About
I am a queer and anxious artist, curator, researcher, storyteller, and technician working in as many mediums as will have me. I enjoy exploring themes of technology, labor, bodies, and pain. In my making and iterative process, I often need to move both quickly and carefully, in a race against time as my own chronically pain-ridden body shuts down. My physical process of making mimics the daily pain of working and labor: warping, distorting, grinding and wearing down. My pieces are both critical of and dependent on technology, mirroring the ways technology can be a solution to my chronic pain, and the source of the pain itself.
I am currently teaching at the Interactive Media Arts and Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. My research often materializes as objects and performances which have been performed at the likes of Pioneer Works, La Mama’s CultureHub, Wordhack at Babycastles, theBlanc and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I have been mentioned in publications like PARtake, The Scotsman, USA Today, The Guardian, NYTimes, etc.
SOLO EXHIBITION
2022 BLANC GALLERY, Archive Of Digital Portraits Cast In Concrete | New York, NY
JURIED EXHIBITIONS
2023 ACCESSIBLE OBJECTS, 2123: Naive Futures | New York, NY
2023 BLANC GALLERY, Artists Are Talking | New York, NY
2023 370J WINDOWS | New York, NY
2022 FOX 2 GALLERY, We Are Everywhere | Baltimore, MD
2022 BLANC GALLERY, Scripting | New York, NY
2020 ACCESSIBLEOBJECTS.COM, Accessible Objects | Virtual
2019 GALLATIN GALLERIES, Gallatin Arts Festival | New York, NY
2018 GALLATIN GALLERIES, Gallatin Arts Festival | New York, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 HONOR FRASER, Queer Ecologies | Los Angeles, CA
2023 HOT SHOT MUFFLER, CultureHub Re-Fest | Los Angeles, CA
2023 LA MAMA GALLERIA, CultureHub Re-Fest | New York, NY
2022 THE SPARE ROOM, The Spare Room | Baltimore, MD
2022 ACCESSIBLE OBJECTS, 447a State St. | Brooklyn, NY
2022 MICA GALLERIES, Exquisite Corpse Unveiling | Baltimore, MD
CURATED EXHIBITIONS
2023 ALL STREET, Queer Knowing, Curator
2023 BLANC GALLERY, Useless Machines, Curator
2023 ALLINONE COLLECTIVE’S THE PORTAL, why is everyone breaking up right now?, Lead Curator
2022 PRATT INSTITUTE, HASTAC 2020 | Critical Making & Social Justice, Application Reviewer
2022 BLANC GALLERY, Materialism, Jury Member
2020 CULTUREHUB, Residency Member Selection, Jury Member
2014 MIDDLE EAST NOW, Florence Film Festival, Jury Member
PERFORMANCES
2023 MICA, Manually Inflated Failure Vest | Baltimore, MD
2022 BASED IN, Inhabiting Paradox | New York, NY
2022 MICA, Failure Room | Baltimore, MD
2021 HERE ARTS CENTER & HB STUDIO, Performing Algorithms | New York, NY
2019 PIONEER WORKS, print(dialogue) | Brooklyn, NY
2019 MAX MEDIA ART XPLORATION, print(dialogue) | New York, NY
2019 CULTUREHUB, print(dialogue) | New York, NY
2017 EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL, Staging Wittgenstein | Edinburgh, Scotland
2017 THE JERRY H. LABOVITZ THEATRE, Staging Wittgenstein | New York, NY
2017 DIXON PLACE, Staging Wittgenstein | New York, NY
2016 DURF GRANT SHOWCASE, Staging Wittgenstein | New York, NY
INCLUSION IN PUBLICATION
2023 NYTimes, “An Art Show That Asks, ‘Why Is Everyone Breaking Up Right Now?’”
2023 Liu Shiming Art Foundation, “The Liu Shiming Artist Blair Simmons: Useless Machines, A Curated Student Show”
2023 Output: An Anthology of Computer-Generated Text, edited by Nick Montfort
2022 Accessible Objects, Second Edition
2022 TheBlanc, “Scripting”
2022 Adjacent, Issue 7, “The Adjacent Interview with Blair Simmons x Molly Ritmiller”
2022 Composition, Issue #4, “Divine bilateral”
2021 The Minute Review, Vol. 2 No. 2, “Review print(dialogue)” by Nick Montfort
2020 CultureHub First Decade 2010-2020
2020 Interim, Vol. 35, Issue 2, The Body Issue, “Holding or Reaching from Dis(re)membered”
2020 Que Será, Issue 04
2020 Accessible Objects, First Edition
2019 Gallatin Today, “Putting Research on Its Feet”
2019 Ste(a)m Zine, Vol. 2, Editor-in-Chief
2019 Confluence, “Outputs from print(dialogue)”
2019 Abydos Diary, “Photogrammetry is the New Archaeological Photography: 3D Modeling at Abydos”
2018 Ste(a)m Zine, Vol. 1, Editor-in-Chief
2018 Gallatin Review, Cover of Vol. 33, Working
2018 PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1, Article 8
2017 Cennarium: In Performance, “Latex Balloons Become ‘Pop’ Art”
2017 USA Today, “Fascinating performance art in Scotland”
2017 The Times of London, “The News in Pictures”
2017 The Guardian (in print, page 10), “Balloonatics”
2017 The Telegraph, “Pictures of the Day: 10 August 2017”
2017 NEWSru.co.il, “Шоу баллонов на театральном фестивале "Фриндж" в Эдинбурге”
2017 L'Alchimie Du Verbe, “Staging Wittgenstein”
2017 Miro Magazine, “Edinburgh Fringe 2017 Spotlight: Staging Wittgenstein”
2017 The New Current, “EdFringe70 Interview: Blair Simmons Staging Wittgenstein”
2017 Broadway World, “3-D Balloon Theatre Experiment STAGING WITTGENSTEIN to Play Edinburgh
Fringe”
2017 The Vile Blog, “Dramaturgy of Wittgenstein: Blair Simmons @ Edfringe 2017”, Gareth Vile
2017 Confluence, “On Human Fragility and Balloons”
2017 Confluence, “from Staging Wittgenstein”
2017 The NYU Alumni Blog, on Creating “Staging Wittgenstein”
2017 SG Fringe, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2017 Edinburgh Guide, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2017 ThreeWeeks, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2017 The Wee Review, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2017 The Scotsman, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2017 The List, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2017 EdFringe Review.com, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2017 British Theatre Guide, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2017 Broadway Baby, “Staging Wittgenstein, Review”
2016 The Blotter, “Staging Wittgenstein”
2016 Inquiry, Vol. XX, “Staging Wittgenstein”
2015 Medical Dialogue Review, Vol. 17 (in print, page 31)
AWARDS & GRANTS
2023 Liu Shiming Art Grant
2023 MICA Student Leader
2022 Give-A-Violet Award Nominee
2021 ARTXCODE Microgrant
2019 Recipient of the Leo Bronstein Homage Award
2019 Recipient of the Horn Fund for Environmental Research
2018 Dean's Award for Summer Research
2018 Gallatin Unsung Hero Award
2018 Writing Program Prize for Visual Arts
2016 DURF Grant Recipient & Presenter
2002 Camp Marston Star Camper Award 5 Years Running ☆
RESIDENCIES
2022 Rhizomatica | Brooklyn, NY
2022 Water as Technology Residency | Brooklyn, NY
2020 HB Studio Residency | New York, NY
2020 Gallatin Alumni Artist Residency | New York, NY
2019 CultureHub Residency | New York, NY
2019 The Failaka Institute of Knowledge and Arts Research | Kuwait City, Kuwait
2018 MIT Trope Tank Research Resident | Cambridge, MA
GUEST LECTURES
2021 UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, Acting in Computational Theater, Prof. Lisa Nathans (Intro to Acting)
2021 UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, On Computational & Iterative Creative Research, Prof. Shannon Leah Collis
2020 PARSONS, On Computational & Iterative Creative Research, Prof. Ashley Jane Lewis
2020 NYU GALLATIN, Directing Computational Theater, Prof. Kristin Horton (Directing 101)
TALKS
2023 THURSDAY NIGHT TALK, Artist Talk: Blair Simmons, ITP/IMA NYU
2023 OPENAIR CARBON REMOVAL CHALLENGE, Sustainable Fabrication and Fabrication Problem-Solving
2023 BLANC TALKS, Blair Simmons on Archive of Digital Portraits Cast in Contexts, Blanc Gallery
2021 BROWN UNIVERSITY, Artist Talk & Workshop, ArtScience Collaborative
2021 ARTXCODE, Interview Series 002
2021 MOZFEST, print(dialogue) in dialogue
2019 WORKHACK AT BABYCASTLES, print(dialogue) in dialogue, Curated by Todd Anderson
2019 NYU INSTITUTE OF FINE ARTS, 3D Scanning in Abydos, Egypt
2019 CEFAS FRENCH MISSION IN KUWAIT, 3D Scanning & Modeling, Curated by Sulayman Al Bassam
PANELS
2023 RE-FEST, Long Table Discussion, CultureHub NYC
2022 MICA, Fine Art MFA Program Session
2022 BRUCE MUSEUM, The Future of Art/Science
2021 NYU GALLATIN, Alumni Panel
2020 NYU GALLATIN, Lunch and Learn
2019 THE YARD, An Interview on Cyan Sun
2017 NYU COURANT, Math and Computer Science Wasserman Panel
2016 NYU CAS, CAS DURF Research Conference Panel
GUEST CRITIC
2022 Large Scale Kinetic Installation (prof. Phil Caridi), Guest Critic | NYU, New York, NY
2022 Feedback Collective, Guest Critic | NYU ITP/IMA
2022 Immersive Experiences (prof. Sarah Rothberg), Guest Critic | SVA, New York, NY
2022 Products Brand & Experience (prof. Hlynur Atlason), Guest Critic | NYU, New York, NY