Program
Electronic Art + Design covers a wide range of faculty and student practices, but they all share an emphasis on hybrid methods that integrate computation with other media, that are critically engaged with key cultural issues, and that participate in shaping the “designed’” aspects of our world.
Graduate Program
At the graduate level, we avoid the formal separation between “new” and “traditional” media that has arisen in some programs, feeling that the differences between these practices are often less important than they are made to seem through the constant hyping of new technologies. In the Art department, EAD students work side by side with graduate students in all areas of contemporary art practice, creating a fruitful conversation in which Foucault and Flusser, Haraway and Hayles are all part of the mix.
Undergraduate Program
Undergraduates do not have to declare a major in this area to take courses; in fact, they are encouraged to take EAD courses side by side with video, installation, sculpture, music, and so on. Through immersion in the principles of information design and programming, students gain the necessary skills to collaborate with innovators from many other fields, putting them in a position to tackle tomorrow’s vital issues. As they move their practice beyond traditional exhibition venues, they are enabled to intervene more directly in the shaping of their culture.
To help students plan their curriculum, the EAD area of the Art department is in the process of developing a formal undergraduate Specialization as well as informal tracks, each focusing on a different subset of practices and outcomes. Informal tracks include Game Culture and Technology, Media Design for Print and Web, Interactive Art and Installation, Electronic Narrative, and Tactical Media. Suggested course groupings for these tracks can be found on this site under “Course Plans.”
EAD students may also be interested in the school’s Digital Arts Minor—many UCI students who major in Art minor in Digital Arts. For more information, check out the Digital Arts Minor website.