Ward Melnikoff

14 days in the lockdown April, I was locked up in a central quarantine accommodation. 14 days with the extraction of fresh air and the earth, the only approach for me to connect with the loving world is the peephole in my room door and a locked up window. As I stay, I start to […]

The Process A short film documenting the day to day training of dancers in the studios.

Parallel Self Embraced “Parallel Self Embraced is an upcoming interactive light art installation to be installed at Burning Man 2021. Parallel Self Embraced presents two panels with human figures outlined in their center. Radial lines extend outward from the figures and beckon as doorways for entry. Entering the piece trips a variety of sensors and […]

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 […]

sculpture: SYNCHRONICITY:MINQIN stainless steel sculpture, 15 ft. dia., installed at Minqin Intl. Desert Sculpture Park, outside Minqin, Gansu, China

The Renunciation Ceremony I created this painting series as part of the process to understand the emotional and subconscious experience of characters I’m developing for a television series. The series is called The Zomers and is about a zero waste community living in Chicago in 2046 and dealing with the effects of climate change. The […]

Originally located on the back wall of the MOD, IRIS was a 3-dimensional automated aperture that opened to about 17-ft in diameter to reveal a lit cyclorama in its opening. For the Virtual Campus, we will be modeling the iris in 3D software, then using lighting software to create various lighting looks. Christian Mejia (MFA2, […]

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 […]