[Free State Festival 2016]: A(R/C)T: Art and Activism, Wednesday, June 22, 6:00-7:15pm

Indigenous Activism, Art + New Media

Explore the major theme of Free State Festival 2016, “A(R/C)T” explores how artists in Lawrence have used

their creative practice to advance a variety of political, social, and cultural issues. This panel considers whether

or not art should be a medium for activist messaging, and asks whether or not there is still a place for art for

art’s sake. Join in the conversation.

Joshua Miner came from the University of Iowa last year to join KU as an Assistant Professor of Film & Media

Studies, where he specializes in global Indigenous activist media, network culture, and transmedia poetics. His

recent projects explore how tactical practices in digital art, video, and game design generate new protocols for

Indigenous resistance to U.S. and Canadian environmental policy.

Marta Caminero-Santangelo has a BA in English from Yale University and a PhD in English from UC Irvine. She

came to KU as an Assistant Professor in 1997. Her work on 20th century U.S. literary studies considers the

conjunction between literature, group identity, and activism. In the last ten years, her research has focused on

how these issues play themselves out in U.S. Latino/a literature.

Julia Cole is an interdisciplinary public artist, educator and community strategist. In addition to her oversight of

the regional Rocket Grants program that she will discuss today, Julia’s personal work also focuses on

community interventions designed to arouse imaginative social and political engagement. She is part of a

collaborative public art team, is the co-founder of an experimental learning program called Rad School, and

teaches classes about Critical Making and Radical Optimism at KCAI.

Sydney Pursel is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in socially engaged, activist, performance, video and

new media arts. Through art she explores contemporary Native American issues and identity. Some of Sydney’s

projects are used to educate others about food politics, language loss, appropriation and history in addition to

projects amongst her own community focusing on language acquisition, culture and art. Sydney is a current

MFA student in Expanded Media at the University of Kansas.