In this course, students make games from the first week through a series of game jams, building and playtesting a playable game in each one. Students explore game design through the tools and constraints of pixel art. Working within the disciplines of programming game mechanic logic, game art production, and composing 8-bit music will require a broad and technical approach. No prior coding or art experience is required.

Programs like GB Studio for game design, game logic, and visual programming, Aseprite for sprites and animation, as well as music trackers for sound and music production will all be covered. By managing hardware limitations, game design scope, and sprite-based design, students will explore the capabilities of this inherently constrained medium. These efforts will culminate in a playable game printed on a physical Game Boy cartridge that can be played on actual hardware.

This course will also situate this work within the history of pixelated art: A) before video games through works of textiles, mosaics, and other grid-based design tools throughout art history; B) during the birth of video games as a tool of efficient processing and clear communication; and C) up to the present day as an accessible tool of game design for both beginners and professionals in modern video games.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00

Elective

In this 4 week workshop students will learn the basics of drafting computer generated drawings for use in fabrication. Students will learn the basics of traditional drafting, parametric CAD workflows, and design for manufacturing, in order to design and fabricate an object. 

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Elective

In this 4 week workshop students will learn the basics of drafting computer generated drawings for use in fabrication. Students will learn the basics of traditional drafting, parametric CAD workflows, and design for manufacturing, in order to design and fabricate an object. 

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Elective

In this 4 week workshop students will learn the basics of drafting computer generated drawings for use in fabrication. Students will learn the basics of traditional drafting, parametric CAD workflows, and design for manufacturing, in order to design and fabricate an object. 

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Elective

Form Flight and Abstraction 

To look skyward is to look inward, into the deep space of the human imagination as we pursue our primal need to believe in something beyond reality. This studio course explores flight as a force of abstraction and the sky as a medium for artistic expression through the design and construction of functional flying objects.

Beginning with simple experiments in paper flight, students will investigate the relationships between form, structure, material, and aerodynamic forces. Through iterative design, prototyping, and testing, the constraints of flight become a catalyst for abstraction. Students will be challenged to abstract their subjects, transforming them into objects that take flight and inspire the imaginations of terrestrial onlookers from the sky.

Computational design, digital fabrication, and programmable technologies will be introduced as tools for experimentation and expression. The course culminates in the creation of an original functional aerial phenomenon: a flying object conceived as a vehicle for communicating ideas, provoking curiosity, and offering an unexpected experience of wonder.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $300.00

Elective

This hands-on studio turns fieldwork into art. Each session starts with a demo in the classroom, then heads out to a study site: gardens, parks, the museum, the plant conservatory, the herbarium, nurseries, and wild places around Providence. There you'll capture plants, fungi, lichens, mosses, insects, soil, and terrain, from tiny macro details to whole landscapes, using macro photography, focus stacking, photogrammetry, 3D scanning, and video. Back in the studio, you'll use machine vision and AI coding tools to build systems that sort, tag, combine, and transform your captures into new work. Documentation becomes both a way of studying the living world and an art form in its own right. We'll look at historical and contemporary artists working with nature and ecology, and the semester builds through weekly capture exercises and group critiques to a site-derived body of work in a final form of your choosing.

This course is open to all students. Much of the class takes place off campus and outdoors, with travel between sites. Students with access needs are encouraged to contact the instructor. Students will need a laptop and will check out equipment from CTC.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $200.00

Elective

In this course students will explore the aesthetic possibilities afforded by programming languages; specifically programming for interfaces and computer graphics. Students will work from the bare metal of graphics coding to more abstracted approaches to create interactive and dynamic programs which use the screen as a canvas and playground. This course requires previous experience with coding.

Prerequisites: Prior coding experience is required. Students are required to complete CTC-2101 Introduction to Computation before enrolling. Other courses may be substituted with permission of the CTC department head or instructor.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Elective

Exploring the question, "What if my computer made my drawings for me?" this course investigates the use of computational methods for creating drawings. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Mark Wilson, Vera Molnar, and Harold Cohen’s work with AARON, a life-long software that crafts significant art pieces, we will explore the historical and practical aspects of coding as a creative tool. Students will research the origins of computational making, learn basic scripting for artistic aims, understand generative drawings' material outputs, and participate in hands-on projects to foster innovation and exploration in computer-assisted drawing.

Elective

This course introduces the core themes of computational art and design, including interaction, networks, and simulation. Students will engage with these topics through modern digital production techniques, examining them from formal, material, historical, and social perspectives.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Major Requirement | BFA Art + Computation, BFA Sound

This course introduces the core themes of computational art and design, including interaction, networks, and simulation. Students will engage with these topics through modern digital production techniques, examining them from formal, material, historical, and social perspectives.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Major Requirement | BFA Art + Computation, BFA Sound

This course investigates the impact of computation and media technologies on artistic production and the way artists have utilized new technologies like computers, electronics, the internet, mobile devices, AI, robotics, and other tech media to create works of art. Students will analyze the works of pioneering new media artists, study the impact of technological advancements on artistic practices, and discuss the social, ethical, political, and cultural contexts that have shaped the aesthetics of computational art practices. Through a combination of readings, discussions, case studies, and project-based work, students will engage with key debates, texts, and methodologies that address the histories and potential futures of this dynamic and rapidly evolving field.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Major Requirement | BFA Art + Computation

This course builds on the themes covered in the prerequisite Core Studio 1, introducing more advanced digital production methods and themes. Students are encouraged to explore and develop personal working methods and interests through studio projects, fostering a self-directed practice that culminates in a final end-of-year critique.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00

Major Requirement | BFA Art + Computation, BFA Sound

The material qualities of textile design and fabrication refer to our relationship to all aspects of the physical and tangible world. While computation has long been responsible for pushing the traditional techniques of textiles to high levels of mechanical industrial expression, digital sensibility and know-how of digital technologies are now increasingly seen as means to push the frontier and very definition of fabric. Parallel advances in digital fabrication and the invention of smart materials now allow for added dimensionality and functionality in fabric, and computation is a key interface for material exploration. In this course, students will learn to modulate the performance and behavior of fabric through its geometry and other systems of continuous structural surface within a computational framework. This course will provide students with the opportunity to push the boundaries of fabric design across disciplines and studio practices.

Estimated Cost of Materials: varies by individual project.

Elective

Computation, Technology, and Culture Interdisciplinary Critique is an advanced course for juniors, seniors, and graduate students who have already demonstrated a high level of commitment to pursuing art/design work that involves computational platforms, software systems, and digital technologies, and which explores associated histories, theories, and practices. In this course, students work on an individual project that incorporates research and theoretical exploration of a topic of their choice, with the aim of producing a refined body of work or large scale piece that advances their understanding of and practice with computation and technology. Students regularly meet individually with faculty and receive feedback in recurring group critiques. Additionally, seminar discussions are held focused on pertinent readings, screenings, and lectures. Successful completion of any CTC course or equivalent coursework is preferred, but not required.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00 

Requirement | CTC Concentration

Elective

Computation, Technology, and Culture Interdisciplinary Critique is an advanced course for juniors, seniors, and graduate students who have already demonstrated a high level of commitment to pursuing art/design work that involves computational platforms, software systems, and digital technologies, and which explores associated histories, theories, and practices. In this course, students work on an individual project that incorporates research and theoretical exploration of a topic of their choice, with the aim of producing a refined body of work or large scale piece that advances their understanding of and practice with computation and technology. Students regularly meet individually with faculty and receive feedback in recurring group critiques. Additionally, seminar discussions are held focused on pertinent readings, screenings, and lectures. Successful completion of any CTC course or equivalent coursework is preferred, but not required.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00 

Requirement | CTC Concentration

Elective

This course explores the translation of digital processes into physical works through fabrication and installation, with a focus on how computational design can be realized in tangible forms. Students will develop projects that utilize code as a tool for creating objects, installations, and interactive environments, bridging the gap between digital and material practices. Throughout the course, students will experiment with digital fabrication techniques such as 3D printing, CNC milling, laser cutting, and other methods for physicalizing digital designs. The emphasis will be on how code can act as both a creative medium and a method for generating physical outcomes. Students will also engage in critical discourse around the materiality of code, exploring questions of authorship, the aesthetics of digital and physical systems, and the cultural implications of digital fabrication in contemporary art. 

Major Requirement | BFA Art + Computation

This course explores the translation of digital processes into physical works through fabrication and installation, with a focus on how computational design can be realized in tangible forms. Students will develop projects that utilize code as a tool for creating objects, installations, and interactive environments, bridging the gap between digital and material practices. Throughout the course, students will experiment with digital fabrication techniques such as 3D printing, CNC milling, laser cutting, and other methods for physicalizing digital designs. The emphasis will be on how code can act as both a creative medium and a method for generating physical outcomes. Students will also engage in critical discourse around the materiality of code, exploring questions of authorship, the aesthetics of digital and physical systems, and the cultural implications of digital fabrication in contemporary art. 

Major Requirement | BFA Art + Computation

This studio investigates the dynamic relationship between humans and computational systems, focusing on how artists and designers can engage, mediate, and materialize interactions between people and machines. Students will create interactive works that explore the cultural, ethical, and material implications of computation in our daily lives. Projects will range from responsive installations and generative artworks to tangible interfaces and digital environments. Through the combination of code, hardware, and critical theory, students will explore the potential of computation as an artistic medium, considering both technical and conceptual frameworks.
 

Major Requirement | BFA Art + Computation

This studio investigates the dynamic relationship between humans and computational systems, focusing on how artists and designers can engage, mediate, and materialize interactions between people and machines. Students will create interactive works that explore the cultural, ethical, and material implications of computation in our daily lives. Projects will range from responsive installations and generative artworks to tangible interfaces and digital environments. Through the combination of code, hardware, and critical theory, students will explore the potential of computation as an artistic medium, considering both technical and conceptual frameworks.
 

Major Requirement | BFA Art + Computation

Advanced Physical Computation is a research-driven studio exploring these questions through the design and construction of computational systems that move, behave, and respond within the physical world. Technical research will serve as a foundation for broader investigations into autonomy, agency, adaptation, emergence, and the increasingly unstable boundaries between machines and living systems.

Building on prior experience with microcontrollers, electronics, sensing, and basic actuation, students will investigate advanced approaches to motion including motor control, mechanical transmission, kinetic mechanisms, feedback systems, coordinated actuation, and alternative forms of movement. Through readings, case studies, technical demonstrations, and independent research, students will situate these experiments within contemporary art, robotics, biology, and emerging technologies.

The course considers how computation can become embedded within an artwork’s physical form, movement, and material logic, rather than functioning as an interface added to an object. Through iterative experimentation, students will develop increasingly sophisticated prototypes, culminating in a substantial independent project that advances both their technical and research practices.

This course is open to juniors and above from all majors and requires prior completion of Introduction to Physical Computation or equivalent experience in physical computing.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00

Elective