— 2016 Practicum Descriptions

Taeyoon Choi

will be working on a pedagogic project that challenges the notion of normalcy and disability.

I’m looking for someone with exceptional writing skills, warm heart for community engagement and a fearless attitude to learn new technology.

The School for Poetic Computation, which I co-founded in 2013, is a hybrid school, residency and research group. We are planning a youth workshop on art and technology at Brooklyn Academy of Music for two weeks in July. I’m also planning a workshop on architecture, computer programming and skateboarding geared toward local youth in Brooklyn. The project includes building a large scale installation. It will be a space for youth to form friendships and provides leadership opportunities and a platform allowing youth to bring attention to urban issues. Finally, I’m working on Uncertainty School at SeMA Biennale Mediacity Seoul in September. It’s a school to unlearn the common misconception of disability. Unlearning here does not mean direct opposition or deliberate forgetting, but creating knowledge and participating in the relation between teaching and learning.

All of these projects are based in my deep interest in alternative pedagogy. By helping with planning, documenting and producing these workshops and performances, you will interact with other artists, engineers, curators and most importantly with local youth and students. You will be working in and out of my studio in Downtown Brooklyn. It would be great if you have experience with computer programming (JavaScript) and electronics (Arduino/Raspberry Pi), digital design and video editing (Adobe softwares). However, I value your dedication to the art and to community more than the technical skills and I can also help you get started on learning the techniques.

Brendan Fernandes

will be working on a new research project that will investigate the relationship between Prima Ballerinas and their pointe shoemakers, and he will be working on new collages and the publication of a new book.

I consider myself a multidisciplinary artist who engages in a process-based practice. Beginning with research investigations, my work has manifested into various forms, including sculptural installations, neon, film, video, animation, sound, photography, endurance-based performance and dance. In recent work, I am returning to my past life as a dancer. As a former dancer who studied ballet and modern dance techniques, and who had to leave the dance world due to injury, I have begun to explore choreography as an experiential phenomenon. I investigate how movement techniques are recalled in the body via muscle memory and explore this phenomenon through cultural dance, ballet, and the languages that prescribe directions for dance movement. I look at movement through the “labouring body” and “queering” as it relates to physicality and the construction of gender roles. In doing so, I continue to engage with the transitional nature of identity, while now exploring how this is enacted and experienced on the level of embodiment.

I am not looking for a dancer specifically, but want to work with someone who can think and interpret within these terms. I am beginning to research a new project that will investigate the relationships between Prima Ballerinas and their pointe shoemakers. For this work I am looking for a mentee who has proficient research skills. Additionally I am working towards the launch of a new book and would like to work with someone who can help facilitate and organize the preparations of this publication, this could include editing, graphic design work, and collating texts. Furthermore I will be making some collaged works that play with ideas of gesture and movement and will need assistance cutting paper and assembling these pieces. Basic video editing, Photoshop, After Effects, Sketch Up and web updating skills are of value to me and the work I do. I am also looking for someone who can work with me through the schedule of the Practicum’s run.

Together we will foster a working relationship where I am happy to offer critiques on your ideas and works in-progress. I am excited to have you participate with me in social events, where we will explore New York’s summer art scene as well.

Pablo Helguera

needs help for a number of exhibition and performance projects in the Fall.

Projects include: 1) an independent, participatory and correspondence-based social practice project that will develop throughout 2016, 2) preparing materials (documentation, videos, etc) for an exhibition at La Tallera, a contemporary art center in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and 3) help in preparing an installation /performance project for Site Santa Fe, opening this summer.
Preferred interests and skills include: interest in socially engaged art, good at copy-editing and research. good organizational skills, Spanish-speakers is a big plus (as many of these projects take place in Latin America), and knowledge of how to edit video a big plus.

Marisa Morán Jahn

will be working on two projects: The CareForce (and its mobile studio, the CareForce One), and Video Slink Uganda.

The Care Force is a public art transmedia project about America’s fastest growing workforce. The Care Force will be featured at the Brooklyn Museum in the summer months and other pit stops TBD. Video Slink Uganda is a public art project that involves slipping artwork onto pirated DVDs that play before the main feature film and screened throughout Uganda. Exhibition opportunity TBD.

What I need: A highly motivated individual who ideally can speak/read in Spanish and English. Any or as many of these skills are helpful: talking with other people, research, carpentry, video editing (Adobe Premiere), illustrating/photo editing (Illustrator/Photoshop), sewing, social media, people skills (as in talking to other people). The selected individual MUST be punctual, well-organized, and be comfortable using a telephone (as in, using a telephone to call others and receive calls).

What I can offer: exposure to working in a fun and diverse team environment, learning how to think through concepts and diverse media, hands-on making and brainstorming.

Steve Lambert

Mary Mattingly

is transforming military and industrial equipment this summer.
I’m seeking a mentee who would like to explore working on two projects this summer. If everything goes according to timeline, we will focus on the launch of a floating food forest. Simultaneously, we will work on several workshops that involve repurposing military equipment. Our process will combine project planning with implementation, working through permit processes, public presentations, design charrettes and 3D design, hands-on building, and workshop co-facilitation. My ideal mentee would be able to start mid-June and work with me through mid-August in New York. In exchange for working with me this summer, I will work with you on developing your work, share my working process, experiences with different forms of collaboration, roadmaps for permitting and creating large-scale projects, and introduce you to many of the other artists and collaborators I work with.

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy

are working on a science fiction live-cinema project.

This project will be constructed like a film, shown like a gallery exhibit, and experienced like performance art. We are interested in working with someone who likes science fiction, especially writers like JG Ballard, and video games. Someone who loves film and has some film production or even acting experience would be useful. Sculpture or set building skills would be wonderful too. Ideally, actual production will start in July. A lot of the work this summer will be team coordination and support for days of shooting in the studio and on location. We hope to find a mentee who communicates well and can help produce this thing (i.e., make phone calls, place orders, schedule crew, etc).

You would learn a lot about live stream video, Swedish surveillance cameras, working with digital tools, directing actors, and alternative modes of story making.

Nontsikelelo Mutiti

will be working on completing a series textile designs and short videos based on the repetition, layering and sequencing of motifs gathered from her ongoing research around the experiences of African immigrants.

This year I will be developing a number of projects that build on the history and contemporary meaning of cultural objects related to Black African identity. I have produced a number of experiments in print, video and on the web exploring the visual production of cultural signifiers. Over the summer my focus will be completing a line of textile designs that investigate the layered origins and traditional meaning behind ‘African’ textiles as well as their contemporary meaning as markers of identity.
I have already begun working towards this project, and have a number of concepts sketched out and ready for development. I hope to be at a stage this summer to refine these sketches and push the work past pattern making so we can work on ordering samples and using the fabrics in photographic projects and short video animations. I am often producing or collecting elements that become building blocks for other pieces.

My goals for the summer will be as follows
1. Printing the final designs on fabric
2. Building simple animation into the repeat design
3. Photographing and filming the cloth in different situations

To be most helpful in the tasks above you must have the following skills or a willingness to learn
1. Basic operations in Adobe After Effects
2. Basic operations in Adobe Premier
3. Digital photography
4. Basic operations in Adobe Photoshop

Besides assisting me with production you will also get to meet other visual artists from my community who pass through the studio regularly to work or to visit.

I am in Detroit for the Allied Media Conference from June 16–19 and will be in Ethiopia for a week at the end of July. Our work would be spread over a number of weeks with breaks in between to accommodate these commitments.

William Powhida

needs help working on a museum show about contemporary art circa 2000 – 2050.

I will be working on a solo show for the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in the studio this summer that will take a retrospective look at “Contemporary Art” as a unique period of art history. The show will involve new drawings and paintings, as well as fabricated works for part of the installation. I will also be producing a short video for the show. I am looking for a mentee with studio based skills from preparing panels to assisting with aspects of production. There will also be a lot of research, writing, and editing for the show, as we will be handling most of the ‘museum texts’. I am also looking for a mentee with design and/or video editing skills or an interest in digital art to work on aspects of the show. Anyone with a background in interactive design would be a huge help. We’ll be working together on a fairly large scale project in close conversation with the museum staff and other participants. It will be an intense period of production in my studio in DUMBO and a great opportunity to learn about working within an institutional framework. Ideally, I would like to work with someone for a longer period, from June 1-August 31.

Kenya (Robinson) and Doreen Garner

are working on a radio show, a video series, and research for both.

We talk shit about trash – in general, but most publicly on our radio show, #trashDAY, produced monthly via Clocktower Productions. We’re looking for someone who can manage our social media accounts, follow up on email communications, via our Clocktower partners, help build our mp3 archive and dabble in sound editing using Audacity. We’re also interested in working with someone to create a deck of provocative graphic design elements in Illustrator and Photoshop. In addition to the radio show, we’re developing a video series called POON. It’s TV on The Radio, and Vice Versa, so if you’ve got skills in Final Cut Pro and After Effects we would love to include your voice in the process. And, with a strong commitment to our individual practices, it’s likely that you’ll have a hand in everything from mold making to installation, 19th-century medical history research, data collection from Worldstar Hip Hop, fashion design, event planning and interventionist performance. We also have a confessional hotline at 828-3RATCHET. Feel free to leave a message. Kenya and Doreen make work together as the collaborative duo AUNTIE TEAM. Their rapidly developing body of work includes exhibition building, installation, online media, performance, and sculpture. Armed with a rigorous approach to their individual practices, together they address disposability (consumer and social), expressions of the feminine and performative “realness”.

Brad Troemel

will be doing research and experimenting.

This summer I plan to take a break. Well, not really. I’ve done around 40 exhibitions in the past two years and I fear I’m getting into too slick of a production groove. That’s why this summer I plan to take a more experimental approach to time in the studio. My art making process usually consists of having a set of materials in mind, testing them out, and then revising my initial assumptions about how they should interact with each other, the viewer, the space, etc. There are a ton of materials I want to try out incorporating into my work, here’s 3 off the top of my head so you can get an idea:

1. Gallium
2. Enlarging polymer
3. Hydrophobic spray

So our time in the studio would consist of a kind of weird science vibe where we’d be messing around with wacky materials I buy off the internet and try to figure out how to import into a gallery.

My expectation from you would be to assist my with experiments in the studio and to help me with the research end of my work. In addition to working with new materials I’d also like to start bringing in new references, which would require a knowledge expansion into other fields. Past things I’ve spent plenty of time researching include: Bitcoins, anonymous online black markets, the history of precious metals in American currency, drones, terrorist organizations’ graphic design, etc. I would give you a topic and two weeks later expect you to give me a brief presentation on it– to become a mini-expert. After the brief presentation we’d have a discussion where I’d ask you questions and you could help me understand the topic better.

I don’t want this to be a one-way street. It’s important to me that you’re aware of my work and more importantly my peers’ work because I want to be able to hang out with you socially on the weekends and introduce you to the people I know over beers and other mind altering substances. What I offer in return for your hard work is an opportunity to have complete social access to the people I know and have built relationships with over my past 5 years living and working in New York: fellow artists, fellow writers and critics, curators, art dealers, art collectors, and everyone in between. To get to know this many people this quickly is next to impossible and would be ideal for someone looking to eventually make a transition into living in New York and working in the art world professionally.

Penelope Umbrico

will be continuing work on developing and ongoing projects, starting a couple of book projects, maybe a few web projects, and updating a neglected archive and website.

I need someone who knows Adobe Creative Cloud, web design, and who is interested and fluent, in social media. Archiving, data entry and file organizing might also be a part of the summer, and there may be some hands-on finishing work, like polishing hand-blown glass components for a forthcoming exhibition. My studio is in my house (or, my house is in my studio), there’s a garden and I sometimes cook.

Clement Valla

will be working on a solo exhibition.

This summer I’ll be making making sculptures and wrapping them in photographic prints. The process is involved and has many steps, so here’s a brief outline:
– lots of photography + photo editing
– 3D modeling
– prepping files for fabricators
– assembling and finishing the sculptures (joining, gluing, clamping, cutting, sanding, etc.)
– printing the images (we’ll be doing this ourselves)
– sewing, wrapping and pinning the images (maybe tailoring is a better description)

I’ll also be publishing the research that goes into the show either as a catalog, a website, a newsprint publication, or some other distributable format. The research will focus on the history of photo-based 3D modeling from its invention in 1849 to current applications. I’ll be making and assembling diagrams, timelines, texts and images.

I’m looking for someone who can, on top of helping out at every step, really take on one part of the process. This means someone with any one of these four skill sets:
– photography
– 3D modeling
– sculptural fabrication
– graphic design

There’s also the possibility that I’ll be curating some kind of web-based exhibition as an extension of this show. I’m not sure what this will be yet both in terms of content (it could be curating historical documents, works from artists, commissioning work) and form (single-serves, a cohesive website, a pdf, a social-media stream, bots). If that sounds like something you’d be interested in then I’d be happy for us to work together on that. You’d be an integral part of the process from conceptualization through to the launch sometime in the fall.

You’ll learn a ton about photo-based 3D modeling and digital fabrication both practically in the studio, and also through historical research. Hopefully we’ll develop new ways of thinking about the continuum between photography and sculpture together.

Marina Zurkow

plans to complete A Field Guide to the Dark Ecologies of Newtown Creek, a book, web site and social engagement plan for one of the worst Superfund sites in the US.

Zurkow Studio is looking for a mentee to work on the A Field Guide to the Dark Ecologies of Newtown Creek – a book, web site and series of public engagements. This Guide addresses the complexities of Newtown Creek, located at border of Greenpoint/Bushwick Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens, designated a Superfund site in 2010. A Field Guide to the Dark Ecologies of Newtown Creek is intended to share and build knowledge; the project will encompass a series of community engagements in the forms of workshops and walking/boating/cycling tours. Applicants interested in working with Marina should contact info@ArtsPracticum.org to review a more complete description, including an in progress draft of the Field Guide.

The studio is looking for a mentee who is keen to learn systemic thinking and real world inquiry, to work on an intensive research, coalition-building and the design of public engagements in the field.

Skills involved in these areas:
– research: interview skills, systems thinking, research, writing and documentation both in the studio and in the field
– drawing (not required): using Illustrator to make drawn entries for the book/web site
– public engagement: leading workshops, tours
– organization: self-directed, initiating ideas, tracking work, and participating in brainstorming

What I can offer a mentee:
– research and studio production skill building
– systems thinking tools
– social practice exposure
– transparency on how I manage my work and subsidize the studio
– good food (often we make lunch and eat together at the studio)
– critical feedback on your work, and advice on writing artist statements and proposals
– exposure to the community of artists and makers I interact with as an artist and teacher at ITP
– generous credit on the projects you work on

Time frame:
Ideally, a mentee would work 2 – 3 days a week, be self-motivated, consistent, communicative, and can arrive on time. (Research, documentation and organization are slow processes, and there is a learning curve). This can occur during the Practicum period of June through July.