Call for Applications: Electronic Art and Design, MFA at University of California, Irvine

Electronic Art and Design (EAD) students in the Department of Art at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) operate at the intersection of art, design, and technology, and are motivated to intervene in society beyond traditional exhibition venues. In EAD, students critically engage with the contemporary techno-social context as subject and medium, deploying electronics, computation, and media technologies in conjunction with other methods and materials.

EAD is a subspecialty within the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program, in which students develop a focused practice while articulating their position within the larger art world. Successful applicants will join a dynamic community of around thirty students working in EAD, video and digital filmmaking, photography, new genres, sculpture, and painting. All MFA students take part in a studio-oriented curriculum integrating theory, practice, and research.

Core EAD faculty include Antoinette LaFarge (telematic performance, interactive installation, expanded narrative), Simon Penny (mechatronics, robotics, interactive installation, cognitive science, science and technology studies), and Jesse Colin Jackson (computer-aided design and fabrication, generative algorithms, architecture, photography).

CTSA facilities provide EAD support for computer-aided design and fabrication, mechatronics, interactive installation, telematic and media-intensive performance, immersive and locative media, motion and green-screen capture, digital video, and photography. All MFA students have 24-hour access to CTSA facilities including their own private studios.

Successful US applicants typically receive full academic financial support. Successful International applicants also typically receive very generous academic financial support for the first year and full academic support for the second and third years. The Department is committed to providing as much funding as possible to assist all students in the completion of the degree. Students also take advantage of the numerous grant and fellowship opportunities available through the School of the Arts, the UC Institute for Research in the Arts, and other external agencies. Financial aid is available, including teaching assistantships and scholarships. UC Irvine offers guaranteed on-campus housing to all new MFA students who are admitted prior to the housing application deadline.

EAD is committed to interdisciplinarity. Students are encouraged to take full advantage of the wealth and diversity of resources and expertise at UC Irvine, including parallel graduate programs in Visual Studies, Film & Media Studies, and Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology, as well as the Critical Theory Institute, the School of Information and Computer Sciences, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and the National Center for Rapid Technologies.

For more information, visit EAD at http://sites.uci.edu/elad/, and Department of Art at http://studioart.arts.uci.edu/.