Art and Computation BFA Curriculum

For the duration of the degree program, Art and Computation majors take core studios alongside their peers in the Computation, Technology and Culture (CTC) department’s Sound BFA program (one per semester, from sophomore to senior year). These studios introduce you to core themes in computational art and design, including interaction, networks and simulation, with the second studio building on the first with more advanced concepts and skills.

During your sophomore year, you will also engage in required intros to histories, theories and methods of computational art making. In junior year you delve deeper into code and digital technologies as a creative mediums, while considering key social, economic, political and scientific issues that affect the field. Further supported by studio electives and liberal arts courses across the RISD curriculum, the Art and Computation BFA culminates in a senior-year degree project through which you create a substantial body of work that expresses your interests in computational creative practice.

Majors in the Art and Computation BFA program graduate prepared to:

• write source code, author software, and program hardware to create art and design projects across multiple programming languages.
• develop procedural literacy by engaging with systems, algorithms, and processes, and understanding computational aesthetics.
• investigate and design human-computer interactions, exploring how humans and machines collaborate and interact as an integral part of creative practice.
• explore the creative potential of technologies, combining traditional art-making techniques and crafts with digital fabrication, installations, and interactive media.
• critically analyze the cultural, historical, and societal impacts of computational technologies, and articulate their influence on contemporary art and design practices.
• engage with the ethics and politics of technology development and use, considering issues such as power, equity, and social and environmental justice.
• independently develop and manage significant computational art or design projects, demonstrating problem-solving and iterative design skills.