The new Center at CalArts, an institute renowned for its undergraduate and graduate programmes in Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theatre, will focus on two key areas: Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning and Digital Imaging. It will provide its students and faculty fellows with access to equipment and software, empowering artists to explore and integrate new technologies into their creative practices.
Backed by a five-year gift from the CHANEL Culture Fund, a global initiative dedicated to supporting the arts and fostering a creative community, the Center will support a wide range of activities. These include funding for equipment, visiting experts, artists, and technologists-in-residence, graduate fellowships, and future-focused research and creation. The CHANEL Center will also host an annual forum exploring the intersection of art and emerging technologies.
“I’m grateful to the Chanel Culture Fund for embracing our shared vision of centering artists at the forefront of shaping the technologies that will inform our collective lives and society,” said CalArts president Ravi S. Rajan. “Through the Chanel Center for Artists and Technology, CalArts will continue this legacy by helping define the future of technology in the arts.”
The Center at CalArts will also serve as a hub, fostering a new network of institutions throughout Southern California and facilitating the exchange of ideas among artists and experts from the CHANEL Culture Fund’s programmes. This network includes leading creatives such as Cao Fei, Arthur Jafa, William Kentridge, and Jacolby Satterwhite.
“Artists have always shown us what’s next through the constant evolution of new ideas," explains Yana Peel, Chanel’s global head of arts and culture. "In the ever-changing age of AI, the Chanel Center for Artists and Technology will enable and encourage creatives across disciplines to harness that innovation — to take human imagination further than ever before.”
Cover image: Wild Beast Music Pavilion. Photo: Scott Groller.
