Future Art Ecosystems Roundtable with the Shumka Centre

Given the current interwoven status of art, technology, communication, and activism, can there be a truly revolutionary path for the arts sector? In November 2020, I was part of an online roundtable on the topic of Future Art Ecosystems, in which we discussed different structures for the production, distribution, and reception of contemporary art. You can see an archive of the conversation—featuring myself, moderator Ceci Moss, Anaïs Duplan of Afro Futurist Studies, and Jen Delos Reyes of Open Engagement—on the Shumka Centre website here.

Building Better Realities with Art in America on IG Live

Brian Droitcour of Art in America invited me to be a guest on "The Process," an art & technology-focused conversation series. Over Instagram Live, we talked about the book I recently edited for Pioneer Works Press, Software for Artists Book: Building Better Realities, and waxed philosophical about what it means to be a "user" of technology, especially as it relates to manifesting a better world. Watch the full conversation here.

How to Use the Internet Mindfully Workshop at IAM Weekend and Pioneer Works, 2019

After publishing an essay series about using the internet mindfully with Are.na, the platform for connecting ideas, I co-developed and led a workshop on the same topic with Are.na team member Leo Shaw. We debuted the workshop at the Internet Age Media Conference in Barcelona, and later at Software for Artists Day at Pioneer Works in NYC. More info + our curriculum worksheet is available here.

DiM○DA 3.0 New Talismans ᐉ Immersive Preview + Artist Talk at National Sawdust, 2018

I worked with artist Alfredo Salazar-Caro to bring an immersive pre-release preview of the Digital Museum of Digital Art’s VR-based exhibition, New Talismans + Mind/Body Dualism, to National Sawdust in Brooklyn, as part of a collaboration with The Creative Independent. More info here.

Delete Your Account LIVE at Hunter East Harlem Gallery, 2017

Delete Your Account was an event dedicated to the weird and regrettable ways we expressed ourselves online as adolescents, co-curated by myself and Alex Teplitzky. The program featured readings, performances, and media submitted via an open call, and was presented alongside an installation by POWRPLNT, a pop-up digital art laboratory and workshop series for teens.

Reinventing Museums at NADA New York, 2017

How are artists, curators, and cultural workers reinventing the idea of the museum to mean more to more people? At the 2017 NADA New York art fair, I moderated a panel with Alex Kalman of Mmuseumm, Ayodamola Okunseinde and Salome Asega of the Iyapo Repository, and Nico Wheadon of The Studio Museum in Harlem discussing how museums can reinvent themselves to mean more to more people.

Made with Kickstarter booth for Sonar+D, 2015

I curated a booth of art and design objects for Sonar+D in Barcelona, Spain. All featured products were created in part with the help of the Kickstarter platform, and many of them were also featured in the MoMA Design Store. Display design and production by Catie Myers-Wood—see more here.

Chatrooms at Gray Area Art + Technology, 2015

While participating as a founding member of Gray Area's Cultural Incubator program in 2015, I collaborated with artist Morehshin Allahyari to curate Chatrooms, a series of one-night-only events and online exhibitions focused on bringing the contemporary new media art conversation to San Francisco. Select events included a screening of Lorna Mills' Ways of Something. Learn more here.

Future of Digital Art panel at Heron Arts, 2015

What is the future of digital art? I joined The Lab’s Dena Beard, curator Ceci Moss, the Wattis’ Anthony Huberman, and moderator Alexander Nemerov of Stanford for an interesting talk about the evolving nature of "digital art" and how it can be contextualized within a broader art-historical framework.

Real Unreal installation at Gray Area Art + Technology, 2014

Real Unreal was a site-specific ceiling projection I created for Gray Area's Creative Code Showcase in which painting, drawing and animation coalesce, blending the real and unreal together in simulated space. Footage from science experiments, NASA satellites, and atmospheric recordings were superimposed over and among images created using synthetics and software. Viewers could interact with and "conduct" the animation using Leap Motion sensors.

URL Meets IRL for Electric Objects, 2014

During the launch of the EO1, Electric Objects' screen for digital art, I coordinated a Pop Up Showroom in Gray Area’s Art + Technology theater, including a preview event, panel discussion, and artist demo day. "URL Meets IRL" was a panel exploring the future of creativity on the internet, and the questions that loom as we seek better tools for the art and artists of the digital age.

Everyone's a Curator at SXSW, 2014

At SXSW Interactive 2014, I presented the panel, Everyone’s a Curator: Do Museums Still Matter? with Kathryn Jaller of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Sarah Bailey Hogarty of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and Jennifer Yin of the Asian Art Museum. The panel focused on how our respective museum jobs walk the line between tech work and museum work. See an archive of the presentation here.

Proof of Work at The Sub San Francisco, 2014

How do digital technologies, while distinctly inhuman, exacerbate our humanness? In a show curated by myself and Jenny Sharaf, we explored how artists are grappling with the tensions created by our dependence on technological systems, often competing with machines in ways that inadvertently prove the value of each other's work.

Hello, you've reached the bottom of this page. Maybe you'd like to connect 1:1 now? You can email me [willa dot koerner at gmail dot com] with inquiries, questions, opportunities, or just to say hello. 'Til then, bye! <3