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California Institute of the Arts

MFA: Art and Technology

School of Art

A person with long dark hair with their back to the camera faces a wall in a darkened art gallery. A fluid, abstract pattern in colors of pink, white, and green is projected on the wall.

Cultivate creative strategies

The two-year Art and Technology program encourages students to cultivate creative strategies, technical competencies, and critical thinking skills while exploring and developing new applications of technology and media within a contemporary art practice. Working among CalArts’ dynamic and international community of artists, students interrogate the possibilities of artmaking at the intersection of technology and art in a globally networked culture.

A person standing among three flat objects suspended from the ceiling in a dramatically lit gallery.

GIAHN (MFA 23), Cacophony/Difference and Repetition, 2023. Performance, metronomes, installation, sound.

Find new forms where media intersect and integrate

MFA Art and Technology

Guided by faculty mentors and ongoing dialogue among peers, visiting artists, and faculty, MFA Art and Technology students engage in cross-disciplinary research and hone technical skills within the social and political contexts of new and emerging media. With an emphasis on studio practice, the curriculum incorporates a diverse range of cultural perspectives, influences, and media to encourage each student’s development of a personal and critical vision within the broad field of art and technology.

Let’s connect:

MFA candidates participate in peer discussions and collaborative exchange in the Art and Technology Studio, a shared common space that functions both as a working studio and a social affinity space as you build your practice—and your professional network. Each artist is assigned a designated area within the common studio for your individual use, 24/7 throughout the academic year.

Students work with mentors, program faculty, and visiting artists, who expand the range of expertise and specializations of the regular faculty. Faculty provide technical instruction in the creative use of computer programming, networked-based systems, digital image-making, digital sound design, installation, interactive media, and hybrid performance. This technical instruction is augmented with critiques, lectures, and seminars that challenge conventional ideas about what constitutes an art practice in the 21st century.

Art and Technology students are required to pass a graduate review, which includes an exhibition and presentation of the work, to complete the program and obtain the MFA degree.

Interested in the program?

View our step-by-step application guide to learn more.  

Start your application

Admission requirements

To be considered for the MFA Art and Technology program, you must complete an application process and all program-specific requirements, including a portfolio of representative work, an artist statement, a brief video introduction, and two letters of recommendation. Before applying, be sure to familiarize yourself with the detailed application requirements and resources available to assist you in this important process.

Application requirements

Degree requirements

The Art and Technology curriculum is centered around the student’s studio practice, creative research and an exchange of dialogue between peers, visiting artists and faculty. Students are required to pass a Graduate Review—which includes an exhibition and presentation of the work—to complete the program and obtain the MFA degree.

MFA Art and Technology academic requirements 

Interdisciplinary opportunities

In addition to CalArts’ rich and diverse community and naturally collaborative atmosphere, the Institute provides several programs of study that can be pursued concurrently with a student’s chosen metier.

Learn more about MFA concentrations

The Center for Integrated Media concentration is designed specifically for MFA students whose creative use of technology, in particular digital media, goes beyond their primary areas of study.

Learn more about The Center for Integrated Media

Courses you might take

What courses would you take as a graduate student in Art and Technology? Browse the courses offered in the program, including opportunities in the creative use of computer programming, networked-based systems, digital image making, digital sound design, installation, interactive media and hybrid performance.

See Art and Technology Courses

Explore the School of Art course catalog

Meet the faculty

At CalArts, faculty and students are collaborators, teaching, learning, and working together as members of our community of artists. 

All Art and Technology faculty

What will you make?

Student Projects

The Art School Project Archive, a collection of final projects and exhibitions launched in May 2021, offers a window into the diverse and vital work our students are producing at CalArts.

woman wearing VR headset with cloud background behind her

Yuki Shiyu Ding (MFA 24), Oasis, interactive VR installation.

Some of our alumni

  • K. Bradford (Art-Creative Writing MFA 14), interdisciplinary artist, performer, writer, cultural innovator
  • Nick Rodrigues (MFA 12), mixed-media, installation, and performance artist
  • Paul Rosero (MFA 15), interdisciplinary installation artist, sound artist, DJ
  • Liz Toonkel (Art-Theater MFA 12), film and theater production designer

More School of Art alumni

World Building (with shoes on)

Magician, production designer, artist, and CalArts double-MFA (Art and Technology and Scenic Design) Liz Toonkel (MFA 12) talks with Colossal about creating the adorable universe behind the mockumentary Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

Stop-action animation still depicting two tiny snail shells, each with a single large eye, one in a hat and one wearing shoes, standing in a raised garden bed.

Still from Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, 2022. Dean Fleischer-Camp director; Liz Toonkel production designer.

Gallery

Want to learn more?

We got you. Our Admissions team is all about providing the information you need to decide if CalArts is right for you. We’re excited to connect with you for a tour of our legendary campus, a virtual info session, or at one of our admissions events across the country or around the world. Take the next step—we’re here to help.