Revisited: Questioning New Media Performance Night
Professor Jill Miller’s Questioning New Media class presented its final projects December 3. Students typically worked together in groups of two or three, and emphasized audience interaction in the majority of their presentations.
Right before spectators entered the showcase, Tingo: Free Cupcakes set up shop outside the entrance. Acting as independent researchers, the Tingo group offered cupcakes in exchange for digital and/or physical samples of their participants. Some options included: the last text they sent someone, a cheek swab and a picture of their eye. The group later revealed the results at the end, depicting what exactly people were willing to give up for a cupcake — and the sinister implications behind their decisions.
When people walked inside, TVRN (TV Right Now) set up a seven-screen installation on top of a table. There was an array of different channels displaying anywhere from Vine compilations to ASMR videos playing on continuous loop. In addition to analog televisions, computer desktops and iPads were among the mediums utilized.
The rest of the NWMEDIA 201 students went up to the front of the room to present their projects. Requiem for the Mango Juul: A Play in Three Acts staggered its presentation in three parts throughout the night to warn against the "dangers of Juul-ing," with one student playing different characters and passing around props. Capturing Bodies compiled police body camera and aerial footage of a Bay Area crime scene to question the legitimacy of evidence, inaccessibility of content and subjective narratives that are created with a supposedly "objective" device. Fictions of Friction pulled out a table and invited attendees to create their very own zine; the group supplied pens, staples and collections of zine paper for an interactive experience.
See the full list of projects here.
