The core courses explore an array of recent methods and approaches in digital arts and culture. All students complete each of the following courses. DANM 280 is taken every quarter (six times); DANM 299 is taken twice, in any two quarters of the second year. The requirement to take DANM 280 each quarter is commonly waived during quarters when students take DANM 250G.

The Research Topics courses allow the student to select a pathway through the major that aligns with their interdisciplinary practice and thesis interests.

For a custom pathway through the degree, take any three courses from the list below in the first year of the program. All courses may be repeated for credit. Students generally take one Research Topics class per semester.

Some faculty have created recommended sets of Research Topics courses that represent specific pathways through the degree that are specific to their area of research.

The current Research Topics Pathways are listed below, and describe the course requirements for each. There is a course planner associated with each pathway in the Planners section.

Experimental Play

Over the past 40 years we have seen a blossoming of new models of play. From the rise of the New Games movement and the role-playing game genre (in the 1970s) to the current moment’s rise of autobiographical, political, and independent art games on increasingly democratized platforms, to the emerging capabilities of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality platforms, we are changing who plays, how we play, and what play can mean.

Each offering of the Experimental Play course will involve the creation of a different game prototype, producing a wide range of vibrant ideas from the research group’s activity. A likely model is that one of these projects will be brought to completion as (part of) each student’s thesis work.

The first quarter is an introduction to theories of Experimental Play and coursework involves rapid prototyping and iteration of potential thesis projects. The second quarter moves into advanced theory and practice, with coursework focused on making games as activism and resistance. The third quarter focuses on thesis committee formation, thesis project direction, entrepreneurship and research funding opportunities.

Experimental Play requires taking DANM 250E three times.

Future Stages

Future Stages investigates how we can reanimate theater in a radically interconnected digital world and expand on theatrical relationships in new and culturally relevant ways. Working in large scale theaters in the Department of Performance, Play & Design, we will experiment with hybrid and mixed-reality performance and incorporate post-dramatic approaches to theater using devised, transdisciplinary collaboration. Future Stages students will investigate contemporary languages that allow makers, actors and technologists to push beyond our present understanding of theatrical production and reception. Future Stages also offers the option to work with Prof. Marianne Weems and her New York-based company The Builders Association in the second year of the program.

Future Stages has four required courses; take THEA 294 / DANM 250H (the Futures Stages seminar and studio course) three times and THEA 151 one time (a full-scale, fully resourced MFA production). Students produce their thesis productions in THEA 151 in either winter or spring of their second year.

The Moving Image Lab

Engaging a range of artistic disciplines, students in this lab will draw upon moving and still images to create visual and sonic languages for production, exhibition and installation. While the commercial imperative, in our digital age, has dictated built-in obsolescence as an integral character of electronic media, this research group, in contrast, will consider the archive as an intrinsic part of a creative method—sampling, remixing, and reproduction. This research group invites artists who want to conceptualize, create, and exhibit works involving moving and still images.

The Isaac Julien Studio Lab has three required courses; take DANM 250G once and DANM 250F twice.

DANM 250F and DANM 250G may be retaken for credit as electives in the second year.

Electives address areas of needed skill development or thesis topic specialization. In addition to Core and Research Group courses, some students must also take elective courses to meet the total 72-credit requirement, and/or maintain their full-time status in a given quarter. The number of elective courses to be taken is specific to the research pathway a student chooses; see the Planners section below for details. The following DANM courses are approved as electives, but are not offered every year.

Other Suggested Graduate Courses for Electives

Beyond the DANM elective courses listed above, generally any 5-credit graduate-level course may be counted for elective credit. Students are encouraged to consult with their advisors about choosing electives that directly support their thesis research. Independent studies can be counted for elective credit with approval of faculty advisor. Below is a list of suggested courses that may be of interest to DANM students. Please note courses may not be offered every year or may have prerequisites or restrictions on enrollment.