Gale Memorial Lecture Series: Artist Talk with Melissa Dubbin & Aaron S. Davidson

On Thursday, February 20, ARTSLab was thrilled to host Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson. Hailing originally from New Mexico (Davidson himself is an alumnus of UNM) are a Brooklyn-based artist duo whose interdisciplinary practice spans environment, computing, robotics, and artificial life. Their work, often animated through materials such as metals, fluids, and pneumatic structures, invites viewers to consider how empathy might emerge between the organic and the artificial. Projects such as The Cloud in the Ocean (2022), commissioned for the Biennale of Sydney, exemplify their approach: glass conduits circulate water heated by a computer simulation of the ocean floor, feeding a soft robotic manta ray in an “amniotic” environment that couples chip and fetus in poetic resonance.

Each recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship, Dubbin and Davidson teach at Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute. They have exhibited internationally at major venues including the Biennale of Sydney, ZKM Center for Art and Media in Germany, and Moderna Museet in Sweden, and their work is held in collections such as the Centre Georges Pompidou. Their practice has also been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Cabinet Magazine, among others.

During their lecture, the artists presented new and ongoing projects, weaving together explorations of robotics, fluid dynamics, and material transformation, and illustrating how synthetic systems can evoke affective and poetic encounters.

Gale Memorial Lecture Series was established in memory of Dr. David his wife Sylvia whose generosity made the series possible. This is event co-sponsored by the Department Art and ARTSLab. All Gale Memorial Lectures are free and open to public.