Bachelor of Arts [B.A] [New Media] From University of Illinois

Through research and teaching, the New Media program serves as Illinois' site for practice-based exploration and criticism of new technological forms of art, design, and communication.

Artists and designers are constantly presented with new tools and platforms. Instead of blindly using every emerging technology, New Media practitioners sort through the opportunities to understand how they produce sensations and facilitate communication. What possibilities do these tools offer for perceiving the world and representing it to others? How are newer consumer and scientific technologies encouraging us to continue older forms of perception and communication, rather than developing new ones?

Students’ work in the program utilizes new and old technologies and narratives. Through projects in various media, they acquire technical skills, practice vocabularies of critique and analysis, and become familiar with the historic and contemporary field of art and design.

New Media study can lead to a wide variety of post-educational pursuits, including art gallery practice, commercial design, non-profit or community media advocacy, or research in corporate and educational contexts. Research by faculty in Illinois' New Media program is representative of this breadth. Individual faculty experience includes work in screen-based and physical interactive media, performance, publication, curation, exhibition, and activism.