Len?Scape Interactive Exploration

with Yimei Emair Zhu, Reid Arowood, and Sunshine Lombre

Free, RSVP Required

This event “Len?Scape” extends the spirit of the "Len!Scape" exhibition by fostering collaboration with two other artists, inviting audiences to re-examine their modes of viewing, participate actively, and engage in secondary creation. We believe that a completed work's journey continues through exploration and reinterpretation—challenging established perceptions and encouraging cross-disciplinary artistic fusion.

The event is divided into three parts:

• Len?Scape Part 1 Led by artist Reid, this segment offers a visual performance designed to inspire new ways of viewing and engaging with art. Audiences are encouraged to employ diverse viewing methods to deeply experience Reid's work Algorithmic Reflections (Algorithmic Reflections explores the fluid and constructed nature of identity through a generative archive of machine-produced faces, revealing the intimate entanglement between human subjectivity and algorithmic interpretation. (15 minutes of performance + 5 minutes for Q&A/Break = 20mins)
  
• Len?Scape Part 2 Artist Sunshine responds to the work Lan!Scape through poetry and sound, interweaving language and auditory experience to reveal new layers of meaning. (15 minutes of performance + 5 minutes for Q&A/Break = 20mins)
  
• Part 3 Yimei will guide a tour of the exhibition "Len!Scape", inviting participants to explore tactile sensations and braille, deepening the dialogue on multisensory perception. (20mins with 2 games + 20 minutes of guided tour + Q&A = 40mins)

Through this series of activities, we aim to explore with our audience how art interweaves the acts of viewing, listening, and touching, fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue and advancing research within the field.

This project is partially supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

This project is supported, in whole or in part, by federal assistance listing number, 21.027 awarded to the International Museum of Surgical Science by the US Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the amount of $125,000.00, representing 83% of total project funding.

This project is partially supported by a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

The International Museum of SurgicalScience acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

About the Artists:

Yimei(Emair) Zhu is an interdisciplinary artist with a passion for Senses, Posthumanism, and Perspective Transformation. She holds an MFA in Art and Technology Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and obtained her BFA in Experimental Art from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China. Her work explores deficiencies and imperfections from an unconventional perspective. She invites viewers to see limits not as limitations but as unique modes of experiencing the world. It's about forging new ways of sensing, feeling, and interacting with our world by integrating technology with our corporeal existence. 

Ig: @emair.studio

Chicago native Sunshine Lombre is a dancer & poet who specializes in expressing sensuality & emotional authenticity through her words & movements. Sunshine performs poetry and choreography while also curating seasonal artist showcases based around Black heritage. Sunshine strives to share her passion for Spoken Word and choreography while uplifting Black communities worldwide through teaching creative writing classes through “Poetry for Personal Power”, the Chicago Public Library system, Hyde Park Art Center & other Arts Organizations. She has released debut poetry album “Fading Away" & been an opening act for Twista, Parliament Funkadelic and many other greats.

Ig: @ladylombre

Reid Arowood fuses elements of performance, sculpture, and new media to create multi-sensory experiences that push the boundaries of the hybrid body and queer identity. Their work has been exhibited internationally through various festivals, symposiums, and exhibitions. Recent highlights include Ancestral Echoes: A Decade of Bio Art, Ars Electronica Festival “Worlds in Progress”, the 6th International Exhibition on New Media Art , Art in Odd Places: NORMAL, and Future Bodies: 2022 New Media Caucus Symposium and Exhibition. They received their BFA in Sculpture from the University of Tennessee and their MFA in Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Ig: @reidstuff

Host or Publisher International Museum of Surgical Science