Computational Art at UCLA is for students who want to make creative work with code, systems, data, interaction, and emerging technologies. Students work across art, design, and media, but the center of the major is computation: not just as a tool, but as a creative material, a way of thinking, and a subject for artistic exploration.

Computational Art is not half computer science and half art. It is neither an art degree with a technical add-on nor a technical degree with a creative component. Artists, designers, engineers, and creative technologists have been developing this field for more than sixty years. It is a distinct creative field where code, images, systems, interaction, sound, data, networks, and emerging technologies become materials for artistic work.

Students drawn to this major may be asking whether to pursue art or engineering, computer science or design, technical work or creative work. In Computational Art, these paths come together. Students combine creative imagination with technical skill, developing projects that could not exist through either art or computation alone. They also ask larger questions about technology: Who creates it? Who uses it? Who is affected by it? How do computational systems shape culture, creativity, and everyday life?

Students come to Computational Art with different strengths. Some arrive with experience in visual art, design, music, video, or performance. Others have explored coding, electronics, AI tools, interactive media, digital worlds, or experimental technologies. The program builds shared foundations while helping students develop a focused creative practice with computation.

As a BA program within a major research university, Computational Art combines studio practice, technical learning, and broad liberal arts study. Students have room to explore courses across UCLA while developing a creative practice centered on computation as an artistic medium. They may extend their studio and technical work through electives, minors, and courses across campus, including areas such as Digital Humanities, Disability Studies, Architecture, Art, Film, Music, Engineering, and other fields.

UCLA is an ideal place to study this field. Located in Los Angeles, the university is part of California’s globally influential ecosystem of software, technology, art, design, entertainment, and media culture. Los Angeles offers a unique context for students interested in the future of creative technology and contemporary artistic practice.
Graduates of the Computational Art BA may pursue creative and technical roles such as:

Creative Coder / Creative Technologist
Media Artist / Digital Artist / Motion Designer / XR Artist
Generative Artist / Computational Designer / Artist working with AI systems
Design Technologist / UX Engineer

The degree can also prepare students for further study in areas such as:

Graduate study in Media Art or Art
Graduate study in Design or Architecture
Graduate study in Games, Digital Media, and related fields
Graduate study in Computer Science and other engineering fields

Computational Art is one of three majors in the Department of Design Media Arts, alongside Design and Games. These three majors offer distinct paths through creative work with digital technologies: Design focuses on visual communication and graphic design with digital tools; Games focuses on games as a creative, technical, and cultural medium; Computational Art focuses on computation as a material, method, and subject for artistic practice.

During the first two years, students take shared foundation courses with students from all three majors. In the third and fourth years, Computational Art students specialize through upper-division courses, electives, and independent creative work. Through their elective choices, students can shape an individual path within the major, including areas such as creative coding, generative systems, interactive media, 3D graphics, sound, image, data, networks, AI systems, and experimental technologies.

The program culminates in a self-directed Senior Project, a two-course sequence in which each student develops, produces, and presents a substantial original work that reflects their individual interests and creative direction.

Preparation for the Major

8
Media Histories
10
Design Culture
21
Digital Image
22
Fabrication and Materials
24
Video and Motion
25
Typography
28
Interactivity

Core Lecture Courses

101
Media Arts Introduction
104
Design Futures

Core Studio Courses (choose 9)

110
Tangible Media
111
Art and the Internet
131
3D Modeling and Motion
125
Game Design
116
Sonic Media
127
Interactive Animation
126
Game Engine
114
Arts Research and Practice
115
Art and Science Collaboration
128
Worldbuilding
129
Collaborative Game Lab
130
Experiments in Virtuality
140
Word and Image
141
Web Design and UI/UX
142
Design Systems
143
Disability and the Web
144
Type in Motion
145
Design Research
146
Ecological Arts and Justice Practice
150
Professional Practice
160
Special Topics in Design Media Arts

Senior Project
159
Capstone Senior Project in Design Media Arts

In addition to classes taken within the DMA department, students complete a series of general education courses and are encouraged to take other electives from the university to broaden their experience. A complete list of all DMA classes with descriptions is available in the UCLA General Catalog and individual class websites can be found on the DMA Classes website.

More information regarding the new Fall 2027 application process will be available soon