Digital Arts and New Media


Porter D-232
(831) 459-1554
http://digitalarts.ucsc.edu

This program serves as a center for innovation and exploration in the study of and application of digital technologies in the arts. With its concentration on digital tools and enablers and also digital venues for the arts, the program is designed to fall at the points of intersection of a variety of established disciplines which include the graphic arts, three-dimensional and environmental arts, music and sound design, film, video, and theater. While our focus is on the practice of these arts, it is reinforced with the study and exploration of their history and theory and of the history and theory of the new digital media and the culture they have helped create. This exploration is intended to expand the expressive possibilities of the digital enablers available to us and to create new tools for use within our program and by others. In effect, we are enlarging our collective imagination to make greater use of the possibilities made available to us through digital means and other advanced media.

Requirements

The Digital Arts and New Media M.F.A. Program is designed to be completed in two years of study. During those two years, students will normally take two five-credit courses each term. In addition, most students will take a two-credit colloquium every quarter from courses 204A-B-C. Students will be required to complete 72 credits of academic course work (of which up to 20 credits may come from upper-division undergraduate courses—with program approval).

A student’s program in digital arts and new media will involve five kinds of academic courses: seminars, elective courses, colloquia, project groups, and thesis projects.

Seminars. These are required of all students. The subjects of the first-year seminars are as follows:

• a history of digital arts and new media (fall quarter)
• cultural theory and research (winter quarter)
• interface design (spring quarter)

Elective Courses. These are courses on differing topics which are selectively open to all students, not exclusively those in the Digital Arts and New Media Program. The choice of electives should be selected in consultation with the student’s graduate program adviser. If recommended by the adviser, students may enroll in undergraduate courses for credit in the program. Students will be expected to accomplish the course work at a higher level than undergraduate students.

Colloquia. A time will be set aside each week during which all students and faculty in the Digital Arts and New Media Program will gather for a colloquium. These meetings will involve a research presentation by members of the faculty, invited guests, and, occasionally, student projects. Students will be given relevant reading assignments to prepare them for the colloquia and will be evaluated on their participation.

Project Groups. These groups will form the center of the program, and all students will participate in a project group starting in the third quarter of their first year. Students and faculty are grouped into small clusters based on similar interests and combine a variety of skills and backgrounds. The students are encouraged to develop further skills and strategies that are useful in reaching a certain objective defined by the group. The composition of the project groups will vary, with collaborations depending on the nature of the research project and the specific interests of individual researchers. Each group will have one or more faculty members and approximately six students. The projects will be selected, in part, for the blend of artistic, technical, and theoretical components. All thesis projects will be generated under the umbrella of the various project groups and will grow out of the work done in the project group during the three quarters prior to the thesis quarter.

Thesis Projects. All second-year students will complete a thesis or thesis project. They will work throughout the year on the thesis or project. Projects could be individual or collaborative and would combine writing about, designing, and building a project. The thesis project will be placed under the umbrella of the student’s project group. While students may be working largely independently of their project group, they will be expected to make progress presentations to their project group at least three times during their thesis quarter. All students will submit a thesis project at the time of the completion of their degree program. In most cases, the thesis will be an arts project submitted in some digital form accompanied by a paper discussing the student’s preparatory research as well as the theoretical significance of the project. In some cases, the project will consist entirely of a written research project.

Applications

Prospective students in the Digital Arts and New Media Program will have a foundation in the arts with some demonstrated interest in technology or a foundation in technology with demonstrated background in the arts. Many, but not all, entering students will have completed a bachelor of arts program in one or more of the arts disciplines (art or art history, film, multimedia, music, theater, video, etc.) or a bachelor of science program in computer science or computer or electrical engineering. Other successful applicants will have a B.A. or B.S. in another field, but will be able to show substantial achievement in the arts, in technology, or in digital arts.

In certain cases, students who demonstrate excellent potential for the program but lack proficiency in a “cross discipline” will be admitted to the program with the understanding that they will take courses during their first two quarters of study to make up that deficiency. An arts student lacking sufficient programming experience, for example, will be expected to take one or two programming courses as electives in his or her first two quarters. Similarly, a student lacking sufficient background in the arts may be required to take courses in an arts discipline.

Students will apply online through the Division of Graduate Studies web site between September 1 and February 1 for the following fall quarter. In addition to submitting an online application, students will be expected to submit a nonreturnable representative sample of their work, i.e., portfolio on a CD, CD-ROM, or DVD. Further information can be found at http://graddiv.ucsc.edu.