Jennie Park

Three kinetic sculptures explore relationships between circularity/co-opting/recycling and linearity/polarization/binary-ness, and how personal agency or positionality intersects with these linked mechanics. (They’re NOT “voting machines;” they reflect the operation of many large systems, frameworks and conversations, e.g., the relationship between the DIY ethos and capitalism, between the political far left and far right, and among nested systems such as science operating within politics (which operates within law).

This "vision test" or (tourist) "viewfinder" presents alternate interpretations of the same images, via 4 phrases: "WE ARE THE VIRUS," "THEY ARE THE VIRUS," "WE RESIST THE VIRUS," "THEY RESIST THE VIRUS." (An optician asks, “Lens A or B,” to ascertain visual acuity.) COVID-19 exists in a world structured by metaphorical “viruses:” the unhoused, imprisoned, etc. are deemed societal “diseases;” at once, capitalism, pollution & social media are deemed viral. In a given context, who are "we" & "they?" What's a "virus?" As "resist" has political and immunization-related meanings, what does it mean to "resist the virus?"

Aashray Harishankar

Flight “Flight” is a 2019 concept album mirroring the timeline of human life, from birth until death and beyond. Each song, lyrically and sonically, represents a different time period, but all are reflections of life as a whole. Beginning with “Liftoff/Zephyr”, we rise into a period of birth and infancy, of wonder and innocence, carrying […]

Usha Venkat

Radical Practice Radical Practice is a series of podcast conversations between CalArts Graphic Design Program alumnae and current students. Each episode features an alumna with a distinct professional practice, including BFAs and MFAs whose endeavors range from cultural to corporate and from singular enterprises to ambitious ideas. We’ll discuss how they have defined success for […]

Pierre Emmanuel Mariaca

The Net and the Self “The Net and the Self is an interactive music and dance installation mirroring our networked society. The audience enter in a room illuminated by UV blacklights where dancers and musicians interact through an amplified harp that has its strings connected with fluorescent fishing lines attached to the walls. The installation […]

Kai Luen Liang

Flag ASMR “On Sept 11th, 2001 I watched the twin towers falling with my father. Glued to the TV. A silent demolition. An American reality TV show. In the weeks that followed, I started to see American flags everywhere. Especially from immigrants of all colors, flying the flag out of a sense of fear of […]

Perry Cook

COVID Pan Drum: A Robot Tongue-Drum Rendering of the SARS-2 COVID Virus Genome I’m building a custom robot to play a little lap-sized tongue (steel) drum. A program will read through the roughly 30k base pairs in the COVID 19 (SARS-2 COVID Wuhan Seafood Market) DNA sequence. Particular (known) functioning segments will be sonified when […]

Hamed Dehqan

Burn This is an abstract and artificial image of burning flowers under sunlight as a lover of love feels burning.

Adam Zuckerman

A collection of melodies. Embedded like a small light in the corner. This piece engages themes and processes of transparency/translucence, copying/covering, and distance/absence: the traces of a thing not there. Melody fragments expand and contract. Here, melody crystallizes into harmony and harmony unfolds as melody. Like a constellation of stars; or in the direction of […]

Ruoyi Shi

“I create 3 videos to show a world hidden inside the reflection of water. I use my tentacle that is made out of water to find a link between the world that surrounds me right now and the memories of adventure that only I know. No matter if it is humidity or moisture, I sense […]

MFA 1 - Art

DIY Political Machines: Circular to Linear Motion

Vision Test / Viewfinder