▸ POSTING CLOSED · ARCHIVED DRAFT · the CCAT · Technical Director · BB6 search closed before this application was submitted · ● kept as a record of the drafted application — CCAT is newly founded (2026) and may post related roles again
CalArts · CCAT · BB6 · 2026 · archived draft

Studio
Hand.

A drafted application to be the Technical Director of BB6 — the studio & lab CCAT runs at CalArts

Application by @jeffrey (Jeffrey Alan Scudder) · aesthetic.computer

Status
Posting closed · verified 2026-05-21 · drafted but not submitted · archived record
Center
CCAT — the CHANEL Center for Artists and Technology · CalArts · Executive Director MaryClare Brzytwa (inaugural)
Posting
Paycom · CCAT · job 154720 — now closed (returns “We Couldn't Find This Job”)
Title
Technical Director · BB6 studio & lab · CCAT
Location
Santa Clarita, CA 91355 · CalArts campus, Valencia · fully on-site, every day
Salary
$100,000 – $125,000 / year · full-time
Funder
CHANEL Culture Fund · grant-funded; continuation tied to fund availability
Reports to
Directors of Machine Learning & Moving Image · Project Manager · liaises with CalArts IT, facilities, campus safety
Start date
Was listed 2026-04-13 — five weeks past at close
Source
papers/arxiv-calarts/ · the Art School as Operating System paper this application leans on
Hockney-register colored-pencil illustration on cream paper: a wide late-afternoon view inside a creative-computing studio at workbench level. Two figures at peer eye-level. On the left, a visiting artist in a deep-blue knitted cardigan and round wire-frame glasses leans toward the bench, finger pointing at a coiled USB-C cable; their navy ThinkPad sits open in front of them showing a warp-grid calibration test pattern. On the right, jeffrey in a warm-rust crewneck sweatshirt over a thin denim collar holds the other end of the cable, mid-explanation; his Citrus-green MacBook Neo with a hand-rendered whistlegraph butterfly in place of the apple emblem sits open between them, screen showing a faint scribble-gestalt terminal. Behind the bench, a back-wall projection of a GPU slime-mould simulation in chartreuse, bone-white, and deep magenta filaments — speculative biology, never recursive of the scene. A ceiling-track projector casts a warm dust-laden beam. Upper-right: a single GPU tower on a low shelf with a green status LED, a coil of HDMI/USB-C cables on a peg, a hand-labeled bin reading RACK 02, a whiteboard with quick projection-mapping warp-and-blend calibration triangles. Tall industrial window at the left dissolves to cream paper at the edge. All four corners dissolve to pure cream paper.
▸ The studio at 4 PM  ·  visiting artist + jeffrey, peer eye-level  ·  Citrus Neo + butterfly emblem  ·  back-wall GPU slime-mould projection (mxsage register)  ·  colored pencil + gouache · jeffrey-platter ref

I have been the studio hand for a working creative-computing platform for five years — in public, on bare metal, every day. BB6 is the same job at a different address.

§Application at a Glancedraft v1 · trims to fit Paycom form

Standard hiring-form fields with current best-answers inline. Tightens against the live Paycom application once it's open.

Role
Technical Director · CCAT · BB6 studio & lab
Three words
infrastructure · hospitality · curiosity
One-sentence pitch
I'm the technical director of aesthetic.computer — five years of running a working creative-computing platform in public — and I host a biweekly demo night where artists show works-in-progress on each other's machines. The same posture the BB6 posting describes: equally happy troubleshooting a hardware failure at 9am and walking a first-year through projection mapping at 2pm.
Cover letter~400 w · drafting

What I do, day to day, is be the steady hand in the room. I keep the equipment up. I label the cables. I write the onboarding doc. I show up before the artists and stay until the lab is back to neutral. For five years I've been the technical director of Aesthetic Computer, a creative-computing platform that runs as a working public artwork — there's real infrastructure under it, but the part that matters for BB6 is the posture: I make the tools disappear so the people in the room can think about the work, not the wires. I'd bring that to BB6 every day.

Read the full cover letter ↓
Bio
Jeffrey Alan Scudder is an artist, educator, and technologist based in Los Angeles. Yale School of Art MFA (2013), Ringling College of Art + Design BFA (2011). Teaching since 2012 — Parsons (Adjunct, 2013–2016), UCLA Digital Media Arts (Visiting Professor, 2016; Summer Section: Interactivity, 2024), Southern Oregon University (Assistant Professor of Emerging Digital Practices, 2019), and currently Author in Residence at UCLA Social Software, hosted by Casey Reas. Technical Curator at GIPHY (2017); Linked by Air (2013–2014). Creator of Aesthetic Computer (development began 2021), Whistlegraph, No Paint (2020), and notepat. Work in the collections of KADIST (San Francisco) and SMK · National Gallery of Denmark (Copenhagen). Hosts NELA Computer Club, a biweekly demo night at Plot.Place in Chinatown LA where artists show works-in-progress on each other's machines.
Why CCAT~120 w · drafting
CCAT is asking for a Technical Director who treats infrastructure as service to creative inquiry, not the other way around. That's the entire posture of my practice. The arxiv-format paper I just wrote — CalArts, Callouts, and Papers: Art School as Operating System — argues that an art school is at its best when its infrastructure is pedagogy, when the studio is a runtime that students learn to read. BB6 is exactly that runtime. I'd be on-site every day, by the door, with the espresso on.
Tooling fitnamed in the posting
Strong: Linux/Unix sysadmin, GPU compute, Docker/containerization, networked storage, CalArts-IT-style coordination (already do this for AC's vendor stack). Working: projection mapping (AC pieces have been performed under projection; ready to ramp on Resolume / MadMapper / Disguise specifically). Ramping fast: XR/spatial computing headset configuration; LED-volume virtual-production pipelines.
References3 · confirming consent before listing
Casey Reas (UCLA Social Software AIR host; co-creator of Processing) · Sage Jenson / mxsage (peer-technical reference; GPU-simulation / projection artist exhibited at Lyon's Fête des Lumières, Barbican, Sundance; recurring coding-jam collaborator) · third TBD — possibilities include Lauren Lee McCarthy (Social Software cofounder; creator of p5.js), a Yale MFA faculty reference, Plot.Place / NELA host, or a KADIST/SMK acquisition contact.
Logistics
Fully on-site at Valencia. NELA → BB6 commute is ~45 min on the 5/14; daily, not occasional. Available as soon as needed; the role's listed start date of 2026-04-13 has already passed and I'm reading the posting as still actively rolling.
Submission status
▸ ARCHIVED · the Paycom posting closed before submission (verified 2026-05-21) · not submitted. Kept as a record of the drafted application; CCAT is newly founded and may post related roles again.

§The Stack I Already Runin production · for five years

Each row is a layer of aesthetic.computer's working infrastructure that I am the technical director of. The right-hand column is what the same competency does for BB6.

lith
Linux monolith on DigitalOcean · Express + Caddy + systemd · fish deploy · embeds .env via systemd EnvironmentFile
→ studio servers
oven
GPU build farm · OTA video-gen pipelines (whisper / FLUX / ffmpeg / Docker) · disk-fill cleanup cron at 3:17 UTC for orphaned tmp_pack files · ac-os oven CLI for remote builds
→ ML / HPC compute
AC Native OS
Bare-metal Linux build · kernel embeds git hash + build name at compile time · OTA released via oven · ac-os flash+upload for USB delivery
→ studio hardware
session-server
Realtime backend · Geckos.io UDP relay + WebSocket reliable channel · Redis state · Jamsocket per-session ephemeral deploys
→ networked install
disk runtime
Browser real-time renderer · 572 KB Disk API · graphics primitives, audio, input, multiplayer · hot-reload over WebSocket · the runtime aesthetic.computer pieces target
→ projection / XR
slab/menuband
Swift macOS menubar app · v0.9.1 · pinned glass panel + dark-mode piano theme · MenuBandMIDI USB + WiFi · ships via signed builds
→ studio software
papermill
12-paper publication pipeline · papers/cli.mjs · incremental LaTeX builds · QR-coded permanent URLs · KidLisp reference cards
→ documentation
NELA Computer Club
Biweekly demo night at Plot.Place, Chinatown LA · artists show works-in-progress on each other's machines · the working version of "the lab serves the cohort"
→ user enablement
▸ all of this is daily, public, and currently shipping  ·  the same posture transfers cleanly to BB6

§Cover Letter~400 w · drafting

To the CCAT search committee,

I'm applying for the Technical Director role at BB6. I think this is a job I am already doing — just at a different address.

Studio hand.

What I do, day to day, is be the steady hand in the room. I keep the equipment up. I label the cables. I write the onboarding doc. I show up before the artists and stay until the lab is back to neutral. The point is the work that happens in the room, not the gear that enables it — the closer the studio gets to feeling like a musical instrument that anyone in the rotation can pick up and play, the better the technical direction is.

For five years I've been the technical director of Aesthetic Computer (aesthetic.computer), a creative-computing platform that runs as a working public artwork. There's real infrastructure under it — a server, a GPU build farm, a custom Linux OS, a realtime backend, a publishing press — and I run all of it end-to-end: equipment, licensing, deploys, post-incident clean-ups, onboarding. But the part that matters for BB6 is the posture: I make the tools disappear so the people in the room can think about the work, not the wires.

I host.

I host NELA Computer Club, a biweekly demo night at Plot.Place in Chinatown LA where artists show works-in-progress on each other's machines. I'm Author in Residence at UCLA Social Software, with Casey Reas as host — a working relationship that goes back to a public conversation we had at bitforms gallery in 2018. I've been a Technical Curator at GIPHY (2017), a contractor at Linked by Air (2013–2014), and on faculty at Parsons, UCLA, Yale, and Southern Oregon University since 2013. Thirteen years of being the patient one in the room.

Why BB6 specifically.

BB6 is the closest thing I've seen to a physical version of what I already maintain remotely — a rotating room of artists, researchers, fellows, and students who need their tools to just work. The arxiv-format paper I just wrote — CalArts, Callouts, and Papers: Art School as Operating System — argues that an art school is at its best when its infrastructure is pedagogy, when the studio is a runtime that students learn to read. BB6 is that runtime.

I'd bring hands-on Linux / GPU / Docker administration; working familiarity with real-time rendering and projection (and a willingness to ramp fast on the specific named tools — Resolume, MadMapper, Disguise, the LED-volume stack); a scrappy approach to budget-aware equipment expansion; and a thirteen-year record of patience with users at every skill level.

I'd be on-site every day, by the door, with the espresso on.

— Jeffrey Alan Scudder · @jeffrey · Los Angeles, CA

§Four Registershow I'd hold the role

The Floor

Equipment up, room labelled, schedule visible, safety policies posted. The Technical Director is the steady presence who shows up before the artists and stays until the lab is back to neutral. The work is the work.

The Help

Patient with users at every skill level — first-year students through visiting senior researchers. Patience is non-negotiable. No condescension, no jargon-as-gatekeep. If the help isn't useful to a beginner, it isn't help.

The Stack

GPU compute, real-time rendering, projection, XR — kept current, kept documented, kept budget-aware. Scrappy means: pursue grants, in-kind partnerships, industry loans, vendor relationships before the purchase order.

The Liaison

CalArts IT, facilities, campus safety, and the Directors of ML and Moving Image are collaborators, not obstacles. The lab is inside the school, not next to it. The technical director is the seam.

§What I Already Run, Right Nowlive from aesthetic.computer/api/metrics

These numbers are fetched live from the platform I am the technical director of. They're the proof point that the infrastructure described above is real, populated, and currently up.

…Registered handles
…KidLisp pieces
…User pieces
…Active now
Fetching api/metrics …

§Competency Mapposting line ↔ AC evidence

The Paycom posting lists desired competencies. Each one maps to an existing piece of the AC stack.

Linux/Unix sysadminlith/deploy.fish · DigitalOcean VPS · systemd · Caddy · daily.
GPU compute · HPC cluster adminoven runs whisper / FLUX / ffmpeg under Docker · cleanup cron at 3:17 UTC for orphaned tmp_pack files · ac-os oven remote-build CLI.
Containerization (Docker)oven build pipelines · session-server ephemeral deploys via Jamsocket.
Networked storageDigitalOcean Spaces (CDN) · MongoDB / Redis / Firebase across services · documented in CLAUDE.md.
Real-time renderingAC's disk.mjs runtime is a 572 KB browser-native immediate-mode renderer · piece lifecycle (boot/paint/sim/act).
Projection mappingAC pieces have been performed under projection (Whistlegraph, NELA Computer Club nights). Working community of peer GPU-simulation / projection artists includes Sage Jenson (mxsage) — Lyon's Fête des Lumières · Barbican · Sundance · author of growth · recurring coding-jam collaborator. Ramping fast on Resolume / MadMapper / Disguise specifically.
Virtual production · LED volume / camera trackingUE5 builder env in vault for false.work; ready to ramp on the BB6-specific volume stack on day one.
XR / spatial computingAC pieces handle pen/hand input. Ramping on VR/AR/MR headset configs as a stated learning area.
Equipment inventory · maintenance · asset trackingPlot.Place / NELA fleet inventory · the AC dev-machine inventory in aesthetic-computer-vault/machines.json.
Scrappy, budget-aware acquisitionFive years of running AC on tiny budgets · half the compute is donated or bartered · grant-aware operator.
Onboarding materials · reference guidespapers/arxiv-kidlisp-reference · papers/arxiv-ac · UCLA Social Software course materials · the init skill that initializes a new repo.
Cross-institutional collaborationUCLA Social Software AIR · Plot.Place / NELA Computer Club · Yale MFA / Ringling alumni network · longtime collectors include KADIST and SMK (collection placements, not working collaborations).
Genuine support orientationNELA Computer Club is the working evidence. Weekly proof.

§The Lineagetechnical-direction precedents

Bell Labs · Murray Hill
Studio-as-lab, technical staff who treat the room as the medium. The shop floor is the work.
The Studio for Creative Inquiry · CMU
An art-tech research studio whose technical direction is famously hospitality-first. The closest direct precedent for what BB6 is being built to be.
EMPAC · Rensselaer
Theater-scale media-arts venue with a technical staff that supports residencies as a primary mode. Demonstrates that support is a leadership posture, not a service tier.
PLOrk · Princeton Laptop Orchestra
Technical direction as what makes the ensemble possible. The instrument and the operations are not separate.
Casey Reas · UCLA Social Software
Processing as a long-running infrastructure project whose technical direction is the curriculum. Currently hosting my Author in Residence position at Social Software.
Sage Jenson · mxsage
GPU-driven speculative-biology simulations projected at Lyon's Fête des Lumières, the Barbican, Sundance — the growth codebase, the 36 Points Feral File series, recent collaboration with Neri Oxman. A working peer in the exact technical territory CCAT's projection / virtual-production line items describe.
Goodiepal · Radical Computer Music
The argument that the computer itself is under-designed as an artistic instrument. I toured Europe with him in 2018; AC's whole infra posture descends from those conversations.

§Status▸ archived · posting closed