“2467/3970: A shortcut to connect Purdue University (USA) and Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) in an interdisciplinary experience between art and technology” presented by García and Acevedo
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Education/Media (Papers)
Presentation Title:
- 2467/3970: A shortcut to connect Purdue University (USA) and Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) in an interdisciplinary experience between art and technology
Presenter(s):
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Abstract:
Approximately 2467 miles / 3970 kilometers separate West Lafayette (USA) from Medellín (Colombia). Although this distance represents geographic, cultural, and social differences, it also offers a bridge to creative possibilities that connect the two cities by an intercultural dialogue around new media. This paper describes the process professors Esteban Garcia from Purdue University (USA) and Isabel Restrepo from Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) developed in 2013‑2014 to teach the course ‘Interactive Art and 3d Animation’ in the city of Medellín, Colombia. This interdisciplinary course deals with cultural questions related to location and society by integrating art and technology.
This course combines research expertise on interactive visualization and open source software to develop socially interactive projects. Following the idea of an open studio, and the pedagogy proposed by the artist Luis Camnitzer, in which students are in a horizontal relationship with the professors, students in the course played the active role of co‑investigators. Garcia and Restrepo developed the course as a research experience that integrates faculty members and students of both institutions to explore creative reflections about the topic of location in the city of Medellín. The continued methodology for the class integrates field trips inside and outside the city, brainstorming sessions, technical training, conceptual dialogues, and input from all co‑investigator participants. The planning and development process has been documented in a variety of media that combine analogue and digital tools, such as handmade sketches, digital modeling, audiovisual recording, and GPS mapping. The resulting projects were available for public view at the Centro Cultural of Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia), and online as multimedia interactive experiences accessible to people across the world.
