2024–25 Grantees
Sensing the More-than-Human: Emotional Landscapes of Symbiosis
Sensing the more-than-human: emotional landscapes of symbiosis is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Xingyu Huang (MFA candidate, Sculpture, SAIC) and Daniela Pierro (PhD student, Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago) that explores human/non-human relationships under climate change. It integrates art and technology with laboratory experiments to examine the changing interactions between marine animals and their microbial symbionts as ocean temperatures rise. By capturing biological data and translating it across sensory modalities into sound, light, and motion, Xingyu and Daniela will create an immersive installation environment that reflects the state of symbiosis as an emotional landscape–as it shifts between cooperation and self-destruction. Envisioning the audience as a participant in this relationship, this project aims to raise public consciousness of human impacts on ecological phenomena and describe these impacts in the language of sensation and emotional experience.
Faculty advisors: Jan Tichy (Professor, Photography, Art & Technology/Sound Practices, SAIC); Cathy Pfister (Professor, Ecology and Evolution, UChicago)
Elemental Structure of the American Junkyard
Elemental Structure of the American Junkyard is an artistic and ethnographic project between Hazal Corak (PhD Candidate, Anthropology, University of Chicago) and Tommy Ballard (MFA Candidate, Fiber and Material Studies, SAIC) which sets off to examine and understand the American junkyard within the global cartography of scrap recycling. The research examines scrapped automobiles, the primary source of US-borne steel scrap, for their elemental structures through transnational, socio-economic, and ontological contexts. A long metallurgical and metaphorical journey of junking, parting, scavenging, crushing, smashing, shredding, bailing, selling, processing, smelting, and transforming is studied, captured, and synthesized into a limited edition artist book and a showcase of findings.
Faculty Advisors: Shannon Lee Dawdy (Professor, Anthropology, UChicago); L Vinebaum (Associate Professor, Fiber & Material Studies, SAIC)
Choreography of Subjugation
Choreography of Subjugation is a performative installation by Rose Ansari (MFA, Art & Technology / Sound Practices, SAIC) and Anup Sathya (PhD student, Computer Science, University of Chicago) that uses LLM-generated machine instructions to guide a mechanical x-y plotter, moving a long lock of hair across a Buddha board to create fluid, ephemeral strokes. The hair, a deeply personal and symbolic material for femininity, becomes both the tool and the subject, tracing a narrative of control and erasure. As the water-painted marks fade, the piece critiques society's capitalistic fixation on controlling femininity while systematically disregarding women’s output, labor, and contributions. This transient choreography captures the cyclical nature of societal expectations, where feminine expression is both commodified and rendered invisible. By merging technology, movement, and ephemerality, the work invites viewers to reflect on the impermanence and undervaluation of female labor, challenging them to see what is often dismissed or forgotten.
Faculty advisors: Ken Nakagaki (Assistant Professor, Computer Science, UChicago); Shawn Decker (Professor, Art & Technology / Sound Practices, SAIC)