Dynamic Media Institute Graduate Program

2019-2020 G R A D U AT E PROGRAMS

DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE

GRADUATE PROGRAMS

DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE MassArt’s Dynamic Media Institute (DMI) offers two graduate programs in design: a Master of Fine Arts and a Post-Baccalaureate certificate. Our DMI programs focus on the future uses of dynamic media for communication design, including data visualization, user-centered experiences, mobile applications, smart environments, interactive systems, and mixed reality.

The 60-credit DMI MFA in Design enables students to pursue their degree through a rigorous practice of

CURRICULUM AND FACILITIES Topics of study range from interface design, interactive environments, learning applications, and data visualization to participatory narrative, sound and video installation, smart objects, and much more. Our students enter the Dynamic Media Institute with diverse backgrounds as sculptors, musicians, performers, journalists, photographers, graphic designers, architects, industrial designers, product designers, educators, and developers.

They graduate with a new personal body of work as well as new skills and experience, equipped to become leading design professionals, educators, fine artists, or entrepreneurs.

research, prototyping, and writing. The program prepares students for high-level creative positions at innovative agencies, design firms, startups, and digital companies while qualifying them to teach at the university level. The MFA may be earned in a full-time two-year track or spread over three years, offering students flexible pathways through the program.

DMI’s graduate certificate is a one-year, 24 to 29-credit,

DMI students have the use of personal studio spaces on MassArt’s Boston campus as well as access to lighting, sound, and green screen studios. A wide range of equipment resources including laser cutters, high-definition projectors, professional video cameras, synthesizers, wide format inkjet printers and plotters, and highresolution digital SLRs are also available.

immersive educational program that gives students the opportunity to focus on the role and new uses of dynamic media in communication design. Upon successful completion, students earn a Graduate Post-Baccalaureate certificate in design, and many elect to continue on to the MFA program.

Cover: Patlapa Davivonga and Andrew Ringler, Sequencer, 2016

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DMI FACULTY

IN ADDITION TO CORE PROFESSORS FROM THE

MARTHA RETTIG, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR / PROGRAM CO-COORDINATOR Martha Rettig is a designer, experimenter, and immersive artist whose work focuses on merging traditional mediums with emerging technologies. Her experience over the past fifteen years crosses many disciplines, including design concept, visual design, interactive design, interface design, data visualization, experience design, and creative direction. She co-founded an interactive design agency, Cykod, in 2006 and has helped to build over two hundred websites and apps from the ground up.

DYNAMIC MEDIA INSTITUTE, DMI COURSES ARE TAUGHT BY A TALENTED AND DIVERSE GROUP OF VISITING ARTISTS, DESIGNERS, AND SPECIAL GUESTS.

Martha Rettig

FISH McGILL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR / PROGRAM CO-COORDINATOR Fish McGill creates characters to communicate and question his perception of society through a practice based in drawing and animation. He focuses on robots as literal and metaphorical machines that convey ideas about what it means to be human. Fish has exhibited nationally and internationally. His work has been professionally commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary Art, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nike, Deitch Projects, Adobe, and MTV, among others.

Fish McGill

JAN KUBASIEWICZ, PROFESSOR / PROGRAM FOUNDER Jan Kubasiewicz, founder and coordinator of MassArt’s Dynamic Media Institute (2000-2015), teaches information architecture, data visualization, user experience design, and motion design. He has served as visiting lecturer at numerous universities in the USA, Australia, China, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Poland. He has curated exhibitions and organized workshops, seminars, conferences and publications on the topic of communication, design and media. His personal work has been exhibited internationally.

Jan Kubasiewicz

RECENT ADVISORS AND VISITING FACULTY

SOFIE HODARA, VISITING LECTURER Sofie Hodara is a multimedia artist, designer, and educator. Her work explores the intersection of traditional and cutting-edge media in order to create beautiful, non-utilitarian experiences with technology. She has taught design courses at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University and Emmanuel College.

Sofie has exhibited her work nationally, and is the co-founder of the International Institute of Contemporary Art and Theory in Mangalia, Romania.

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Saul Baizman, Principal, Baizman Design Cindy Bishop, Developer, MIT Media Lab/Center for Future Civic Media Kent Millard, UX Designer, The Mathworks Sofie Hodara

Joseph Quackenbush, Professor of Design & former DMI Program Coordinator Andrew Ringler, Public Experience Designer Fred Wolflink, MassArt Studio Director, New Technologies 4

DMI THESIS AND EXHIBITIONS The success of each unique DMI project relies on research, user testing, feedback, and reflection. With the support of peers, faculty, advisors, and critics, MFA students’ course of study will culminate in a rich body of original work and a comprehensive written thesis document.

The thesis is the centerpiece of the DMI experience, the realization of each student’s individual experiences, expertise, and passion. Topics are as varied as our students, explored through the lens of emerging technologies.

Past thesis projects have investigated themes such as immigration, markmaking, haptic memory, the evolution of cartography, food and society, and Richard W.P. Huang (MFA ‘19 / DMI), The Light of Life, 2019, multimedia, thesis installation view

the nature of human “perfection.”

Each spring, MFA candidates and certificate students are invited to participate in Fresh Media, DMI’s annual student exhibition.

Participants exhibit a range of work, from prototypes to fullyrealized applications, products, and installations. This public interaction and testing provide the designers with a better understanding of their projects, and the feedback also aids in expanding the field of interaction design as a whole.

Above: Hessam Daraei (MFA ’18 / DMI), from the interactive narrative And Then There Was One, 2018

Eun Seo Choi (Post-Bac ‘19 / DMI) Fresh Media (Blue), Announcement for exhibition at Boston CyberArts Gallery, March 2019

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Left: Amanda Schuermann (MFA ‘17 / DMI), Pictoprint Interactive Drawing Machine, Raspberry Pi3, Wacom Tablet, Stylus, Processing, & Mini Thermal Printer

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STUDENT PROJECT SPOTLIGHT RETHINK RECYCLE

Students from the spring 2019 interdisciplinary DMI elective, Disobedient Design, created a collaborative, augmented reality art workshop for a Climate Resilience Forum about the effects of pollution in our underwater ecosystems. The workshop asked passing participants to make original artwork, which students then incorporated directly into their own 3D designs.

Thesis work from Philip Gedarovich (MFA ‘16 / DMI)

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Thesis work from Ryan Kenney (MFA ‘17 / DMI)

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STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES

DMI ALUMNI

DMI students are afforded numerous opportunities to gain professional experience during their course of study. All graduate students are eligible to apply for a range of paid on-campus assistantships. Off-campus internships are encouraged, and many students take advantage of paid positions which can also earn credit, during the academic year and the summer break.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Bing Lin, MFA ‘16

Right: Bing Lin (MFA ‘16 / DMI) and Danielle Dean (MFA ‘17 / Photography) in Bangalore, India, during their 2019 MassArt graduate alumni teaching residency at Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology Below: Students of Bing Lin at Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology in her Interactive Media and Sound Visualization Workshops

After completing her MFA at MassArt, Lin was selected for two of MassArt’s funded graduate alumni residency programs. In 2017, she was in residence at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where she collaborated with students and musicians on visualizing classical music.

In 2019, she was a teaching artist-in-residence at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, in Bangalore, India, where she conducted workshops focused on sound visualization and interaction design. She presently works as a graphic designer and production artist.

Above: Bing Lin (MFA ‘16 / DMI) gameLAN 2.0, instrument prototype, Korg NanoPAD2, plywood

Bing Lin

The Dynamic Media Institute appealed to me because it connects research, fine art, and design thinking within a studio environment. It was a perfect place for me to study because it allowed me to pursue my work in a deep way through focused courses and one-on-one mentorship. I am grateful to be a part of our strong alumni community.

My thesis, gameLAN 2.0, was inspired by my experience playing in a Javanese Gamelan ensemble. By linking the sounds of drums, xylophones and string instruments to a visual medium, gameLAN 2.0 allows simultaneous translation from sound to visual projections.

MassArt’s digital fabrication lab enabled me to design and construct the central object of my thesis. Through it, users translate the traditional Gamelan sounds in new ways while witnessing a visual manifestation of their efforts.

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ABOUT MASSART Founded in 1873, MassArt has a unique legacy of leadership as the first freestanding, public college of art and design in the country and the nation’s first art school to grant a degree.

MassArt’s mission is both lofty and grounded: to prepare students from diverse backgrounds to positively impact every society they join, and to become leaders in the creative economy as artists, designers, and educators.

Since its founding, MassArt has consistently advocated for access to and equity in art, design, and education. Our alumni have long been agents of change in Boston and beyond, driven by independence, entrepreneurship, and passion.

FALL 2020 PRIORITY APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 6, 2020

CONTACT US Graduate Admissions: gradadmissions@massart.edu Facebook.com/MassArtBoston

Associate Director of Graduate Admissions: Stacy Petersen Domurat 617.879.7238

@MassArtBoston @MassArt