A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

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Christine Anne Shallenberg

Assistant Professor, Adjunct

Contact

Bio

Education: BFA, Theater Arts and Dance, Illinois Wesleyan University, MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Performance and Exhibitions: High Concept Laboratories, Links Hall, Experimental Sound Studio; Chicago Sugar Space, The Oilwick, Indianapolis; Galapagos Art Space, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn, NY Design for Performance: Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago; Invisible Dog Art Center, Brooklyn, NY; Abrons Arts Center, NYC; Alfed ve dvore Theatre, Prague, Czech Republic; Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona, Spain; Théatre de la Ville, Paris, France; Disney Hall, Los Angeles, CA. Awards: Link-Up Artist Residency, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Signal Culture Residency.

Personal Statement

A native of Chicago, I consider myself a performer, researcher, electrician, programmer, designer, and teacher. I am motivated by a sense of critical wonder about new technologies and our relationships to them, and I consider my practice to be an ongoing investigation into the complex—and ever evolving—relationship between the physical and digital world. I am someone deeply curious about physically understanding the way digital and analog technology works: from the simple clarity of the flow of electrons from higher to lower potential energy to the infinite complexity of global networks for information exchange. Deeply rooted in research and experimentation, my work strives to reinvest the digital world—the world of circuits, microcontrollers, programming and interfaces—with a sense of physicality; an idea I access performatively by engaging in processes that allow equal space for human bodies improvising in space and technology based systems built to engage with, alter and be altered by those bodies.

Currently, my work is inspired by the ability of the human body to understand and convey what the mind cannot: the social, physical, and mysterious language of bodies in space. I am also fascinated by electricity from the micro-level of atoms to the macro-level of power grids and political regulation of power distribution. I am drawn to ideas of grounding, energy transformation, sexuality and desire in the digital age, new languages, tracing, transmission, the invisible, and radical intimacy. I am interested in heartbeats, brainwaves, copper, anthropomorphizing circuits, body-mind centering, choreography for audiences, soil, lightning, motion capture, improvisation and dance drawings. With the collaborative JCSpaceRadio project, I am exploring the physicality of sonic experiences, while facilitating communication and creating participatory structures for public engagement with art and science.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

In this course we will focus on disciplinary and interdisciplinary art and design practices of contemporary art production. This team-taught, year-long class explores the materials and techniques of surface, space, and time (2D, 3D, and 4D), as well as the connections and interplay of these areas. Core Studio integrates the formal with the conceptual, traditional with the contemporary, and makes visible a variety of approaches in current cultural production in order to foster the development of students? emerging practices as makers and thinkers.

In this interdisciplinary studio course students will be authorized to use a variety of school shops, materials and equipment; including the woodshop, plaster studio, digital lab, sewing machine, hand tools, sound and video production, digital workflows and principles of visual fundamentals. This is a hands-on making class, faculty present artists and content related to a particular toolkit and, or project theme. Every section of Core Studio has shared learning outcomes which are uniquely realized by each Core faculty partnership.

Students should expect a fast-paced studio environment. In Core Studio students will complete short assignments as well as longer multi-week projects. Assignments are designed to help students develop their own ideas in relation to the materials, processes, and themes presented by faculty.

Class Number

1298

Credits

3

Description

In this course we will focus on disciplinary and interdisciplinary art and design practices of contemporary art production. This team-taught, year-long class explores the materials and techniques of surface, space, and time (2D, 3D, and 4D), as well as the connections and interplay of these areas. Core Studio integrates the formal with the conceptual, traditional with the contemporary, and makes visible a variety of approaches in current cultural production in order to foster the development of students? emerging practices as makers and thinkers.

In this interdisciplinary studio course students will be authorized to use a variety of school shops, materials and equipment; including the woodshop, plaster studio, digital lab, sewing machine, hand tools, sound and video production, digital workflows and principles of visual fundamentals. This is a hands-on making class, faculty present artists and content related to a particular toolkit and, or project theme. Every section of Core Studio has shared learning outcomes which are uniquely realized by each Core faculty partnership.

Students should expect a fast-paced studio environment. In Core Studio students will complete short assignments as well as longer multi-week projects. Assignments are designed to help students develop their own ideas in relation to the materials, processes, and themes presented by faculty.

Class Number

1234

Credits

3

Description

This team-taught, introductory course provides a foundation for most additional coursework in the Art and Technology Studies department. Students are given a broad interdisciplinary grounding in the skills, concepts, and hands-on experiences they will need to engage the potentials of new technologies in art making. Every other week, a lecture and discussion group exposes students to concepts of electronic media, perception, inter-media composition, emerging venues, and other issues important to artists working with technologically based media. Students will attend a morning & afternoon section each day to gain hands-on experience with a variety of forms and techniques central to technologically-based art making.

Class Number

1211

Credits

3

Description

Through lectures, readings and demos this studio class will focus on the use of e-textiles in art, design and fashion, with a focus on user-centered design, fashion applications, and embodied, tactile and sensory e-textiles with the potential for therapeutic, stimulating and engaging applications. Topics will include different types of sensing systems for stretchable/flexible/soft textiles with compatible sensors and electronics, as well as the opportunities and challenges of e-textiles in the areas of fashion and interior design. The class will cover reliability, sustainability and future trends. Professional practice field trips within the Chicago region will cover developing ventures in technology, art or wearables.
Students will be introduced to techniques for building electronic components using non-traditional and soft materials and programming for Arduino to integrate sensors into expressive forms, expand their understanding of wearable technology history through readings and artists working at the intersection of technology and the body and improve their ability to synthesize ideas and to see a project through from research to final presentation and to consider the best form of presentation.
Readings, lectures and screenings will vary.

Example of suggested readings:
Haptics by Lynette Jones, 2018
Smart Textiles: fundamentals, design, and interaction by Stefan Schneegass (University of Stuttgart) and Oliver Amft (University of Passau), 2017
Crafting Wearables: blending technology with fashion by Sibel Deren Guler, et al., 2016
Wearing Embodied Emotions: a practice based design research on wearable technology by Secil Ugur, 2013

Course work includes weekly reading responses, a mid-term, and a final project. Students can expect to produce a body of work consisting of 3-5 finished pieces during the semester.
Departmental consent required: junior level and up preferred.
Please send brief paragraph why you wish to take this course, portfolio 5-10 images of work relevant to this class, and a list of classes you have taken in fashion and/ or art & technology.

Class Number

2113

Credits

3

Description

Through lectures, readings and demos this studio class will focus on the use of e-textiles in art, design and fashion, with a focus on user-centered design, fashion applications, and embodied, tactile and sensory e-textiles with the potential for therapeutic, stimulating and engaging applications. Topics will include different types of sensing systems for stretchable/flexible/soft textiles with compatible sensors and electronics, as well as the opportunities and challenges of e-textiles in the areas of fashion and interior design. The class will cover reliability, sustainability and future trends. Professional practice field trips within the Chicago region will cover developing ventures in technology, art or wearables.
Students will be introduced to techniques for building electronic components using non-traditional and soft materials and programming for Arduino to integrate sensors into expressive forms, expand their understanding of wearable technology history through readings and artists working at the intersection of technology and the body and improve their ability to synthesize ideas and to see a project through from research to final presentation and to consider the best form of presentation.
Readings, lectures and screenings will vary.

Example of suggested readings:
Haptics by Lynette Jones, 2018
Smart Textiles: fundamentals, design, and interaction by Stefan Schneegass (University of Stuttgart) and Oliver Amft (University of Passau), 2017
Crafting Wearables: blending technology with fashion by Sibel Deren Guler, et al., 2016
Wearing Embodied Emotions: a practice based design research on wearable technology by Secil Ugur, 2013

Course work includes weekly reading responses, a mid-term, and a final project. Students can expect to produce a body of work consisting of 3-5 finished pieces during the semester.
Departmental consent required: junior level and up preferred.
Please send brief paragraph why you wish to take this course, portfolio 5-10 images of work relevant to this class, and a list of classes you have taken in fashion and/ or art & technology.

Class Number

2155

Credits

3

Description

This is a specialized professional practice course designed to prepare students for active participation in the on-campus as well as online components of the Low-Residency MFA. Students will be trained on digital platforms including Canvas, SAIC's learning management system. Students will be introduced to online library resources and to all digital research, communication, and dissemination tools necessary for use during off-campus semesters. Students can be authorized on general as well as specialized equipment for use during the residency.

Class Number

1421

Credits

1.5