Center for Research in Computing and the Arts


The Center for Research in Computing and the Arts was an interdisciplinary organized research unit of UCSD in San Diego, California. CRCA provided support for numerous projects that intersect with the fields of New Media Art, Software Studies, Game studies, Art/Science collaborations, Mixed Reality, Immersive Art and Networked Performance over its 40 year history. CRCA's founding director was artist and artificial intelligence pioneer Harold Cohen.
Projects emerging from CRCA have been seen at venues including SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, ISEA and the Whitney Museum of Art as well as numerous museums, galleries and scientific contexts.
CRCA, as an Organized Research Unit at UCSD, ended on July 1, 2012. The functions, support and facilities that CRCA managed were folded into Calit2.

Institutional Collaborations

CRCA worked closely in collaboration with art and science institutions including Calit2, UCLA, UCSD Visual Arts Department, UCSD Music Department, the Sanford Bernmah Medical Research Institute, the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the UCSD School of Medicine.

Art and Science Research

Artists and researchers at CRCA have been involved in numerous technoscience research projects, such as Sheldon Brown's work on Game Design focusing on algorithmic generation of 3D game environments in Scalable City, the Software Studies Initiative's work developing data visualizations of large sets of cultural data and Micha Cárdenas' 365 hour Becoming Dragon project, about which Katherine sweetman of San Diego City Beat said "nobody has ever 'lived' in virtual reality continuously for so long".

Highlights

People

CRCA was home to artists, scientists and theorists. Some of the people involved include: