MFA Class of ‘24 Screen their Thesis Projects in May Showcase
The first five MFA students to graduate with a degree in the Expanded Animation Research + Practice and four Hench MFAs who joined Kathy Smith’s XA Thesis class presented their thesis films in the elegant USC Eileen Norris Theater on May 12, 2024. The screening was followed by a cat
CTXA 575 Students create an immersive, interactive “Concrete Oasis” in Downtown LA
On April 28th and May 2nd, 2024, students in Lisa Mann’s Cinematic and Media-based Installation class transformed a large vacant retail space into a tranquil oasis of light, sound, and motion. The impressive street-level storefront at The Grand LA is located directly across the stre
XA AI Dream Lab Produces AI Generated Images for City Ascendant and USC Climate Forward Conference
In April 2024, Physics student Charith Chandra Sai Balne, XA students Zeping Sun and Sijia Zheng, and XA Professor Kathy Smith created a series of images in collaboration with the Wrigley Institute’s Dr Jessica Dutton and Allison Agsten imagining a sustainable future for Los Angeles
Brittaney Smothers (MFA 2) Receives the 2024 SCA Diversity & Inclusion Award!
On April 29, 2024, XA MFA-2 student Brittaney Smothers received the SCA Council on Diversity & Inclusion Certificate for Outstanding Work. The event honored students from each SCA division/program for their “groundbreaking contributions to empowering diverse voices and perspectives.
Time Capsule 2050 Project Launches with a Panel, Pizza, and Workshop
To kick off the year-long, IBM-funded digital Time Capsule 2050 creative projects, XA and IBM hosted a panel and participatory workshop in April 2024 to provoke discussions about what new technologies might potentially enable in the future – in cinema and in life. The panelists– S
Professor Kathy Smith Shares her Research at NVIDIA GTC AI Conference
In March 2024, XA Professor Kathy Smith presented a 50-minute lecture, “Visualizing New Narrative Forms,” at the NVIDIA GTC Conference about her creative research on NeRFs and AI experiments from the XA AI Dream Lab and her signature course “Contemporary Topics: Animation Dreams
First Annual XA Portfolio Day
In March, 2024, XA hosted its first Expanded Animation Portfolio Day in the School of Cinematic Arts Gallery. Bento Box, ShadowMachine, Open the Portal, the Gotham Group, Silverlake Shorts, and Pinkfong were among the 18 studios, galleries, screening venues, advertising agencies, and
XA AI Dream Lab Produces “Coral Banking” AI short
Directed by MFA 2 Sijia Zheng in collaboration with Wrigley Institute for Environment & Sustainability, “Coral Banking” is an entirely AI-animated, science visualization that highlights the research being done to save coral reefs around the world. The AI Dream Lab is funded by the
WIA Scholarship Awarded to XA student Dina Garatly!
Last spring, Dina Garatly (XA MFA ‘24) received a prestigious Women in Animation (WIA) Scholarship award. The WIA Scholarship Program is an annual award for women and non-binary student applicants who demonstrate artistic talent, a passion for animation, and a promising future in an
Professor Lisa Mann’s Sculpture Maps Homelessness
XA Professor Lisa Mann’s artwork “George Wilson: Home (more-or-less)” is on display for three years at Sidney F. Tyler Park, on S. Lake Avenue at Oakwood Place, Pasadena, as part of the Pasadena Rotating Public Art Program Series IV. The audio-sculpture is composed of four, stee
