October 10 – Zach Blas: Obedient x3

 Zach Blas in person Wry and provocative, the work of multidisciplinary artist Zach Blas (Post-Bac 2006) examines technologies of social control through the lens of queer and feminist politics. In recent years, his projects have addressed biometric capture, microdosing, the hegemony of the Internet, and sex toys. Blas presents a suite of these projects, including the Chicago premiere of Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033 (2018). Using Derek Jarman’s […]

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October 3 – New Films from the GLAS Animation Festival

GLAS Animation Festival director Jeanette Bonds in person Each year, the GLAS Animation Festival showcases a thrillingly expansive range of films from around the globe. Founded in 2016 by animators Jeanette Bonds and Einar Baldvin, it has become a singular platform for art and industry alike, highlighting experimental and visionary threads across the spectrum. Bonds […]

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September 26 – Selina Trepp: I Work With What I Have

Selina Trepp, Tomeka Reid, Jason Roebke, Dan Bitney in person Informed by ideas of improvisation, collaboration, and flux, Chicago-based artist Selina Trepp (BFA 1998) produces exuberant works from radically limited means. Since 2012, she has refrained from bringing new materials into her practice, instead recycling past artworks and remnants into each new project. Her animated […]

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Fall 2019 Season Announcement

We’re pleased to announce the Fall 2019 season of Conversations at the Edge! We have a terrific program lined up, including appearances by media artists Selina Trepp (Sept 26); Zach Blas (Oct 10); Rachel Rossin (Oct 24); Shengze Zhu (Oct 31); Hiwa K (Nov 7); Filipa César (Nov 14); as well as curators Jeanette Bonds, […]

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April 18 – Dawn Chan and Mary Flanagan: On Power and Play in Virtual Worlds

Dawn Chan and Mary Flanagan in person Critics Dawn Chan and Mary Flanagan, winners of the 2018 Thoma Foundation Arts Writing Awards in Digital Art, engage in a wide-ranging conversation about the social and political dynamics embedded in virtual reality, games, digital art, and software design. Considering the work of Rachel Rossin, Ramsey Nasser, Jenova […]

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April 11 – Tabita Rezaire: Network Blossom

Tabita Rezaire in person French Guyana-based new media artist and energy worker Tabita Rezaire navigates power structures on and offline to pursue decolonial healing. Through performance, 3D animation, and screen interfaces, her work addresses the ongoing effects of colonialism and decenters occidental authority. She presents a trio of videos that reimagine technology, spirituality, and the […]

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April 4 – Shards from the Mirror of History

Nicky Ni and Jennifer Lee in person Born under China’s one-child policy in the 1980s and raised amidst the country’s recent social and economic changes, China’s “lost” generation has gained a reputation for unprecedented individualism, ambition, and distinctive sense of humor. Curated by Nicky Ni, this program brings together a group of emerging Chinese artists […]

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March 28 – Disorienting Diasporas

Curators Nima Esmailpour and Jordan Arseneault in person    Since 2006, the Queer Media Database Canada-Québec Project (QMDCQ) has worked to resuscitate a rich heritage of queer moving-image makers and their works. Curated by the QMDCQ in partnership with the Montréal-based collective Taklif: تکلیف, Disorienting Diasporas is a migrant mixtape par excellence. Spanning nearly two decades […]

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March 21 – Evan Meaney: We Will Love You Forever

Evan Meaney in person Mixing humor and pathos, the work of new media artist and game designer Evan Meaney meditates on the transience of human experience and its representation in digital media. Meaney often uses corrupted and failing data as source material, exploring human efforts to collect and preserve in the face of entropy. He […]

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March 7 – On Watching Men

Curator Rachael Rakes in person Featuring works by Chick Strand, Tracey Moffatt, Yael Bartana and Jumana Manna, this program explores the subtleties of power relations and gender dynamics in observational film and media art. The artists turn their cameras on men, addressing and reversing conventional hierarchies, while also placing various manifestations of masculinity under experimental, […]

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