Class Project

The book Database Aesthetics may seem like an unlikely work of criticism to be grounded firmly in pedagogy, but Victoria Vesna's introduction and opening essay clearly signal a concern with how collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches to scholarly and artistic inquiry are stimulated by the teaching situation and the role of database technologies in providing effective and relevant instruction. Examples she cites range from the medical knowledge on display at the Visual Human Project to Vesna's own work on a graduate seminar collaborating with statistician Mark Hansen. Vesna and Hansen explain some of the rationales and methods of the course in video linked to this site. For more about Database Aesthetics, check out the website for Vesna's book.