Technology: Art and Sound by Design

From 2006 through 2009 I taught Technology: Art and Sound by Design (TASD). The course consisted of lectures and labs with a focus on artistic philosophy and its application through technology. In the course students built circuits and interfaced them to computers, considering how these might contribute to their own artistic creations.

Lectures included guests from artistic and technical disciplines who stimulated conversations about art, taught about electronics, and challenged common assumptions regarding the relationship between the two. Labs gave a practical, friendly introduction to building circuits and working with sensors.

The course ended with final projects, each built by a small team of engineering and art students, all installed in a local art gallery. The shows featuring these final projects were named Wired, and were popular, consistently drawing more than 1,000 people on opening night.

SoundBlocks

SoundBlocks is a tangible environment where youth connect blocks to describe network dataflow. The environment explores digital sound manipulation as a personal, meaningful and fun artistic endeavor, rather than as a venture into mathematical, electronic or networking relationships.

BETA Competition

WSU Students from complimentary disciplines submit ideas which integrate the arts with technology and have commercial viability. Up to $7,000 in prizes.

Strings, Kansas!

In fall 2006 I launched an initiative at WSU called Strings, Kansas! A distance-learning-enhanced program, Strings, Kansas! connected WSU School of Music string students with 4th and 5th graders in communities without string programs. WSU string students created, designed, and implemented the curriculum for the 4th and 5th graders.

String Improvation

In 2001 I founded Wichita State University’s String Improvisation Department and established WSU’s yearly String Improvisation Day each year, an introduction to string improvisation for string players who had little or no experience with improvisation. I then expanded our String Improvisation program with a new grant-funded initiative: Sharing Music Sharing Culture (SMSC) which connected The Irish World Music Center students and faculty with WSU.

Mark O'Connor with Frankie Gavin and WSU string students Videoconference with the Irish World Music Center

Sharing Music Sharing Culture

Through four grants, I headed Sharing Music Sharing Culture (SMSC), a Wichita State University (WSU) initiative exploring how global learning can integrate with the current WSU music curriculum to transform both what and how we learn about music and culture.

Build Day

As founding Director of WSU’s Center for Research in Arts, Technology, Education and Learning (CRATEL) I hosted Build Day every Friday. On Build Day, CRATEL was open to visitors, volunteers, or anybody who wanted to come by, chat, or build something.

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