David Familian has worked at the UC Irvine Beall Center for Art + Technology since 2005, initially serving as Associate Director before his appointment as Curator and Artistic Director in 2008. Familian has curated and organized more than thirty exhibitions at the Beall Center with a focus on artist’s projects and exhibitions which intersect new media, scientific innovation, and contemporary socio-political issues. Since initiating the Beall Center’s Black Box Projects residency program in 2013, he has supervised ten visiting artists and facilitated their collaborations with UC Irvine faculty in Art History and Visual Studies, Biology, the Center for Complex Biological Systems, Computer Science, Social Sciences, and Law.

Trained as an artist and educator, Familian received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1979 and his MFA from UCLA in 1986. For twenty years, he taught studio art and critical theory at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Otis College of Art and Design, Santa Clara University, San Francisco Art Institute, and UC Irvine. Familian began his artistic career in photography but embraced new media as his primary medium in 1990. His artistic practice has informed his various roles in web production and technical advisory for artists and institutions, naming the Walker Art Center, University of Minnesota, and the Orange County Museum of Art among his clients.