Kristin McWharter named new Assistant Professor of Art & Technology Studies
Kristin McWharter is a multi- disciplinary artist whose work interrogates the relationship between competition and intimacy. Integrating innovative and novel technologies within immersive sculptural installations and viewer- inclusive performances, McWharter's work imagines new and alternative forms of social behaviors. Inspired by 20th century social/ psychology research concerning “the self”, collective decision making, and technology as a contemporary spiritual authority, her work blurs the boundaries of social intimacy and competitive spirit.
Kristin McWharter received her MFA from UCLA in Design Media Arts and is currently a fellow in residence with Crosstown Arts in Memphis, Tennessee. Her work has received numerous awards and recognitions including an Honorable Mention in the 2018 Prix Ars Electronica prize in Linz, Austria and as a semi-finalist in the 2016 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Museo Altillo Beni in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural center in Bangkok Thailand, and the upcoming FILE Electronic Language Festival in the Cultural Centre of SESI in São Paulo City, Brazil
In celebration of alum Georgia O’Keeffe: My New Yorks opening current SAIC students were invited to submit artworks inspired by O’keeffe and the city of Chicago.
An image from the exhibition opening of “My Chicagos: SAIC Students Honor Georgia O’Keeffe.”