This session is devoted to exploring digital technology’s influence in contemporary art. We will examine works by artists considered to be groundbreaking in their use of new media, giving special attention to methodologies such as code-based design, physical computing, and Big Data. Our session will shift from interpreting the work to discussing its impact on the art community and the proliferation of digital based art forms. We will consider the social and ethical questions that may arise when using new technologies both within an arts context, as well as through their appropriation for use in advertising and other corporate contexts.

ROOPA VASUDEVAN is an American visual artist, computer programmer, and researcher. Her work uses data and technology in order to interrogate or subvert social and cultural practices. She is primarily interested in the historical reading of data as a form of collective memory, how surveillance and data collection are altering our notions of what archives are and who is remembered, and coming up with more creative and ethical practices for digital and data art culture. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Extra Credit is organized by the Public Engagement Department at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Public Engagement is supported by the Bernstein Public Engagement Fund.