OVPR, Arts Initiative award second round of project funding to seven research teams
The Arts Research: Incubation & Acceleration grant program has awarded their second round of funding to support innovative projects that center the arts in research and creative practice. Seven arts-centered research projects have been funded through ARIA.
ARIA was formed and funded in a joint effort between the Office of the Vice President of Research and the Arts Initiative.
For more information, read the full article in the University Record.
The Selected Projects are:
- Untitled Clifftop Documentary
Principal Investigator: Adam Sekuler, assistant professor of humanities (Dearborn)
Goal: This feature-length film captures the essence of the Appalachian String Band Music Festival, better known as Clifftop, in West Virginia. It spotlights the vibrant community and immersive musical experience of Old Time musicians gathered in camaraderie and intimate, nature-infused jam sessions.
- Talking Pupils
Principal Investigator: Julie Zhu, assistant professor (Ann Arbor)
Goal: This innovative virtual reality opera, designed to be accessible for the visually-impaired, is based on a 17th-century story focusing on blindness and spiritual awakening. The project integrates specialized acoustics, spatial sound design and haptic feedback to create an immersive experience that simulates visual impairment and emphasizes self-awareness.
- Impossible Conversations
Principal Investigator: Y. David Chung, professor of art and design (Ann Arbor)
Goal: In collaboration with British filmmaker, Pratap Rughani, Chung will create two video installations/documentaries exploring restorative justice through the stories of survivors and perpetrators of violence who engage in deep dialogue, aiming to chart a path toward reconciliation. The films showcase the challenging, yet transformative potential of creating connections and understanding in the wake of conflict and atrocity.
- Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online
Principal Investigator: Christiane Gruber, professor of Islamic art (Ann Arbor)
Goal: This open-access digital platform showcases multimedia presentations on Islamic art history, featuring contributions from international scholars. The innovative online exhibitions overcome the limits of physical galleries, connecting artworks, academia and cultural heritage through nuanced and interdisciplinary digital curation.
- Using Arts-Based Storytelling Methods to Build Efficacy and Advance Transgender and Gender Diverse Justice
Principal Investigator: Leonardo Kattari, assistant professor of health and human services (Dearborn); and M. Candace Christensen, associate professor of social work (Ann Arbor)
Goal: This project aims to empower transgender and gender diverse individuals through a virtual workshop that enhances advocacy and civic engagement using storytelling and arts, culminating in a repository of participant stories to promote transgender and gender diverse justice, evaluated through both quantitative and qualitative methods.
- Nyami Nyami-Water Never Lies
Principal Investigators: Michael Gould, professor of music, percussion (Ann Arbor); and Aline Cotel, Arthur F Thurnau Professor, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering (Ann Arbor)
Goal: This art project is a multimedia installation that combines sculpture and technology to explore the ecological and cultural consequences of the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River, incorporating the river deity Nyami Nyami as a symbol of nature’s resistance against human intervention.
- Inhabiting Light
Principal Investigators: Catie Newell, associate professor of architecture (Ann Arbor); and Upali Nanda, clinical associate professor of architecture (Ann Arbor)
Goal: This project is an art installation at the U-M Nichols Arboretum, designed as a reflective space for those experiencing grief. Constructed from prismatic cast glass, it will offer both privacy and interaction with nature, facilitating introspection and healing.
OVPR, Arts Initiative cycle 1 grants awarded to 14 research teams
The Arts Research: Incubation & Acceleration grant program and the Creativity Lab research development program awarded their first round of funding in January to support innovative projects that center the arts in research and creative practice. Seven arts-centered research projects have been funded through ARIA and seven projects have been selected for development through C-lab.
For more information, read the full article in the University Record.
Arts Research:
Incubation & Acceleration Grant Program
Too Much and Never Enough: Feminist Animations
Principal investigator: Heidi Kumao, professor of art and design, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.
Goal: This project examines the political climate around women’s bodies using a series of experimental stop-motion animations and fabric works.
Perpetual Sunshine & The Ghost Girls
Principal investigator: Lynne Shankel, Carole Caplan Lonner Professor of Musical Theatre Composition and clinical assistant professor of music, School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Goal: This musical theater piece portrays the capitalist exploitation of workers’ rights in the face of a national public health crisis.
THE RISE: Chicano Cinema and the Mythologies of Change
Principal investigators: John Valadez, professor of film, television and media, LSA; and Colin Gunckel, associate professor of American culture, and of film, television and media, LSA.
Goal: This documentary film explores how 1970s and 1980s Chicano cinema advanced our national understanding of race, identity and what it means to be American.
St. John Street Memorial Park
Principal investigator: Benjamin Gaydos, associate professor of art and art history, UM-Flint.
Goal: This project creates an immersive experience engaging visitors with the St. John Street Neighborhood in Flint, illustrating how place-based monuments can be equitably reimagined in the 21st century.
Detroit at Play — Empowering Communities Through Collective Game Co-Creation
Principal investigator: Jose Sanchez, associate professor of architecture, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Goal: This project will design video games that foster community engagement, specifically targeting high school students in Detroit.
Variations of Sound
Principal investigator: Pedram Baldari, assistant professor of art and design, Stamps School.
Goal: This project presents a platform to facilitate a metamorphosis of violence into hopeful possibilities, using objects such as decommissioned weapons acquired from police to produce performances, sound installations, videos and music albums.
Tethered
Principal investigator: Anne Mondro, associate professor of art and design, Stamps School.
Goal: This project will create a series of intricately woven wire sculptures that reflect on the complex and often conflicting emotions associated with being a caregiver and care recipient simultaneously.
Creativity Lab (C-lab) fellows
Shadows: Puppetry in Performance
Principal investigators: Christianne Myers, Claribel Baird Halstead Collegiate Professor and professor of theater and drama, SMTD, and Jess Fialko, clinical assistant professor of music, SMTD.
How To Have More Fun
Principal investigator: Halena Kays, assistant professor of theater and drama, SMTD.
What was Promised? Speculative History of Landownership in the late 1800s of Formerly Enslaved Black Americans Following Special Field Orders No. 15
Principal investigator: Quinn Hunter, assistant professor of art and design, Stamps School.
Art, Agency and Decarceration
Principal investigator: Paul Draus, professor of sociology and anthropology, UM-Dearborn, and director of the Detroit Center.
Cultural Hybridity through Graphic Novels and Art Exhibits
Principal investigator: Wessam Elmeligi, assistant professor of language, culture, and the arts, UM-Dearborn.
Tension of Opposites: A Musical About Abortion
Principal investigator: Lisa Harris, F. Wallace and Janet Jeffries Collegiate Professor of Reproductive Health, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Michigan Medicine; and professor of women’s and gender studies, LSA.
Invoking Coyolxauhqui: An Animated Source of Creativity for a Broken World
Principal investigator: William Calvo-Quiros, associate professor of American culture, LSA, and associate professor of art and design, Stamps School.