The MFA Program in Media Arts at UCLA offers a rigorous environment for the sustained exploration of contemporary arts practice in the context of media and technology. Through technical and critical seminars, group critiques, and individual tutorials with faculty, each student is challenged to question conventional ideas about art, technology, and new media while developing a critical awareness about their own work.
Located within UCLA’s prestigious School of the Arts and Architecture, students in the Department of Design | Media Arts work closely with the department’s world-renowned faculty, which includes Steve Anderson, Jenna Caravello, Johanna Drucker, Erkki Huhtamo, Willem Henri Lucas, Peter Lunenfeld, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Chandler McWilliams, Rebeca Méndez, Christian Moeller, Casey Reas, Ramesh Srinivasan, Jennifer Steinkamp, Eddo Stern, and Victoria Vesna. Students can also have the opportunity to take full advantage of the resources UCLA provides as a leading research university.
Each year, the department hosts a lecture series featuring a diverse selection of international artists, thinkers, and performers. The 2020–21 lecture series included American Artist, Carmen Argote, Caroline Busta, A.M. Darke, Nikita Gale, Kit Galloway, Marie-José Jongerius, Daniel Maarleveld and Mitch Paone, Mark Ruwedel, and MSHR.
Students are offered robust financial aid packages, paid teaching and research assistantships, and access to numerous grants and fellowships. Our student-to-faculty ratio is less than 2:1, providing individualized mentorship and support. Other resources include 24-hour access to a state-of-the-art fabrication shop and electronics lab, the UCLA Game Lab, the Art|Sci Center, the CounterForce Lab, and the UCLA Arts Conditional Studio.
The application deadline is January 4, 2022. We are especially seeking candidates with diverse backgrounds and/or fields of study that may challenge the conception of “media artist.”
To learn more, register for a virtual info session or visit mfa.dma.ucla.edu.
