Kathleen Ruiz
Biography
Kathleen Ruiz is a dual EU/US citizen, and an Associate Professor of Integrated Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she co-founded the critical Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS) program. She is an internationally exhibiting media artist who works with simulation, games, photography and sculpture exploring the nature of perception, behavior, and interaction. Her research is centered on simulation, perspective and empathy and examines first-person experience, intentionality, and the possibilities for simulation to approach a non-colonizing understanding of “other”, whether that other is another person, entity, or the environment. Her recent VR projects explore the importance and complexity of plankton in freshwater ecosystems, in a dialog with art and science to build critical awareness. She sees the use of the virtual as a radical act of preservation and transmission of environmental knowledge.
Kathleen’s work is supported by grants from NYSCA (New York State Council on the Arts), Wave Farm: Media Arts Assistance Fund, the NSF (National Science Foundation), NVIDIA, KIP (Knowledge and Innovation Program) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Experimental Television Center, the NYC DEP (New York City Department of Environmental Protection), the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Department of Design and Construction, Percent for Art Program, NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts), the U.S. National Forestry Service, and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
Among others at EGS, Kathleen has studied with French sociologist, cultural critic, and theorist Jean Baudrillard; French cultural theorist and urban planner, Paul Virilio; political philosopher and media theorist, Jean Luc Nancy; curator, critic and historian of art, Hans Ulrich Obrist; artist, Philippe Parreno; media philosopher Wolfgang Schirmacher; philosopher of photography and cultural studies Hubertus von Amelunxen; French film maker Chantel Ackerman; British sculptor Antony Gormley; Palestinian/Israeli filmmaker Elia Suleiman; British photographer, and critic Victor Burgin; performance artist, East German poet Durs Grünbein; and translator, author, and critic, Martin Hielscher.