Blog
American Arts Incubator Sunsets After Six Successful Years of Cultural Diplomacy
After six cycles of generative creative exchanges, American Arts Incubator came to a close at the end of 2020. Between 2014 and 2020, we facilitated 30 American Arts Incubator exchanges in 28 countries, producing 182 art and projects for social impact and engaging over 1,300 workshop participants and 12,000 members of the public abroad.
The Future of Inclusion (Part 2)
How would our world be different if every president and prime minister’s action and speech were defined through a direct and collective contribution from every community member? How would our world be different if houses of worship and sacred spaces had multitudes of doors, welcoming humanity across different religions to enter with their own prayers?
Postcards from the Future: Collaborative Visions for Lima
It’s been a little over a month since the American Arts Incubator — Peru (AAI Peru) program was completed. Reflecting back on the month-long exchange, the global pandemic and virtual format did not dampen the enthusiasm and brilliance of the participating artists. Instead, it challenged us to adapt and respond to the moment, framed by the past…
That Cold Fire (Esse Fogo Frio)
On the night of Thursday, March 12, 2020, American artist Santiago X exhibited a video of his piece, “ATICINTOLOCA: Man and The Black Snake” to a full auditorium at the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center in Belo Horizonte (CCBB BH). The performance of the indigenous-futurist artist, born to the Kossati and Chamoru nations…
Portals for Healing: Breathing Life into Art & Technology
The entirety of this experience, from beginning to end, is something I will cherish and continue to be inspired by as I go forward in my art practice. From the relationships forged on the ground to my amazement of the vision and voices of the participants, and for our entire team’s resilience and creative pivoting in response to the pandemic, I am forever grateful…
My Story, Many Stories
American Arts Incubator — Colombia, entitled “Laboratorio en las Fronteras,” brought together a group of 28 visual artists, filmmakers, creative producers, musicians, educators, and social advocates to explore migration and identity in the context of the Colombia/Venezuela border crisis. Just as I was about to begin a journey to Barranquilla to lead the lab in person, the world went on lockdown…
Unpacking AI Through Virtual Exchange
I was really looking forward to spending time in Kyiv, Ukraine this past April, but instead my exchange turned into the COVID-19 pandemic exchange. With great assistance from ZERO1, I pivoted in the short space of two weeks to a fully online experience. . It was also fortunate that my incubator topic was art and artificial intelligence, which meant…
Lima 2100: Collective Resilience through Adaptive Urbanism
The recent global pandemic has disrupted all of our lives, while highlighting a myriad of “wicked problems” facing cities. In just a matter of months, cities look and feel different. For many, we are looking at them out our window or within the small perimeter in our neighborhood. The isolation during shelter-in-place has shed light on…
The Future of Inclusion
First is the moist breeze, then the faint sound of water rhythmically slapping against the bank. The soles of my feet are not used to the unevenness of the cobblestones. I walk alongside the Danube, witnessing people crossing paths, exchanging greetings; encounters coming together as a jagged yet porous edge of beautifully diverse experiences…
Beyond Borders and Futures: Virtualizing Laboratorio en las Fronteras
On April 19, 2020, I was supposed to be giving an Artist Talk at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Barranquilla, Colombia to kick off my American Arts Incubator exchange, Laboratorio en las Fronteras (Lab at the Borders). In the global urgency of lockdowns, quarantines, and travel bans…
Augment Earth: Embedded Futures in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
I’m writing this blog post in the midst of final preparations for my journey, as I leave wintry Chicago en route for summertime in Belo Horizonte, Brazil! This will be my very first trip to Brazil, and my first ever visit to South America. I’m excited to meet the partners on the ground, get settled in, and make some waves with the 25 participants …
INTELLIGENT UKRAINE
I first visited Kyiv Ukraine in 1992, the first year of Perestroika, and again in 1993. I met Ukrainian artists in New York City by chance during an open art studio day in Brooklyn, and one of the artists I met was from Kyiv. She spontaneously invited me to visit her hometown, saying she would set me up with a place to stay (this was pre-AirBnb)…
The Lightness and Joy of Moving in/to Pristina
In a few weeks, I will be arriving in Pristina, Kosovo on the somewhat magical-feeling, transient leap year day, February 29th. That most of my travel from Pittsburgh, PA falls on this day will amuse me as I prepare for my month of leading workshops in youth empowerment to a group of Kosovar artists, makers, and dreamers.
Reflections on AAI — Amplify 2019
Group shot of Amplify 2019 participants. Photo by Shamsher Virk. This past month, we completed our second annual summer exchange program, American Arts Incubator — Amplify. Six promising emerging leaders, Eloy Monter Hernández, Minju Do, Reginald Nkululeko Sedibe,...
American Arts Incubator 2020: Lead Artist Announcement
American Arts Incubator (AAI) is an international new media and digital arts exchange program developed by ZERO1 in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. AAI was created to support the collaboration of...
Expanding Cultural Identity, Exploring Language, and Personal Histories in Pachuca
At the end of May, I completed my ZERO1 American Arts Incubator exchange in Pachuca, hosted by CITNOVA. I arrived in Mexico City a few days prior to the beginning of my exchange, where I spent five days exploring museums, historical and cultural sites, and learning as...
It’s About Choice: Women’s Empowerment in Nepal
I awoke my first morning to the sound of bells ringing and birds singing. Somehow, my driver had found my little apartment the night before, though this part of Kathmandu, Old Patan, is so ancient that it has no street signs, no street names, and there are no numbers...
Smarter Home / 더 똑똑한 집
Last month wrapped up the ZERO1 American Arts Incubator in Gwangju, South Korea in partnership with the Gwangju Cultural Foundation. Gwangju is widely known as the site of the Gwangju Uprising (or May 18 Democratic Uprising), when the public responded to martial law...
Tackling Gender Equity & Women’s Empowerment through Embodied Play
What an exhilarating and whirlwind of a month in Istanbul! 16 participants (across a wide range of disciplines) and I explored gender equity and women’s empowerment through participatory design, movement, writing, drawing, skill-building workshops employing different...
Augmented Reality is Still Magic
American Arts Incubator Opening at KZNSA Gallery. Photo by Niamh Walsh-Vorster. After running a month-long incubator in Durban, South Africa, I realized that augmented reality is still magic to people who experience it for the first time. During the month of April...
Digital Fabrication and Cultural Identity in Pachuca
Photo courtesy of The Guardian. When you do a Google search of Pachuca, Mexico, one of the first and most prominent images that repeats itself through the algorithmic results is a picture of two hundred homes whose facades collectively make a large mural that bathes...
Imagining Future Smart Homes in Gwangju
Since January 2017, I have been attempting to become a human version of Amazon Alexa, a voice-activated AI system for people in their own homes. The project is called LAUREN. Anyone can visit get-lauren.com to sign up. The process begins with an installation of a...
Digital Fabrication for Women’s Empowerment
Each evening as I wind down here in the Bay Area, my partners in Nepal begin their work day. Though worlds apart, we have been in such close contact online that I feel a part of me is already there. In just three weeks, the rest of me will catch up, and I will be...
Transforming Epigenetic Trauma through Biomedia, Performance, and Play
Heidi Boisvert, [radical] signs of life. Camera, Jim DeSeve; Editing, Yoni Turkienicz. For the past 15 years, I anticipated future tech trends and used emerging media and technology to support social justice campaigns addressing violence and advancing values of...
Durban’s Vibrant Street Art Scene and the Future of Augmented Reality
Durban has one of the most vibrant street art scenes in South Africa, and at the center of it is KZNSA Gallery located in Glenwood. The district has an eclectic mix of cultures and economic diversity, as well as dynamic youth culture. The gallery has become the...
Environmental First-Aid Kits: Digital Storytelling in Egypt via Emerging Tech
Alexandria — Egypt. Photo by David Evers [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons. As I prepare to embark on my journey to Egypt to begin the American Arts Incubator program in collaboration with ZERO1 and Alexandria Creativity Center, a year's worth of preparation is...
American Arts Incubator — Egypt: Sharing our Stories of Water Sustainability
Group shot. Photo by Maged Makram. The past few weeks have been spent in reflection on the American Arts Incubator workshops and project development in collaboration with ZERO1, the El Horreya Creativity Center and U.S. Consulate Alexandria. The final culmination of...
Apply now for American Arts Incubator 2020
American Arts Incubator: Request for Qualifications for Artists Access PDF version of request for qualifications American Arts Incubator (AAI) is a creative exchange program that utilizes community-driven digital and new media art projects to instigate dialogue, build...
Announcing the 2019 American Arts Incubator Cohort
American Arts Incubator (AAI) is an international new media and digital arts exchange program developed by ZERO1 in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. AAI was created to support the collaboration of American...
What is Life in the Bio-Tech Era? Creating a More Resilient Future
The American Arts Incubator – Poland “Layers of Life” workshop questioned “What is Life in the Bio-Tech Era?” through the lens of empowerment – exploring this pivotal point we are at in evolution across many strata, including personal, social, emotional and...
A Cultural Puzzle
I am so proud, again, of all the participants as individuals and as teams. There are a few other notable teams that were crucial in realizing these project work: ZERO1, L’Uzine, and the American Consulate in Casablanca. I want to thank them for their help in...
No Word for “Empowerment” in Polish?!
We are more than halfway into American Arts Incubator — Poland, and it has been an amazing journey witnessing our growth, development, and empowerment of participants and myself through the “Layers of Life” workshop. Layers of Life // First Day from Amy Karle....
Emergent Tributaries and Beyond
It’s been an incredible month at IZOLYATSIA, and I can’t believe how far we’ve come! March 29th was the opening reception for Emergent Tributaries at IZONE, showcasing collaborative works from the community groups as well as myself. The name of the exhibition is...
In the Time of Corn: Harvest and Sustainable Growth
Arriving in Ecuador during the time of corn harvest, I was deeply impressed by the magnificent cornfields. I envision that was what parts of Manaháhtaan (precolonial Manhattan) used to look like. I also was delighted to learn that the companion-planting agricultural...
Works in Progress II
The participants have worked so incredibly hard to create insightful and beautiful projects. Clay animals on map from event by the Littorale group. Still from video by Amine Krafi, Loubna El Ghallab, and Taha Azale. With impressive tenacity and efficiency in a short...
Works in Progress
After completing and presenting their initial research and another ideation session, participants formed project groups — some related to the previous research, some new. The groups are collecting, creating, designing, iterating, revamping, and installing their...
Memory Data Art in Space
I am so thrilled to work with this incredible cohort: a group of philosophers and artists with a wide range of artistic and technical talents with passions that include history and memory, environmental causes and science, as well as social justice and art. There is...
Outbursts of Inspiration and Growth Through Reimagining Futures
I can’t believe how quickly time has flown so far this month! IZOLYATSIA and the IZONE Creative Community have been incredible spaces to conduct workshops in and to connect with the arts community here in Kyiv. Before the workshops began, we received an overwhelming...
Activating an Art, Community and Technology Incubator in the Andes
The fierce equatorial rays, crackling fire, rising smoke, floating ashes, cultural protocols with community elders, taytas and mamakuna — these are the constant elements that have accompanied American Arts Incubator — Ecuador since we began in mid-March. We kicked off...
Reflections on the Amplified Voice Workshop and Narrowcasting in Kochi
I have thought a lot about what I would have done differently now that I have completed the exchange in Kochi, juggling tight deadlines within a demanding program. My first thought was that I should have chosen an easy personal project — something that I was...
Narrowcasting: Working Towards an Intersectional Feminist Art Practice
Pepper House is one of the locations my partner organization, The Kochi Muziris Biennial Foundation, uses for exhibitions, artist talks, and residencies. It's also the home of their art library. I have been spending many days running workshops and ironing out the...
The Language That Only Art Can Speak
The process of making art is like the process of exploring yourself. For me, it is one and the same. Making art is a process of exploring myself and the world around me, making sense of it in a way that is beyond the thinking mind… from a place of all of these...
Towards Runificación: Weaving Indigenous Revitalization and Extended Reality
As a daughter of immigrants in Turtle Island (aka North America), I strive to be in allyship to the original peoples and the land and waters that nourish me by activating multisensory storytelling and interdisciplinary art, including sculptural installations,...
Getting Ready for Casablanca
"The long poem of walking manipulates spatial organizations… it is neither foreign to them… nor in conformity with them." —Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life I am so humbled by this opportunity to simultaneously teach and learn in Casablanca this March....
Speculative Design for Cultural Spaces and Radical Objects
A large part of my arts practice is informed and shaped by the environments, spaces, and communities I’ve lived in and travelled through, including my native island of Oah’u in Hawai’i. I’ve always been inspired to create meaningful spaces for cultural dialogue, and...
Amplified Voices: Exploring Gender Equality Through Audio in Kochi, India
Teaching is no less a work of art than the creation of artwork itself. For the past ten years my artwork has evolved into platforms and objects that aspire to give people a place to find their voice, express their individual and collective beauty, and learn more...
Apply now to participate in the 2019 American Arts Incubator
American Arts Incubator: Request for Qualifications for Artists ZERO1 is calling innovative digital and new media artists with a love of travel and passion for community-driven public art to apply to participate in American Arts Incubator. American Arts...
Orientation Week Kicks off AAI 2018 in San Francisco
“Political VR” “Collaborative trust” “Fearless science fiction” “Speculative architecture” These are just a handful of the phrases captured from conversations about selected artists’ work during last week’s American Arts Incubator (AAI) orientation. The six artists...
Project Sustainability Updates: River Health in Thailand
We received updates from the American Arts Incubator participants in Thailand! Here's what they've been up to since the exchange wrapped up in July (submissions have been edited for length and clarity). Make It Clear We believe that water resources and the community...
Project Sustainability Updates: Environmental Health in Cambodia
We received updates from the American Arts Incubator participants in Cambodia! Here's what they've been up to since the exchange wrapped up in May (submissions have been edited for length and clarity): Along the Water Along the Water Team. Photo courtesy of their...
Project Sustainability Update: REDCREA Makerspace in Guatemala
We received an update from the American Arts Incubator participants in Guatemala, who combined their four community projects into one effort — the REDCREA Makerspace. Here's what they've been up to since the exchange wrapped up in April: My name is Angel Castellanos,...
Reflections: Bangkok and My Students
It’s hard to for me to believe that it’s been a month since the exchange has ended. The time was intense, rewarding, and the effects of the experience difficult to describe — but I’ll do my best. I’ve never done anything quite like this: worked for a month in a...
Escucha: Impressions and Meditations on the Listening Process
My time in Medellín, Colombia has been transformative to say the least. The people, art, communities, music, and dance — all surrounded by sweeping landscapes of green coalesced to create the vibrance that is Medellín. And in between the empty spaces of this city is...
Exhibition at the Bangkok Art & Culture Center
We had our exhibition last week at the Bangkok Art & Culture Center (BACC) and it was a huge success. I made just two rules for the artworks: There had to be some physical expression of data in the work (a loose interpretation of the word “data sculpture”) It had...
Reflections of the Past Shimmer on our Future
As a representative from the United States, it was inspiring to see that addressing environmental issues is such a high priority among so many people in Cambodia. Leaders young and old are working hard with beautiful creativity to heal our world. The American Arts...
Announcing Artists for the 2018 American Arts Incubator
American Arts Incubator (AAI) is an international new media and digital arts exchange program developed by ZERO1 in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. AAI was created to support the collaboration of American...
Exposición del Colombo Americano
Opening night. The exhibition at Colombo Americano was a huge success! All of the teams came together to pull off an amazing show. In total, we had four groups who produced seven projects now on display in the gallery. The work ranged from video projection mapping,...
Making Change: Reflections on the Russian Incubator
The experience I’ve gained as an artist in the American Arts Incubator (AAI) program both abroad in Moscow, Russia and locally in the States has been a journey, to say the least. I’ve made many acquaintances and seen how different and similar it is to live in Moscow...
Community Projects Progress Report
Our four teams have been working diligently on their community projects. I asked each one to submit a progress report and got different types of responses. Here they are in raw form with just a bit of editing on my part. Each one is headlined by a nickname for their...
Community Projects Underway
How do you figure out who will be in the four (and only four) groups to develop collaborative artworks — what we call community projects? With 20 workshop participants, I was hoping to get five in each group, and this was a challenge for me to tackle. On a sheet of A4...
American Arts Incubator is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs developed in partnership with ZERO1.
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