Art + Technology
Artists in California have been combining art and technology for many decades.
These artistic forms of investigation are more relevant and compelling than ever before, particularly in the Bay Area with its culture of technological innovation, emphasis on social media, and DIY ethos. Students in the Art and Technology major at SFAI learn the technical, conceptual, historical, and theoretical skills needed to produce contemporary art using technological forms such as time-based and networked media, digital media, audio, programming, and electronics.
Inherently interdisciplinary, this major offers students the opportunity to explore the ways that technology has infused traditional approaches to art-making, as well as creating possibilities for the invention of new media practices.
Past Courses
- Structural Drawing/Design Visualization
- Internet Tools and Concepts
- Smarter Art Design for Smart Devices
- Active Wearable Objects
- Typography: Context and Practice
- Sonic City Sound Lab: Sound, Bodies, and the City
- Rethinking the “Artist”: The Case for Collaborative Practice
Facilities
Students have access to extensive Digital Technology Resources configured to meet the needs of projects using sound, photography, film, video, design, plasma cutter, laser cutter (Spring 2015), web, programming, and print.
Curriculum
See a sample four-year academic plan in the BFA in Art + Technology program to help you decide what courses to take when.
Total: 120
| Title | Units |
|---|---|
| Liberal Arts Requirements | 33 |
| Studio Requirements | 72 |
| Art History Requirements | 15 |
Studio Requirements
| Title | Units |
|---|---|
| Contemporary Practice | 3 |
| Introduction to Art and Technology I | 3 |
| Introduction to Art and Technology II | 3 |
| Digital Media Distribution | 3 |
| Interactivity and Social Media Distribution | 3 |
| Electronic Distribution | 3 |
| Art and Technology Electives | 15 |
| Senior Review Seminar | 3 |
| Art and Technology Advanced Projects | 3 |
| Electives in any studio discipline | 24 |
| General Electives | 9 |
| BFA Graduate Exhibition | 0 |
Art History Requirements
| Title | Units |
|---|---|
| Global Art History | 3 |
| Modernity and Modernism | 3 |
| Art Since 1945 | 3 |
| History of Art and Technology | 3 |
| Art History Elective | 3 |
Faculty
Program Learning Outcomes
- Students gain historical and contemporary knowledge of the ways that artists use and have used technologies within their artistic practice, and familiarity with the theoretical frameworks brought to bear on the discourse surrounding such practices.
- Students acquire knowledge of concepts, skills, and techniques needed to produce art works that utilize digital, interactive, networked, and/or electronic media.
- Students gain an understanding of the characteristics and capabilities of various technologies (hardware and software); their appropriateness for particular expressive, functional, and strategic applications; their positions within larger contexts and systems; and their influences on individuals and society.
- Students acquire an understanding of concepts central to art works that utilize technologies, including narrative, duration, networked information, kinetics, and interactivity.
- Students demonstrate the ability to collaborate with others, both from artistic and other disciplines.
- Students demonstrate the ability to develop an advanced body of artwork utilizing technology that sustains an original concept.
