Nica Ross
As makers our choices matter. There are no defaults.
-Nica Ross
As a professor of Video and Media Design I focus on critical applied learning. Together we put tools in our hands, question where these tools came from, critically examine what we are building, discuss our own context and challenge our assumptions while we build worlds together. And we have a lot of fun doing it.
Nica Ross is an artist, educator, and cultural producer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Through humor and play, their research develops social machines: participatory, technology-mediated systems that generate ephemeral social phenomena through interaction and performance.
Nica holds a B.A. in Cinema from San Francisco State University and an M.F.A. in Advanced Photographic Study from The International Center of Photography-Bard College program. Nica has worked in a wide array of expanded media, theater and event production on both commercial and artistic projects. They have worked with 3-Legged Dog Media & Theater Group, The Joshua Light Show along with many individual artists. From 2022 until 2026 they directed the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and they are currently an Associate Professor of Video and Media Design in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama.