Wednesday, May 4, 2016, 5pm
University of Chicago
Performance Penthouse
Logan Center for the Arts
915 E 60th St
Chicago
The Arts, Science & Culture Initiative at the University of Chicago invites you to the penultimate presentations of the 2015–16 Arts, Science & Culture Graduate Collaboration Grantees.
The Arts, Science & Culture Graduate Collaboration Grants encourage independent trans-disciplinary research between students in the arts, social sciences, and the sciences. Working together over the course of two quarters, the graduates collaboratively investigate a subject from unique disciplinary perspectives.
This year, six collaborative teams were awarded grants up to 3,000 USD.
Molecular Movement
What does it feel like to be a molecule? In Molecular Movement, Andrew Bearnot (MFA candidate, Visual Art, UChicago), Ken Ellis-Guardiola (PhD student, Chemistry, UChicago) and Jeff Montgomery (PhD student, Chemistry, UChicago) explore the notion of molecular dynamics through dance, reimagining the Brownian (random) motion of the molecular world as a novel grammar of movement.
Faculty advisors: Catherine Sullivan (Department of Visual Art, UChicago); Jared Lewis (Department of Chemistry, UChicago); Raymond Moellering (Department of Chemistry, UChicago)
Crystals: Order and Disorder
What is the role of disorder in the formation of material structures? Through experiment and conversation, April Martin (MFA candidate, Sculpture, SAIC) and Nicole James (PhD candidate, Chemistry, UChicago) work with ceramics, salts, metals, and fluids to investigate how materials (dis)order themselves over time.
Faculty advisors: Heinrich Jaeger (Department of Physics, UChicago); Benjamin DeMott (Ceramics Department and Contemporary Practices, SAIC)
Magnifying Identity
In the lab and in the field, ant species are distinguished by their unique nest architecture and their underlying distinct genetic code. Jan Brugger (MFA candidate, Visual arts, UChicago) and K. Supriya (PhD candidate, Evolutionary Biology, UChicago) create sculptural objects that entangle the various modes of classifying ants, in the process asking what role the scientist and the artist play in shaping the identity of the organisms they observe.
Faculty advisors: Trevor Price (Department of Ecology and Evolution, UChicago); Jason Salavon (Department of Visual Arts, UChicago)
Filament Findings
Filament Findings investigates the unexpected resonances between 3D printing and cytoskeletal structures. Keeley Haftner (MFA candidate, Fiber and Material Studies, SAIC) and Will McFadden (PhD candidate, Biophysics, UChicago) merge the former’s studio practice of making waste plastics into 3D printing filament with the latter’s study of web-like spheres made from biopolymer filaments.
Faculty advisors: Sara Black (Sculpture Department, SAIC); Edwin Munro (Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, UChicago)
Scaling Quelccaya
How can we understand the scale of a glacier, both physically and temporally? Generating a virtual recreation of the Quelccaya Ice Cap’s retreat using 3D animation and gaming software, Meredith Leich (MFA candidate, Film, Video, New Media, and Animation, SAIC) and Andrew Malone (PhD candidate, Glaciology and Climatology, UChicago) draw on 30 years of satellite imagery to create visual strategies for addressing the intimate yet global impact of climate change.
Faculty advisors: Doug MacAyeal (Department of Geophysical Sciences, UChicago); Marlena Novak (Film, Video, New Media and Animation Department, SAIC)
Woven Relations
Dylan Fish (MFA candidate, Fiber & Material Studies, SAIC) and Daniel Johnstone (PhD candidate, Mathematics, UChicago) explore significant equations and encryption algorithms through two-dimensional and three-dimensional woven forms, visually elucidating the interwoven histories of the jacquard loom, computation and modern mathematics.
Faculty advisors: Ngô Bao Châu (Department of Mathematics, UChicago); Heather Dewey-Hagborg (Art & Technology Department, SAIC)
Arts, Science & Culture Initiative
The Arts, Science & Culture Initiative at the University of Chicago brings together voices from the arts, sciences, and social sciences to explore new modes of artistic production and scientific inquiry. This UChicago Arts initiative was established in partnership with the Office of the Provost, with the support of the Institute for Molecular Engineering, the Biological and Physical Sciences divisions, the Division of the Humanities, and the Office of the Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories.
Contact: Julie Marie Lemon, T 773 702 8029, [email protected]
