Brian L. Bartz

Brian L. Bartz serves as a Part-Time Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco, where he operates at the intersection of new media art and critical technology studies. His practice materializes digital network technologies to confront their perceived immateriality, addressing embedded anxieties around surveillance capitalism and environmental extraction within contemporary built environments.

His academic credentials include:

• MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley (2020)
• BA in Studio Art from Reed College (2017)

Bartz's research interrogates the physical substrates of digital systems through sculptural, animated, and installation-based works. He critically examines how corporate and state surveillance mechanisms, extractive resource industries, and ubiquitous device networks shape human subjectivity. Primary domains include New Media materiality, Computer Graphics infrastructure, and the historical lineage of technological systems, with emphasis on digital art's capacity to expose hidden power structures.

His 2021 publication "Terrain: Art and Crisis in Downtown Oakland" exemplifies his methodology of embedding artistic practice within urban crisis contexts, revealing how digital subjectivity manifests in physical spaces under socio-economic stress.

Notable recognitions include:

• San Francisco Foundation Cadogan Award (2019)
• Eisner Prize for Excellence in Creative Practice (2019)
• Berkeley Center for New Media Summer Research Fellow (2018)

Prior to his current appointment, Bartz taught as Adjunct Professor in Art at UC Berkeley, developing pedagogical approaches that bridge technical media production with critical theory. His work consistently positions artistic practice as essential for decoding the tangible realities beneath abstract digital interfaces.