Suzanne Thorpe
Suzanne Thorpe, PhD., has a rich history as a performer, sound artist and scholar. She couples critical listening with acoustic ecology, improvisation and technology to craft emergent and immersive sound engagements with electronic and acoustic instruments. Her soundscapes feature clusters of ambient saturation meshed with temporal intensities and possible melodies. With her practice, Thorpe reveals dynamics within human cultures and nature’s systems, inviting discourse amongst ourselves and our environment. In this way she supports interspecies empathy, understanding and climate advocacy, with a particular focus on how our sonic experience can inform environmental strategy and policy.
Thorpe has performed and exhibited internationally at venues such as The New Museum (NY), Issue Project Room (NY), Roulette (NY), Caramoor Center for Music and Art (NY), Constellation (Chicago), UCLA Royce Hall (CA), Royal Albert Hall (UK), Paradiso (NL), (Roskilde (DK), Q02 (Brussels) and more. Additionally she has contributed to a significant discography as a founding member of the critically acclaimed American group Mercury Rev, with whom she earned a Gold record from the Recording Industry Association of America. Her work has also been supported by grants and residencies from NYSCA, New Music USA, the MAP Fund.
As an academic, Thorpe has published and presented her work widely. She is currently Assistant Professor of Sound Studies at Manhattan University, where she is spearheading the Critical Sound Studies Lab, and a Visiting Researcher at New York University. In addition, she remains co-founder and director of TECHNE, a nonprofit arts-education organization dedicated to dismantling social and cultural barriers in technical learning environments.
Stephanie Rothenberg
Stephanie Rothenberg is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of technology, economics, and science. Using speculative design and data visualization, her work explores the myths of techno-utopian futures. Past projects have focused on digital labor and virtual economies with recent work examining synthetic ecosystems envisioned as blueprints for climate repair.
Her hybrid practice spans interactive sculpture, networked installations, performance, and often defies categorization. She has participated in numerous prestigious residencies, including Eyebeam, Harvestworks, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York City, as well as internationally at ZK/U in Berlin and TOKAS in Tokyo.
Rothenberg’s work has been exhibited at major venues including the Sundance Film Festival, Transmediale, ZKM Center for Art and Media (Germany), and House of Electronic Arts (HeK) in Basel. Her projects have been supported by Creative Capital, the Harpo Foundation, and NYSCA, and are part of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collection. Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, and Hyperallergic.
She is a professor and chair in the Department of Art at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and affiliated faculty at Coalesce: Center for Biological Art. In 2024, she organized FEMeeting: SisterLabs, an international symposium highlighting women in art, science, and technology.
https://stephanierothenberg.com