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