In fall 2025, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) will launch its first new academic department since 1996—Computation, Technology and Culture (CTC). Previously offered only as a concentration (RISD’s version of a minor), the CTC department will encompass two new undergraduate majors: Art and Computation, and Sound.
The department was formed thanks to the work of many faculty members who generously shared their expertise. One of these faculty members, and a central advocate for the inception of the CTC department, is longtime RISD professor and alum Clement Valla, who currently serves as dean of Experimental and Foundation Studies.
“We envision graduates of these programs defining their career paths in unique and uncharted ways,” says Valla. “The related industries are evolving at lightning speed, and our intention is not only to keep up with those changes, but to prepare RISD students to lead the conversation.”
For the duration of the degree programs, Art and Computation majors and Sound majors will take core studios together introducing themes central to both programs, including interaction, networks and simulation. Art and Computation sophomores will focus on histories, theories and methods of computational art making, while their peers in Sound will engage in hands-on practice in the areas of programming and immersive 3D spatial audio. During their junior year, Art and Computation students will delve deeper into code and digital technologies, while Sound majors explore the realm of sound composition and performance.
Both programs tap into studio electives and liberal arts courses across the RISD curriculum and culminate in senior-year degree projects that allow students to create substantial bodies of work that reflect their individual interests.
“The pathways established by the CTC department allow students to acquire fluency in various and complex technologies, driven by art and design as their central paradigm,” says Provost Touba Ghadessi. “The learning map deployed by these programs provides a replicable model for what interdisciplinarity can be, in a way that allows for deep expertise through the electives taken in various departments. I am also appreciative of the flexibility the CTC has embedded in its curriculum; this is especially important in fields where obsolescence matters. RISD’s CTC holds ethical principles as its pillars. It allows creative makers to be technology-informed and therefore anticipate not only what emergent technologies might be, but also what kinds of justice-based frameworks should guide them.”
RISD alum, professor and sound artist Shawn Greenlee, a key collaborator in the formation of the new CTC department and a leader in the development of RISD’s Studio for Research in Sound and Technology (SRST)—a hub for sound design experimentation as well as research in sonic interaction, experience, composition and performance—adds: “Our aim is to offer curricular flexibility and the potential for growth while establishing focus areas that have a planned course sequence. At the center of both programs is human-computer interaction linked with digital imaging, physical computing, generative art and sound.”
Graduates of the Art and Computation program will be prepared to write source code; author software; create art and design projects across multiple programming languages; investigate how humans and machines collaborate; critically analyze the cultural, historical, and societal impacts of computational technologies; and much more. Sound graduates will leave the program with the ability to design for human-computer interaction; construct and compose sound-based works using digital audio workstations, modular synthesizers, DIY electronics and custom software; bridge sonic arts and sound design disciplines with other fields; and more.
In terms of career paths, Sound majors are likely to find employment in such industries as software, gaming, XR/VR, film, television, radio, podcasting, advertising, music, performing arts or architectural acoustics. Art and Computation graduates might pursue similar paths as well as data visualization, interface design, media theory and electronics.
Visit risd.edu to learn more.
