The STUDIO for Creative Inquiry is a flexible laboratory for new modes of arts research, production and presentation. Founded in 1989 within the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, the STUDIO serves as a locus for hybrid enterprises on the CMU campus, the Pittsburgh region, and internationally. Our current emphasis on new media arts builds on more than two decades of experience hosting interdisciplinary artists in an environment enriched by world-class science and engineering departments. Through our residencies and outreach programs, the STUDIO provides opportunities for learning, dialogue and research that lead to innovative breakthroughs, new policies, and the redefinition of the role of artists in a quickly changing world.

The STUDIO’s mission is to support atypical, anti-disciplinary, and inter-institutional research projects at the intersections of arts, sciences, technology and culture. We specialize in supporting emerging artists who create and adapt new technologies, in fields such as computation arts, interactive installation, mechatronic sculpture, biological art, network culture, critical software, and tactical media. To such researchers, the STUDIO provides direct financial, administrative, and logistical support. The STUDIO also serves as a “meta-laboratory” – a portal to the larger university context through which artists can connect to a wide array of experts and facilities.

Since its inception, the STUDIO has provided residencies for, and raised more than $6M in support of, more than 120 artists engaged in hybrid research projects. Some of our current artist-led projects include: the Center for PostNatural History, the world’s only museum of human-engineered life forms; High Point Pittsburgh Investigation, a feasibility study for a public observatory park atop the USX Steel Tower; and the Moon Arts Project, a partnership with the CMU Robotics Institute to develop artworks that accompany its 2015 lunar rover mission.

Outreach and presentation are vital to our mission, and the STUDIO is firmly committed to insuring that a public of all ages and backgrounds can see, understand and (especially) learn key skills in new media arts. Thus, in addition to our residencies, the STUDIO also conducts free public educational activities (such as lectures, conferences, workshops, performances, and exhibitions) that address timely concerns in emerging media. These not only serve our immediate university audience of 10,000 persons, but the larger Pittsburgh region and (through our growing Internet presence and online video archive) international audiences, as well.

The STUDIO:

• Provides artist residencies with stipends, commissions and facilities. All STUDIO projects are artist-generated. Fellows are selected by invitation and by application, using criteria based on furthering the STUDIO’s mission.
• Maintains a work environment populated by a broad range of practitioners, including resident fellows, Carnegie Mellon faculty and students, and other associates.
• Facilitates access to human and technical resources at Carnegie Mellon and throughout the Pittsburgh region.
• Develops public venues for presenting innovative work.

STUDIO for Creative Inquiry Advisory Group Members (2009-):

John Carson, Head of the CMU School of Art
Peter Cooke, Head of CMU School of Drama
Pablo Garcia, Assistant Professor, CMU School of Architecture
Mark Gross, Professor, CMU School of Architecture
Terry Irwin, Head of the CMU School of Design
Nathan Martin, CEO of DeepLocal.
Illah Nourbakhsh, Associate Professor, CMU Robotics Institute
Michael Olijnyk, Co-Director, Mattress Factory
Eric Paulos, Assistant Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute
Janera Solomon, Executive Director, Kelly-Strayhorn Theater
Sue Tolmer, Associate Director of Development, College of Fine Arts
Jane Werner, Executive Director, Pittsburgh Children’s Museum