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Spanish-born Javier Roca is a user interface
designer, researcher and artist. He studied fine arts at the
Facultad de Bellas Artes in Madrid. Enamored of computers early
on, he has for a decade and a half been seriously involved in
the investigation of new imaging technologies, electronic photography,
human/machine interaction and digital art. Roca’s artwork
has been displayed throughout Europe and North America, exhibiting
in both shows and galleries, including multiple selections in
the NY Digital Salon and SIGGRAPH. Most recently, in the spring
of 2002, his work was featured through artLink, Sotheby’s
online auction component for emerging artists.
In 1990 Roca began his computer career as a commercial graphic
designer and published fine artist in Spain. Roca’s work
has been published extensively in such worldwide media as The
Wall Street Journal, Macworld Magazine, Leonardo, Mac Art &
Design, Publish, Computer Graphics World, and MacUser Spain,
for which publication he created over 30 original covers. In
addition to creating digital art, Roca has coordinated numerous
academic seminars and workshops focusing on the convergence
of art and technology. He was a consultant at Apple Computer
Spain in the early 1990’s, where he researched human/computer
interaction during the formative years of graphical user interface
development. He planned and directed a curriculum for a two-year
advanced studies program in digital art at the Universidad de
Arquitectura de Madrid. He also directed one of the first computer/digital
art workshops taught at the Circulo de Bellas Artes de Madrid.
In 1993 – 1994 he was a visiting artist at the Department
of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts. In 1995,
Roca moved to the United States to further pursue his interest
in computer user-interface design and interactivity.
Roca has worked for some of the leading graphics
and visualization software companies in the U.S. At Specular
International, he became involved with developing a desktop-level
user interface to work with 3D computer graphics. In 1997,
Roca moved to California to work with Metacreations, a graphics
software company known for its highly creative state-of-the-art
user interfaces. As a senior UI designer, Roca worked with
UI “guru” Kai Krause on multiple consumer-level
applications, while he also responsible for developing interface
paradigms for MetaCreations streaming technologies under development
for e-Commerce applications.
Presently Roca is Director of Product Design
at Viewpoint Corporation, a leading provider of rich media
visualization technologies for the Web, headquartered in New
York City. Roca currently lives with his wife and son in Manhattan
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