Commissioned Works/Special Projects is our program offering financial and administrative assistance to individual artists. We act as a fiscal agent for those artists applying for grants from federal and state programs and private foundations. Through this program we help develop collaborative projects between artists and assist with the presentation of their work. In 2024, we have sponsored the following projects funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature:
Victoria Vesna: SUN_FLOWER: embracing complexity
SUN_FLOWER: embracing complexity will be a fully immersive installation that explores the connections between plasma physics and the sun. This installation will explore the complexities and varying factors that affect the process of fusion by projecting images of solar flares from NASA and JPL, which will be processed and edited in 3D to create a “mandala of complexity”. This imaging will be accompanied by a soundscape comprised of recordings taken inside of a magnetic fusion device, solar flares, echoes of human sun salutations, and sun worshipping hymns.
Victoria Vesna is an experimental creatve research artist and educator from Washington, D.C. Often working in collaboration with neuroscientists, nano-scientists, and evolutionary biologists, her installation work explores the impact of communication technologies on collective behavior and the ways in which perceptions of identity change amidst scientific advancement. Her work has been exhibited extensively around the world, and she has contributed work to numerous papers during the course of her career. Currently, Victoria is a professor at the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts, Director of the Art|Sci Center at the School of the Arts, and the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). Victoria also holds a Ph.D from CAiiA (The Centre for Advanced Studies in Interactive Arts) at the University of Wales. https://victoriavesna.com
Anaïs Maviel: Métadire
Anaïs Maviel will present an experiential & durational music piece in collaboration with chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound. Métadire is inspired by the less obvious details of perception, and immerses its audience in the contemplation of space, time, and human existence. Co-commissioned by Alarm Will Sound and Harvestworks, Métadire is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Anais Maivel is a vocalist and composer whose work fuses traditional and experimental approaches to investigate the power of sound to shape reality, unite, and lay “common ground for utopian futures”. Anais has conducted scholarly research on music & utopia in Black American music, and holds a Master’s degree from Paris Diderot University. Her solo albums, hOULe and in the garden both received international acclaim. Anais performs and teaches throughout the Americas and Europe, and has been the recipient of several fellowships including the 2022 NYFA Artists Fellowship. https://www.anaismaviel.com
Woody Sullender: AI Music Avatar
Woody Sullender will develop an AI avatar of himself that is able to act as a performer of music. He has created digital replicas of several performance spaces, including Harvestworks Art &Technology building on Governors Island, in order to project these replicas back into the original spaces.
Woody’s work explores the mediation of musical performance, and is intended to be engaged and interacted with. Woody describes the current version of his avatar as the “puppet incarnation” of this project, as opposed to the more advanced, upcoming version, which is more intelligent and suitable for a live music setting. This “puppet incarnation” has been commissioned for a video on display in the Kitchen’s online Video Viewing Room, and At the Public Works Administration in Times Square on an interactive website, and available in a downloadable game. Woody Sullender is a music practitioner who has performed extensively in the United States and abroad. His works explore the space and interaction between the physical event of live performance and the more “mediated” album. His work has been reviewed internationally by Wire Magazine, Art in America, Fast Company, and Maximumrocknroll. Woody is a founding co-editor of the sonic arts publication EAR WAVE EVENT. https://www.woodysullender.com
Amy Mascena, AutomaticRelease, and Zach Layton: All That is Seen and Unseen
All That is Seen and Unseen is hybrid opera and media installation designed by Amy Mascena and created by collaborative duo AutomaticRelease (Lauren Petty & Shaun Irons), in collaboration with composer Zach Layton. The installation in its current version includes moving image and text by AutomaticRelease via AI, and a soundscape generated by Zach using a neural
network Max patch. In her developing design process for this work, Amy will draw artistic and poetic connections between past (including inspiration from Greek and Roman statuary, Rococco paintings, and 17th Century stage design) and present (using AI generation and modern technology to realize the work).
Amy Mascena is a multidisciplinary visual artist, whose work includes drawing, painting, handmade
books, installation, as well as set pieces, costumes and props for theater and film. She has presented her work in New York and Los Angeles. Her drawings and mixed media works are regularly exhibited at the TV Projects Gallery in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
AutomaticRelease is the multiplatform art duo of Lauren Petty and Shaun Irons. Together, the two create interdisciplinary performances, installations, experimental films, documentaries and interactive video scores. Their work has been exhibited at numerous venues including BAM, The Brooklyn Museum, Tokyo Wonder Site, and the Venice Biennale. http://automaticrelease.org
Zach Layton is a guitarist, composer, curator, teacher and visual artist. He has composed for composed orchestral music for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and has performed and exhibited internationally, including venues such as the Guggenheim Museum and the International Computer Music Festival. http://www.zachlaytonindustries.com