University of Arkansas

School of Art

LEAD PARTNER:  Gerry Snyder
LOCATION:  Fayetteville, AR
AWARD:  2021 SHIFT – Transformative Change and Indigenous Arts
PARTNER ARTIST: 
Postcommodity BIO
ABOUT

University of Arkansas School of Art offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in art education, art history, graphic design, and studio art. It seeks to recruit and retain a diverse, academically productive, and intellectually ambitious community of students, faculty, and staff to participate in these programs that focus on the Arts of the Americas.

PROJECT
University of Arkansas, School of Art, is partnering with 2021 SHIFT Awardee Postcommodity artist collective to provide studio, research, and academic publishing support of their project Cosmovisión. Cosmovisión is built around a musical instrument performed by four people simultaneously using joystick controllers, interactive video, and sound for co-determining relationships between land, community, and worldview; sonifying these relationships as a practice of Indigenous self-determination and meaning-making; and an Indigenous-led effort to advance Indigenous consciousness, diplomacy, and dialogue. To achieve this, players make recordings of sounds representing land, community, and worldview. They then work together to harmonize this shared sonic media during the performance.