The Arts Research: Incubation & Acceleration grant program has awarded a new round of funding to seven faculty-led research projects that range from the role of artists in disability culture to art generated by AI models trained on bird nests.
“These grants allow scholars, researchers and creative practitioners to explore their work in new ways and through new interdisciplinary partnerships that might not have been previously possible,” said Geoffrey Thün, associate vice president for research – social sciences, humanities and the arts.
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Launched in 2023, ARIA has now awarded more than $815,000 to elevate and expand arts research and creative practice across the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses.
“Funding top-tier arts research and creative practice is critical to the university’s mission of nurturing bold, innovative work that connects faculty across disciplines,” said Mark Clague, executive director of U-M’s Arts Initiative.
“ARIA’s rigorous and competitive panel review process brings the very best to the fore, and I’m thrilled that these awards support a wide range of perspectives, fields, schools and departments across U-M.”
Applications for the next round of ARIA grants are due March 12.
“The ARIA program champions cutting-edge work that speaks directly to current issues,” said Clare Croft, director of arts research/creative practice. “The work of our faculty researchers in the arts is a valuable resource and asset to the U-M community.”
The selected ARIA projects are:
Bowerbot
Principal investigator: Sophia Brueckner, associate professor of art and design, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design; associate professor of information, School of Information; and associate professor in the Digital Studies Institute, LSA.
Goal: Using artificial intelligence trained on photographs of bowerbirds’ elaborate bowers — nestlike structures used for mating — a robotic arm known as Bowerbot will learn how male bowerbirds create “artworks” to attract a mate.
Indelible
Principal investigator: Holly Hughes, professor of art and design, Stamps School; professor of theatre and drama, School of Music, Theatre & Dance; and professor of women’s studies, LSA.
Goal: This project will create a multimedia solo performance that imagines Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford have retained Hughes to take over an investigation into accusations brought against U.S. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh.
Shadow Play(ground)
Principal investigator: Cynthia Pachikara, associate professor of art and design, Stamps School; and associate professor of architecture and urban planning, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Goal: This project will create an interactive video installation that uses the spectator’s shadow as a means of interaction. It will implement novel forms of image capture that present landscapes in the form of light phenomena.
Indigenous Theatre and Performance
Principal investigator: Bethany Hughes, assistant professor of American culture, LSA.
Goal: This project brings together the history and development of Indigenous theatre in North America with the performance practices utilized by current playwrights and artists to understand the aesthetic techniques, unique voice and contextual content of theatre and performance.
Fawn: A Transdisciplinary Performance
Principal investigator: Charli Brissey, associate professor of dance, SMTD.
Goal: Fawn is a multidisciplinary solo performance created through experiments in dance, writing, sculpture, video and sound installation, weaving deer mythology and folklore into queer narratives of survival and resilience.
Hispano-Arabic Mirror in the Mediterranean and Glocally; How Art and Culture Keep Crossing Paths
Principal investigators: Jorge Gonzalez del Pozo, professor of Spanish, UM-Dearborn; and Wessam M.H. Elmeligi, associate professor of Arabic and director of the Center for Arab American Studies, UM-Dearborn.
Goal: The project presents the cross-cultural diversity of Arabic-Hispanic heritage through the creation of a co-authored graphic novel illustrating cultural encounters, as examples of coexistence.
Disability Arts and Technoculture
Principal investigators: Robert Adams, director of the U-M Initiative on Disability Studies; associate professor of architecture, Taubman College; associate professor of art and design, Stamps School; and associate professor in the Digital Studies Institute, LSA; and M. Remi Yergeau, professor of communication and media studies, Carleton University.
Goal: This project will develop a collaborative podcast series on disability arts and technoculture featuring interviews with disabled artists, poets, designers and technologists.
