Karl Erickson - 2019 Summer Resident
Karl Erickson makes videos, performances and collages centering on abstract narrative themes of transformative experiences, non-human intelligences, and environmentalism. Recent exhibitions include "We Could Be Transcendent Apes" at Field Projects Gallery in New York City, look to the future-past, at isthisit? Betwixt & Between at Muncie Makes Lab and The Performing Media Festival. Recent video screenings and performances were included in the Kansas City Performing Media Festival, That One Film Festival and at Blacklight Film and Video. He has been an artist in residence at Signal Culture and The Arctic Circle He received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts and his BFA from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. He is an Assistant Professor of Digital Art at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN.
While in residence, Erickson will researched, documented and collaborated with non-native species in the Delaware County area, including humans. Erickson worked with biologists, conservationists and historians, collaborating with the Red Tail Land Conservancy and the Cardinal Greenway to research the plants and animals residing around city, including when they appeared, how they interact with one another, and the role human activity has had on them. He made sound and video recordings of the life-forms to use as the source material for artworks about beings alien to their environments, including a live performance or two.
Erickson conducted two Deep Listening Walks with the public at the Munsee Woods Nature Preserve and at The John M. Craddock Wetland Nature Preserve. Both groups toured the natural areas and followed guided meditations to actively notice how our actions influence these surroundings. The goal of these projects was to continue a conversation about living alongside that which is different to find a just and equitable way to exist on the planet.
Erickson also collaborated with artist Daniel Chamberlin and musician Mark Perretta for Drone Yoga, a monthly Yin Yoga event offered at PlySpace through the Muncie Arts and Culture Council.
