Art and Computation

two people look closely as they work on a robotic object at a workstation equipped with other technological objects

Recognizing digital technology’s growing influence on art and design practices—and the influence of artists and designers on the digital landscape—the Art and Computation BFA at RISD offers you a deep understanding of and ability to create within the technological structures of the 21st century.

As an Art and Computation major and student in Computation, Technology and Culture (CTC)—the program’s home department—you work with code, software and other technological interfaces as creative mediums in their own right, and learn to incorporate them into a wide range of art and design practices.

In the studio

For Art and Computation majors, studio activity takes many forms. Whether working on personal projects or cross-disciplinary collaborations, at any point you may decide to explore robotics, AI and generative art, gaming and immersive media, physical computing and more.

a student wearing a virtual reality headset sits in a chair in dark, gold-tinged light, with a nearby tv monitor reading "Now go put on the VR headset and see the inner world."
an overhead structure made of dozens of small brown blocks hangs overhead in a gallery space
a person overlooks a skateboard turned bottom up, outfitted with a phone-sized touchscreen and circuitboard

Questions about majoring?

Go to our FAQ page for more information about the major, if you're interested in applying to RISD or want to get in touch.

See the Art and Computation FAQ

Student work

work by recent students in the CTC undergraduate concentration

a wired device affixed to a person's bare back
a cylindrical, translucent red and blue device illuminated in a dark space
a digital collage of a person lying on a pink, wax-textured bed comforter with two lines of text running on top of the image
a digital image of pixelated white pine trees against a stark black background
a zig-zagging digital brushstroke creates a multicolored pattern on a dark blue backdrop

Art and Computation majors think beyond digital technology as a set of tools removed from the moral, ethical, economic and political dimensions of everyday life—as more than something you simply use. Instead, you learn how to create technology that honors aesthetics, poetics and the breadth of human experience, past, present and future.

a black and white image of a beach transforms into a digitized abstract pattern