Work at the science and society interface benefits from increased awareness of, and research in, how to share science, collaborate with the arts, inform policy making, and effectively work with communities and decision makers. In this first event of the series, we will hear from Sara Black (Associate Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago) and Colin Malloy (Artist-in-Residence, Ocean Networks Canada) about their work at the intersection of art and science, followed by a facilitated discussion.

All disciplines and interests are welcome! This is an opportunity for anyone new to the Science and Society section to learn more, anyone already familiar to make new connections, and for everyone to inform the directions and work of the section in the future through thought provoking presentations and conversations.

Presenters

Sara Black has worked broadly as an artist, artist-teacher, arts organizer and curator. Her artwork uses conscious processes of material transformation as a time-based method; diseased wood, ecosystem-specific trees, and river or forest sites material; and creates works that expose the complex ways in which things and people are suspended in worlds together, often generating forms that push beyond human frames of reference or argue for a more porous subject. Sara is currently collaborating with Chicago-based artist Amber Ginsburg, as a member of Deep Time Chicago, and Project Fielding.

Sara received her MFA from the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago in 2006, acted as the director of the arts division at Antioch College from 2010 to 2014 and is currently Associate Professor and Chair of Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in a variety of spaces including Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, The Smart Museum of Art, Gallery 400, Hyde Park Art Center, ThreewallsSOLO; Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft; New York’s Park Avenue Armory, and Eyebeam; Boston’s Tuft University Gallery; Minneapolis’ Soap Factory, the Wormfarm Institute and the Thailand Biennial. She is currently a Mellon Fellow with the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago.

Colin Malloy is an award-winning percussionist, composer, and music technologist. He specializes in electroacoustic percussion music and steelpan performance. He has performed throughout North America and in Trinidad (the birthplace of the steelpan). He is an award-winning audio plugin designer winning first place in the 2021 Audio Engineering Society MATLAB Audio Plugin competition. His composition, (De/Con)struction in Steel and Electricity, won first prize in the 2014 James P. and Shirley J. O’Brien Endowment Composition Competition hosted by the University of Arizona. He is also the recipient of a PhD Fellowship from University of Victoria. He is the Ocean Networks Canada Artist-In-Residence for summer 2022.

Colin is an interdisciplinary PhD candidate in Music and Computer Science at University of Victoria in British Columbia. His PhD research is centered around the steelpan and music technology. He studies the acoustical properties of the steelpan, uses that information to design custom audio effects for the steelpan, and then composes and performs electroacoustic works for steelpan using those effects. He holds a BA in Pure Mathematics from Whitman College, a BS in Music Education from Oregon State University, a MM in Percussion Performance from Southern Oregon University, and a Master of Music in Music Technology from University of Victoria. He plans to complete his PhD in spring 2023.