Short Circuit

Graduating Cum Laude in the MFA program at the University of Iowa, Barber uses interdisciplinary art practices to articulate various testimonies within and surrounding Black America. Most recent scholarships include fellowship at The Union Contemporary, Stanley Grant award from the University of Iowa, Alonzo Davis Award from Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Selected exhibitions include but are not limited to Englert Theatre (Iowa City, IA), Museum of Science (Chicago), Public Artwork on Atlanta BeltLine (Atlanta, GA), Rialto Theatre (Atlanta, GA), C4 Atlanta (Atlanta, GA), Lexington Theatre(Kentucky), Mason Murer Gallery (Atlanta, GA), Gallery 4731 (Detroit, MI), Levitt Gallery, (Iowa City).

Sheida Soleimani (b.1990) is an Iranian-American artist who lives in Providence, Rhode Island. The daughter of political refugees who were persecuted by the Iranian government in the early 1980s, Soleimani makes work that melds sculpture, collage, film, and photography to highlight her critical perspectives on historical and contemporary socio-political occurrences in Iran and the Greater Middle East. She focuses on media trends and the dissemination of societal occurrences in the news, adapting images from popular press and social media leaks to exist within alternate scenarios. Soleimani’s research and work critically references the Eurocentrism that pervades the study of art and art history. She is specifically interested in the intersections of art and activism, as well as how social media has shaped the landscape in current political affairs and uprisings. Her work has been recognized internationally in both exhibitions and publications such as Artforum, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Interview Magazine, VICE Magazine, amongst many others. She is most recently a recipient of the MacColl Johnson Fellowship, and is currently a professor at Brandeis University.

Cassie Tompkins is an artist and designer based in Chicago, IL. In 2001 she graduated with a BFA in photography from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design and in 2011 received a BFA with a concentration in visual communication design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has presented solo exhibitions at the Comfort Station and The Annex at Spudnik Press, both located in Chicago, IL. Tompkins was an inaugural FIELD/WORK resident at the Chicago Artist Coalition and this summer, she will attend the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Open Studio Residency. Using a language of geometric and organic shapes and the sensational experience of color, she aims to capture the ephemeral of the everyday. Her work encourages viewers to reconsider their own surroundings—to revise their perception of commonplace life—through material and designed transformations. She currently works as senior designer at the Art Institute of Chicago and is a freelance designer for Illinois Humanities.

Lauren Valley is a robotics and new media artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. Through video and mechatronic installation, Lauren attempts to explore stereotypes and gender barriers present in tech industries. Her work has been shown internationally at venues including the Athens Digital Arts Festival, the traveling exhibition of feminist video work, FEM TOUR TRUCK, and the Two Minute Film Festival at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Lauren completed a residency at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in 2016 and at ACRE, July 2017.Accordion title 1

Elizabeth Lalley is a Chicago-based writer, independent curator, and the assistant director of Goldfinch Projects. She received an MA in Museum & Exhibition Studies from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and holds a BA from the University of Michingan where she received the Academy of American Poets Award. Elizabeth has worked for the Chicago Artists Coalition, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage, and the University of Michigan Department of English. She is also a contributor to Newcity and Chicago Artist Writers.