Studio artist Beatriz da Costa dies at 38

Beatriz Noronha da Costa, associate professor of studio art, died Dec. 27 in New York at the age of 38. Born in Germany, she studied art at France’s Ecole d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence and pursued graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Da Costa joined the art department at UCI’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts in 2003 and had joint appointments in electrical engineering and computer science. She was a founding member of UCI’s Arts Computation Engineering graduate program, which grants a two-year M.F.A./M.S. degree. Da Costa was a proponent of social justice and challenged inequity in her art, which took form in robotics, microelectronics, sculpture, performance, photography and video. She created work that bridged the arts and sciences and ran workshops that translated technical and scientific developments in ways that were accessible to the public. Da Costa was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer in 2009. Her final projects — “The Life Garden,” “Dying for the Other,” “The Delicious Apothecary” and “The Anti-Cancer Survival Kit” — dealt with her experience living with cancer. She continued to work and create art until the very end of her life, even as she faced significant physical challenges. Da Costa is survived by her mother; her extended family and network of friends; her partner, UCI art professor Robert Nideffer; and her beloved dog, Lucinha. A funeral service will be held Jan. 18 in Ahrensburg, Germany, followed by memorials in New York and Los Angeles, to be announced.