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Visual & Media Cultures Colloquium - Warren Sack

The Software Arts
Paperts Flower
Mon Mar 5, 2018, 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Porter College Room D245
Presented by: 
Arts Division
Film & Digital Media
History of Art & Visual Culture

 

Professor Warren Sack will argue that computing grew out of the arts. This argument will be a provocation for some, especially for those who see a bright line dividing the “two cultures” of the arts and the sciences. For others, the argument will not seem provocative at all. Important computer scientists have argued that computing is not a science, software is a literature, and computer programming is a kind of essay writing. For those who see no clear distinction between the arts and the sciences, The Software Arts will be an old saw with some new teeth.

Warren Sack is a media theorist, software designer, and artist whose work explores theories and designs for online public space and public discussion. He is Chair and Professor of Film + Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he teaches digital arts and digital studies. He has been a visiting professor in France at Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, and Télécom ParisTech. His artwork has been exhibited by SFMOMA (San Francisco), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the ZKM (Karlsruhe, Germany). His scholarship and research has been supported by the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Sunlight Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. Warren received his PhD from the MIT Media Lab and was an undergraduate at Yale College. The subject of his talk will be The Software Arts, a book manuscript for the MIT Press "Software Studies" series.

The annual Visual and Media Cultures Colloquia (VMCC) at UCSC are a collaboration between the graduate programs in Film and Digital Media Department and Visual Studies in the History of Art and Visual Culture Department. The series brings an array of cutting-edge scholars to speak on a broad spectrum of subjects. Talks are free and open to the public. Parking permit required.  https://taps.ucsc.edu/parking/visitor-parking.html