using the following link: Link to the NYU Title IX Office 

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLE

Teachers and students work together to create a supportive learning environment. The educational experience in the classroom is one that is enhanced by integrating varying perspectives and learning modes brought by students. 

CODE OF CONDUCT

Our signature is collaboration – Not competition.
– Red Burns

We live in a fractured world where communities are burdened by differences – so what we ask of you is nothing short of miraculous.
— Red Burns

ITP/IMA is a community whose mission is to explore the imaginative uses of emerging technologies — to make people’s lives safer, more just, more beautiful, more meaningful, and more fun. We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.

The scope of this Code of Conduct applies to all ITP/IMA community members (faculty, staff, students, residents, fellows, and guests), ITP/IMA physical and digital spaces (e.g. Email listservs, Yorb, and ITP/IMA Discord server), and all courses, events, and projects created at or in service to ITP/IMA.

• Full detailed version of the ITP/IMA Code of Conduct
• Contribute to the ITP/IMA Code of Conduct

SOLIDARITY

We are a community of and in solidarity with, people from every gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, language, neuro-type, all visible or invisible disability, body size, ability, class, religion, culture, subculture, age, skill level, occupation and background. As a result, we continually work to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for identities above as well as all levels of experience, education and socio-economic status.

INTERNATIONAL

Our student body typically has a large International student presence. We understand that, by the nature of being established in New York, our curriculum and social environment naturally centers events and histories specific to the United States of America. We know that a large percentage of our student body are international and we will continue to incorporate, celebrate and acknowledge events and histories from those countries with respect and an open mind.

We align ourselves with any values in pursuit of equity and freedom for all identities and, by that nature, are in alignment with similar views in International countries as well.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded land of the Lenape and Canarsie peoples. We acknowledge the Lenape and Canarsie communities, their elders both past and present, as well as future generations.

We also acknowledge that NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, and ITP were founded upon exclusions and erasures of many Indigenous peoples, including those on whose land this institution is located. This acknowledgement demonstrates a commitment to beginning the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism.

PRIVILEGE

We recognize that simply being part of the ITP/IMA community places us in a privileged position as we have the opportunity to receive an education from a private, expensive and prestigious university. We know that there are many equally talented students around the world who would like to partake of this community and, due to academic inaccessibility, it is not possible. We know and will continue to acknowledge that our privilege does not mean that we have more value than other people. We acknowledge this inequality and hold personal responsibility to share what we do in the spirit of inclusivity and create access where we can, as often as we can. We will use this privilege as a tool to help those most in need.

TECHNOLOGY

We pledge to center creative and ethical uses of technology in our research, teaching, and making. We accept the claim that technology is a reflection of society, its histories, and its politics. We reject the claim that technology is neutral and acknowledge that every technology has the potential to do as much harm as good. We acknowledge that when technologies cause harm, the harm disproportionately affects Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), queer, trans, disabled, femme, low-income, survivors, and all other marginalized bodies and communities worldwide.

Schedule

Week 1: Overview + Text & Language

March 19

SLIDESHOW

In Class:

• Overview:
• Project Examples: Language + Text
• A Little Tech:
  • Computer synthesized voices
  • OBS – Virtual Camera + Zoom
• Explore & Share:
  • Show Some Text, Make Some Sound (using OBS virtual camera and zoom)

Homework: Language/Text Performance

Work on your own, develop a two-minute performance that uses text and language as materials to perform in class next week.

Week 2: Video and Audio

March 26

SLIDESHOW

In Class:

• Share Language + Text Performances
• Technical Tools:
  • Hydra
  • Possibilities with p5.sound
  • Explore in groups
• Project Examples: Video & Audio

Homework: Audio/Visual Performance with an Emotional Arc

Work on your own, design and present a TWO MINUTE performance that uses layers and progression of visuals—found footage, live camera feed, computer desktop, generative, 3D assets, etc., and sound—human voices, synthesized voices, field recordings, live recordings, music, noise, sound effects, etc., to create an emotional arc over time.

Week 3: Time and Space

April 02

SLIDESHOW

In Class:

• Share Emotional Arc Performances
• Examples: Time & Space & Connection
• Technical Pipelines for Live Streaming
• Explore & Share:
  • Work in Groups to Stream Something!

Homework: Final Project – Pitch!

See final project assignment here.

Consolidate your ideas into a final project pitch presentation and add your presentation slides to this folder. Be prepared to share your pitch with the class. Make sure you include the following in your pitch:

• What is your performance? / Elevator Pitch
• What will the audience see? / Form + Content
• Why do you want to create this piece? / Intention
• Are you inspired by anything? / References/Inspiration
• How are you going to make this performance? / Process and Technology
• What’s your plan for next steps?  / Timeline
• Raise at least one question for the group.

Week 4: Pitch Presentations + Body & Object

April 09

SLIDESHOW

In Class:

• Pitch Presentations
• Examples: Body & Object
• Freewriting

Homework: Final Project – WIP Demo + Tech Rehearsal!

See final project assignment here.

• Get your project to about 60%. 
• Share what you’ve done and what’s left to do.
• Prepare a 2-minute work-in-progress demo to perform in class. 
• List all the technical components in your project. Draw a diagram if necessary. Write down all the steps you need to take to set everything up.

Week 5: WIP Demo + Tech Rehearsal

April 16

SLIDESHOW

In Class:

• WIP Demo + Tech Check
• Getting Ready

Homework: Final Project – Get Ready to Rehearse

01. Keep working on your performance. Rehearse on your own and record your rehearsal.

We will have an in-class rehearsal next week. Get ready to perform in front of the class. The piece should be 90% complete by the time of rehearsal next week.

02. Complete the Performance Schedule and Description sheet (Link TBD).

Week 6: Dress Rehearsal

April 23

In Class:

• Rehearsal
• Summary & Next Steps

Homework: Final Project – Get Ready to Perform

• Record a backup video
• Double check your tech list (think about what could go wrong and plan for those scenarios)
• Rehearse rehearse rehearse
• Get the word out there

Week 7: Final Performance

April 30

FINAL PERFORMANCE CLASS FOLDER

EVENT WEBSITE (Link TBD)