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The Center for Integrated Media

Integrated Media (IM) is a cross-disciplinary supplemental concentration of workshops, seminars and critiques offered by The Center for Integrated Media (CIM) at CalArts. The cross-disciplinary curriculum is designed specifically for advanced graduate students whose creative use of media and technology goes beyond their primary areas of study in art, dance, film/video, music, theater and creative writing. The Center for Integrated Media is designed to accommodate those students who want to interact with their peers from across the Institute within a learning environment that features a collective studio, an exhibition space and digital media tools, enabling them to explore new spatial and environmental installations, media based performance, digital video, sound, gaming, interactivity, object based media and the Internet.

Prospective graduate students who are interested in The Center for Integrated Media can apply to the relevant métier MFA program and indicate their intention to be considered for IM on their admissions application. Applicants to IM should review the IM portfolio and essay requirements in addition to their métier program requirements. MFA program faculty and IM faculty review these applications jointly. Applicants are expected to show a high level of artistic and critical ability required for the métier program and, at the same time, demonstrate significant intention to experiment with digital media technologies through a crossdisciplinary creative practice.

IM students must fulfill all of the requirements of their métier MFA programs. In addition, students must complete 2 IM seminar classes, an IM critique class, a Project Development class and produce an IM project during their final year of residency. Further coursework can include elective courses on technical and theoretical subjects such as media theory, network topologies, new software and hardware, programming basics, digital video production and editing, interactive systems and new Internet applications.

Integrated Media Learning Goals

 • Actualize the complex dialectic between the creative process and new forms of media;

 • As content producers, integrate diverse forms of practices into multiplatform artistic expressions;

• Forge creative research into the media arts, science, technology and cultural studies;

• Think critically and communicate persuasively about the aesthetic and political possibilities inherent in media and culture;

• Conceptualize, plan and execute sophisticated projects that articulate a distinct vision using a broad range of media and transdisciplinary skills.

Integrated Media Concentration Requirements

Year I - Fall

IIMC510 IM Research & Practice (1 unit)

This is a required class for the Integrated Media MFA1 students. In this class we will review the use of technology as a means for creating and understanding multidisciplinary art practices in the 21st Century. Through the use of interactive lectures we will examine visual, sound and performance work with visiting artists currently working at the intersections of cross-disciplinary art and technologies.

Year I - Spring

IIMC500 Conversations on Media/Culture (3 units)

This class is required for all MFA1 Integrated Media students. There are limited openings for graduate students from other programs across the institute. This class is an advanced visiting artist seminar focusing on topics in cross-disciplinary practice, history and theory with in-depth analysis and discussion of critical issues inherent in the use of media and technology. Readings and lectures will be used to address contemporary media and digital work that have led to the present state of the art. We will be hearing from artists whose creative practices and cultural production provide an insight to the ever changing nature of global networked culture. 

Year 2 - Fall

IIMC670 IM Project Development (3 units)

This course is required for all MFA2 Integrated Media students. Open to Integrated Media students only. Project Development is designed to allow the student concentrated studio time to continue their pursuit of advanced creative and technical practices and research in consultation with their Integrated Media faculty. The faculty will meet with the students on a weekly basis to discuss concepts, processes, technologies and critical issues in the continuing development of the student's required Integrated Media project.

Year 2 - Spring

IIMC690 IM Studio/Critique (3 units)

This is a required class for the Integrated Media MFA2 students. Studio/Critique is framed by an experimental, interdisciplinary and non-traditional approach to art-making while employing various combinations of digital and electronic media (sound and image), interactivity (social, relational or technical), hybridity, immersion (physical or virtual), network strategies and live performance. This approach will frame the context for the critique as we compare and contrast the artist’s work with their intent and motivation. The cultural, social and political issues that arise from the artist's work will also be part of the discussions. Various critical methods will be employed throughout the class that allow for the most appropriate format for enabling discussion and critical analysis. The purpose of the class is to enable the artist to experience various interpretations found in the body of work.

+2 Media Based Electives with IM faculties (5 Units)