Aspire - Indiana University South Bend

Arts Codec
explores
digital media
Arts Codec is a campus association of
new media student artists, focused on
digital and electronic media, with the goals
of promoting creative exploration and
providing venues for exhibition of artwork.
During the club’s dynamic first semester,
25 members hosted open screenings,
created Artist Transmissions, and staged
a flash exhibition.
The club was founded by students Sky Santiago and Mark
Sniadecki in early 2012, with Assistant Professor of New
Media Eric Souther acting as the group’s advisor and
sponsor. Its roots, however, began in the summer of 2011,
when Souther first arrived on campus.
“I saw the need for a community with a greater focus on
digital media,” said Souther, whose own experience includes
interactive art installations and experimental video.
Souther began to host open screening events where new
media students, faculty, and staff could bring their work
for exhibition and critique. When he suggested to Santiago
that a student organization might be formed, she leapt into
action, quickly generating a blog, artscodec.blogspot.com,
and laying down the core ethos for the group.
“I am proud to be one of the first founding members of
Arts Codec, and have been excited to see it foster growth
and appreciation for electronic and experimental arts in our
community,” said Santiago. “To work with Eric Souther has
been a great opportunity for me personally as a student,
and professionally as an artist.”
Sniadecki, another of Souther’s students, joined soon
afterward, designing the club logo and taking on an
Installation, experimental video by Eric Souther // Faculty
organizational role. He also created an online forum to
facilitate communication among members.
Arts Codec is the official host of the open screenings on
campus. The club has had a series of evening viewings,
called Artist Transmissions, which expose students to the
work of innovative video artists such as Jan Švankmajer
and Stan Brakhage. In association with Arts Codec, Souther
also provided a workshop on circuit-bending, a method that
involves reconfiguring sound-making devices to produce
novel—and often unexpected—new sounds.
Perhaps the most important moment for the club thus far,
however, was the “#Occupy the Outlets” show on April 2. For
the first time, Arts Codec installed the work of its members in
a public space—the front hallway of Northside Hall. The work
of 11 members was featured over the course of the four-hour
show. Simultaneously, two massive procedural drawings, an
homage to artist Sol LeWitt, were generated using sidewalk
chalk in the Northside courtyard.
With the success of the “#Occupy” show, Arts Codec is poised
to expand in the fall 2012 semester, with more installations
and a push for greater membership and involvement.
To view more artwork by Arts Codec
members, visit the group’s website at
artscodec.blogspot.com/.
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