Have you ever wondered what Egyptian hieroglyphics would look like in time-based media? Or how power and class in the Roman empire would be expressed in the digital age? What does Venus of Willendorf tell us about the prehistoric idea of the feminine, and how would this play out today on social media expressed as an emoji? Today's technology lets us take a journey through several millennia of human creative development. In this course, students will re-contextualize the art and artifacts of past cultures using contemporary digital tools. Following several case studies about the artwork from different paradigms across human history, students will analyze the role that complex networks of social structures and systems play in the creation of dynamics of power, privilege, oppression, and opportunity. In addition to critical analysis, students will use digital drawing, animation, and 3-D modeling as investigative tools to research the artistic development of past cultures and what they tell us about the societal factors that shape the development of individual and group identities, specifically focusing on race, gender and class.