Tenured/Tenure-Track Studio Position: Creative Practices in Computational Media

The University of Michigan is conducting searches for an interdisciplinary “cluster” of five faculty working in the area of Computational Media and Interactive Systems. We are searching for dynamic researchers and studio practitioners whose efforts focus on the interplay between computational technologies and the creative disciplines of art and design, performance, and architecture. These new positions and the collaborations envisioned are enthusiastically supported by the School of Art & Design; the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering; the Department of Performing Arts Technology in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance; and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Positions in art and design, computer science, and performing arts will be filled in 2011, while a position in architecture and a second position in computer science will be filled in 2012. Based across different disciplines and academic units, the ensuing collective of creative practitioners and computational engineers and scientists will leverage a shared digital ecology to conduct open-ended experiments and project-based explorations that integrate advanced computational techniques with vanguard visual communication, performance, and built environments.

As one of the participating units, the School of Art & Design is seeking a dynamic artist/designer focused on exploring the creative potential and cultural implications of computational media. Working across the disciplinary divide between programming culture and studio practice, the ideal Art & Design candidate would bring strong expertise in the use of computational processes for experimental, expressive, critical, and unconventional purposes. Potential areas of creative research include gaming, information visualization, computer simulation and prototyping, social media, interactivity, mobile and wearable devices, robotics, expanded cinema, augmented reality, web applications, and generative design and fabrication.

Applications are due by January 5, 2011.