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Swanson, Joel Eric

Associate Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Joel Swanson is a contemporary American artist and academic who explores the boundaries between language, technology, and visual art. At the University of Colorado Boulder's ATLAS Institute, he serves as both Associate Professor and director of the TYPO Lab, where he leads experimental investigations into text-based technologies and their cultural implications. Swanson’s artistic practice manifests in multiple forms–from large-scale public installations and dynamic digital projections to interactive sculptures that challenge viewers' relationship with text. His work often plays with linguistic paradoxes and the materiality of language itself, inviting audiences to reconsider their assumptions about written communication. Through his research and creative work, Swanson examines how digital technologies are reshaping our understanding of language and meaning. His pieces frequently highlight the tension between analog and digital modes of communication, inviting viewers to question their assumptions about how we read, write, and interpret text in contemporary society.

keywords

  • art, text art, language, conceptual art, digital art, technology, technology studies, typography, design, creative technology, creative coding

Publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • ATLS 1100 - Design Foundations
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Summer 2024 / Fall 2024
    Introduces foundational principles, practices and methods of design. Emphasizes design as an expressive and creative problem solving tool. This course engages with design from a broad perspective including visual, computational, physical and auditory design practices. Through lectures, discussions and creative projects, students will gain a familiarity with the diverse applications of creative technology through design.
  • ATLS 1300 - Computational Foundations 1
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2019
    Explores computation as a powerful tool for creative design and expression in a project-based studio environment. Students learn the fundamentals of creative coding, computational thinking, and object-oriented programming. Hands-on topics include generative art and design, interactivity, animation, and visualization.
  • ATLS 2200 - Web
    Primary Instructor - Summer 2022
    Introduces techniques, technologies and concepts of web design and development through lectures, projects and critiques. Focuses technically on HTML, CSS and JavaScript as the primary web technologies. Contextualizes the technical and societal implications of the Internet through historical and critical perspectives.
  • ATLS 2300 - Text
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2024
    Introduces technologies, terminology and histories related to the design of text within digital and analogue media. Students will learn the fundamentals of design, typography and layout through lectures, projects and critiques. The curriculum surveys significant theoretical perspectives, historical periods and significant practitioners that influence the practice of typographic design.
  • ATLS 3000 - Code
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
    Instructs non-computer science students in analyzing problems and synthesizing programs for the solution,emphasizing good engineering practices for program construction, documentation, testing, and debugging. Uses Java for programming projects. Formerly ATLS 2010.
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