Technology as a New Medium

Artists have always pushed against the limits of their materials. Today, that material is increasingly computational.

The Computational Practices Minor teaches you essential technical skills in programming, artificial intelligence, physical computing, and networked systems through hands-on making and experimentation. By learning to create computational systems from the ground up, you'll engage with technology intentionally, question its assumptions, and bring creative and critical perspectives to your practice.

Learn by doing

Since 1907, CCA has specialized in "educating those who do." In this program, you will learn through doing—writing code, building electronic devices, working with and training AI systems, and connecting to networks and data. Assignments and projects are designed to teach you core technical concepts that support your own creative ambitions.

Located in the Bay Area—where leading tech companies and creative innovators converge—CCA is uniquely positioned at the intersection of art and technology. This ecosystem directly informs our curriculum, which evolves alongside the pace of innovation. Our faculty are practicing artists and professionals embedded in this community, bringing real-world expertise into the classroom and connecting you with the networks actively shaping computational practices today.

If you've experimented with creative or vibe coding, built interactive installations, explored how algorithms and data shape our world, or created with code in other ways, you're already practicing "computational practices"—this minor will give you the technical foundation to go further.

This curriculum starts from the fundamentals, building progressively to empower you to bring new ideas into the world. Learning to work at the code level means you can prototype those ideas yourself, experiment freely, and aren't limited by existing software and hardware. No prior coding experience is required.

Our core curriculum consists of three classes:

• Computational Practices 1 - Introduction to programming fundamentals
• Computational Practices 2 - Expands on CP1 with data, networks, machine learning, AI models, and physical computing
• Computational and Studio Practices - Capstone studio course culminating in a final project for the minor

See the full Coursework page for details on other requirements in the minor.

To learn how the CP Minor might fit into your CCA experience, please feel free to reach out to:

• CP Minor coordinator Susie Fu
• An academic advisor

• COMPLETE THIS FORM!

Here are a few highlights from prior students' work from the courses in the minor: