Master in Creative Computing

The rise of digital technology has directly impacted the creative economy. For that reason, the sector needs professionals with "createch" skills who can easily combine creative and technical competence in order to solve real-world problems. Our Master in Creative Computing aims to provide a general-purpose education in using new technologies for creative endeavors. 

It reflects an ever-changing media landscape, where this year 's media might be discarded in the next year.

The main goal of this creative computing master, however, is not to teach specific skills, but to learn to identify opportunities for creativity in the technological space. 

By completing the master, you can become a professional who proposes creative configurations for new and old platforms, reinvent careers in companies which need innovative products, find your artistic path, or even become autonomous, inventive, high-tech entrepreneur.

Are you ready?

• To learn how to incorporate both novel and existing technological resources into creative projects. The shifts in adoption of new technologies always create renewed  opportunities for businesses and professionals. 
• To understand how to identify these openings is crucial for survival in a scenario of constant mutation. 

In order to achieve this type of familiarity, two strategies are adopted. 

• On one hand the master builds on generic computational skills, familiarizing the students with practices such as coding and data manipulation. 
• On the other hand, we will look into specific frameworks which are on the rise in today’s media horizon - artificial intelligence, immersive environments, IoT, blockchain applications and so on, looking at inspiring initiatives and understanding how to implement projects using one or, preferably, a combination of these platforms. Students will obtain basic skills like implementing and accessing IoT sensors, using AI models to understand data and generate content, distributing digital creations on the blockchain and more.

• Identify new opportunities for creative projects based on emerging technologies.
• Use AI tools in creative projects, both as a tool to process information and as a device that can produce automated, yet relevant, content.
• Code algorithms that generate artworks.
• Develop contraptions that make bridges to the physical world by using sensors, motors, controlling objects, sharing  and accessing real-time environmental data from anywhere.
• Develop immersive narrative experiences based on virtual reality, 360 cinema, extended reality and more. 
• Use data as a raw material for creative applications. 
• Understand the social consequences, issues and limitations of technology.
• Explore the blockchain as a support for showing and financing artistic projects.
• Prototype projects that combine different technologies explored in the syllabus.

• Introduction to creative computing
  • When computers got creative.
  • Projection mapping, live cinema and new configurations for audiovisual experiences.
  • Movement technologies: dance and performance, robotic and kinetic art.
  • Art in science: physics and in the outer space.
  • Biological and genetic arts.
• Designing Generative Experiences
  • Algorithms and natural phenomena: simulations.
  • Complexity through repetition: patterns.
  • Temporal processes: time series, video, distortions.
  • Review and final project: difference and repetition.
• Creative blockchain applications
  • History of cryptoeconomics and blockchain space. Issues of concentration, decentralization, sustainability. 
  • Non-fungible: artistic and social experiments in the blockchain.
  • How to mint and trade - some platforms for experimenting.
  • Practical tokenization.
  • Discussion of final projects.
• Data art
  • Open tools for data visualization: Flourish, Datawrapper, SPSS.
  • Data sources: scraping, OSINT, open servers.
  • Open cartography: mapbox, cartodb, mapshaper, GIS, GPS data.
  • Final projects discussion.
• Designing activated objects and environments
  • Intro to Microcontrollers, Input Output.
  • Activating Objects.
  • Intro to Design Fiction.
  • Making things talk (remote interaction).
  • Creative Coding.
• Designing with AI
  • How does AI work? Introducing neural networks and machine learning models.
  • Open models for image generation and manipulation
  • Open models for music and text production. 
  • Final projects.
• Creating immersive narratives
  • Extended reality
  • Virtual reality
  • 360 cinema
  • Volumetric cinema
• Internet equalities and decolonizing technologies
  • Bias and discrimination in data
  • Internet inequalities
  • Threats to an open internet
  • Web3: decentralized internet beyond the blockchain
• Final Project

*The program includes an annual license to the Adobe Suite package.

Our Master in Creative Computing doesn't have one specific target audience in specific but it is mostly directed to students and professionals that want to improve their skills and learn the new paths that this subject is taking nowadays.

• Creative people from all fields - editors, artists, playwrights, dancers, musicians, advertisers, designers - who wish to incorporate technology into their practice.
• Technical people from any field - developers, engineers, chemists, physicists - who want to understand and apply the potential for art and creativity in their own practice.
• People wishing to change careers into fields that will benefit from the blend of art and technology

From SHIFTA, we offer you the following forms of financing so that the economic aspect is not an impediment.

• Own financing
  We offer you the possibility of financing the master’s or postgraduate course in up to 10 monthly installments at no financial cost (0% TAE).
• External financing
  If you want a larger number of installments, we have an agreement with Nemuru, the external financing platform, which allows you to extend the installments up to 24 months. (Option subject to the approval of the financial institution itself after studying the relevant documentation). You will be able to access them once your admission to the program has been notified.
• Public subsidies
  You can finance your training thanks to the bonuses offered by the State Foundation for Employment Training (FUNDAE) and the Tripartite Foundation to companies to train their workers. In this case, we have the support of an external consultancy specialized in this process.