About – Jan Mun

Jan Mun is a media artist that creates social sculptures working with digital and living media. The landscape has become her framework to unfold stories about others and herself by using a combination of artistic and scientific processes that manifest in the form of interactive installations, photography, performance, and bio-art. Jan creates interfaces to elicit participation as a reflection and critique of our political and social systems. Working with communities such as Newtown Creek Alliance, BeeVillageNYC, NYC Mycological Society, and the Soil & Microbiology labs at Brooklyn College Jan innovates ideas to be realized through
research, chance, and collaboration.

Long-term projects include:

-ProfileUS: Invasive Species – A series of social sculptures and interactive installations that examine the biopolitics of the East Asian female migration in the United States. This project looks at the interconnections made by humans and other species that have migrated to the US and are adapting to their new or established environments through the lens of art, technology, and biopolitics.

-The Fairy Rings: Mycoremediation and Greenpoint Bioremediation Project (gBP) – As the Artist in Residence of Newtown Creek Alliance, work explores the use of biological agents to remediate toxins in creative cleanup and collaboration with local partners and communities surrounding Newtown Creek.

EDUCATION
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Master of Fine Arts, Digital + Media, with honors 2010

Brown University, Providence, RI
Coursework in Computer Programming, Modern Media & Culture, Sound Installation, and Public Art, 2008-2010

SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY
Bachelor of Fine Art, Photography 1993

AWARDS/GRANTS/RESIDENCIES

• Newtown Creek Alliance, Artist in Residence 2012-present
• Santa Fe Art Institute Residency 2017
• A Studio in the Woods Residency 2016
• Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund 2016
• New York State Council on the Arts, New Media Individual Artist Grant 2015
• International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Greenwich Collection Residency 2015
• A Blade of Grass, inaugural Social Engaged Artist Fellowship 2014-2015
• iLAND, Laboratory Initiative 2015
• Harvestworks, Education Scholarship 2015
• Smack Mellon, Hot Picks 2015
• Brooklyn Arts Council, Community Arts Grant 2014
• Wave Hill, Winter Workspace Residency 2014
• Puffin West Foundation Grant 2013
• NYFA Emergency Relief Fund (Sandy)-BeeVillage: Battery Park Bees 2013
• iLAND, Mount Tremper Arts Residency 2012
• MacDowell Colony Residency 2011
• Mildred’s Lane Residency 2011
• I-Park Residency 2010
• RISD President’s Scholar 2008-2010
• Webby Award 2006

Exhibitions/Talks/Events, Selected (*forthcoming)

2017:

• ProfileUS: Invasive Species exhibition Wave Hill Sunroom Project, Bronx, NY*
• Living in Contaminated Cities: A Field Guide to Urban (Soil) Bioremediation Poster, GreenThumb GrowTogether workshop, Bronx, NY*

2016:

• Greenpoint Bioremediation Project (gBP) GCEF open house Brooklyn, NY
• Artist Talk, Greenpoint Bioremediation Project (gBP) On Nature Symposium at Wave Hill, Bonx, NY
• Biopolitics Honey Tasting and Panel, with Jill Sigman’s WeedHeart, Gibney Dance Center, New York, NY
• Mycoremediation Patch, SculptureCenter Block Party, Queens, NY
  
• Greenpoint Bioremediation Project (gBP), Night Out, NY Hall of Science, Queens, NY
  
• Greenpoint Bioremediation Project (gBP) workshop series, Brooklyn, NY
  
• Lead/Led/Lead Exchange: Soil Remediation, New Orleans, LA
• Marvelous Mushrooms, NYC Parks GreenThumb workshop, Smiling Hogshead Ranch, Queens, NY
• BeeVillage: Battery Park, Battery Park Conservancy, New York, NY (2012- ongoing)

2015:

• BeeSpace: Audio Observation, The Value of Food Cathedral at Saint Johns the Divine, New York, NY
• Tangible Thinking-the intersection of Art, Math & Science, VETS gallery, Providence, RI
  
• Marvelous Mushrooms, NYC Parks GreenThumb workshop, Smiling Hogshead Ranch, Queens, NY
  
• Revealing Process and Place: Structuring Ecological Residencies, Panel for Alliance of Artists Residencies Conference, Providence, RI 
• Artist Talk, gBP and NYC Urban Soils Institute, with Superfund365 at Photoville, Brooklyn, NY
  
• Diálogos Invisibles (Invisible Dialogues), Foundation Mescladis, Barcelona, Spain
• Artist Talk, BeeVillage: UN?, United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY
• Sleeping with the Enemy: Aesthetics of Doing, A Blade of Grass, New York, NY
  
• Crossing a (Desire) Path, iLANDing Laboratory, Brooklyn NY
• Mycoremediation: Fairy Rings to gBP, Open Engagement, Pittsburgh, PA
• Artist Talk, On Color Colloquium, School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA
• Deluge: Art Hack Day, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY

2014:

• ProfileUS: Sensing Site, Newtown Creek Alliance & North Brooklyn Boat Club, Brooklyn, NY
• Artist Talk, New School: Just Art. Current Trends in Contemporary Culture Regarding Art and Social Justice, New York, NY
• Marvelous Mushrooms, Wave Hill, Family Art Project, Bronx, NY
• fallow time, Movement Research Spring Festival, Brooklyn, NY
• Combined Overflow, Proteus Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY

2013:

• The Fairy Rings @ ExxonMobil Greenpoint Remediation Site, Brooklyn, NY
• Artist Walk, Mary Miss/City as Living Laboratory, New York, NY
• Untitled (As of Yet), curated by Sally Szwed & Christina Vassallo Flux Factory, Long Island City, NY
• We Know Not Exactly Where or How, curated by Elizabeth Spavento, Open Source Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
• Artist Talk, Environmental Management PhD Program, Montclair State University, NJ
• On Our Radar, Creative Capital, online
• BeeSpace: Honey, MOMA Studio: Exchange Cafe, New York, NY
• Fieldwork: Weed Informants, Jane’s Walk – Mary Miss, City as Living Laboratory, New York, NY
• Fieldwork: Weed Informants, IDEA City, New Museum, New York, NY
•  Artist Talk, International Studio & Curatorial Program, Art, Wastelands and Ecology: What lies ahead?,   Brooklyn, NY
• Artist Talk, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

2012:

• Model Citizen: Assimilation, curated by Dan Carlson, American Landscape, FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY
• BeeSpace: Audio Observation, Saint Johns the Divine, Blessing of the Animals Festival, New York, NY
• Common Senses, participating artist with Mildred’s Lane, MOMA Studio, New York, NY
• BeeSpace: Audio Observation, Artist Talk, ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Art) Albuquerque: Machine Wilderness, Albuquerque, NM
• Table: Roaming the Mushroom World, Cage/NYMS/100/50^th, Cooper Union, New York, NY
• The Fairy Rings: Mycoremediation, Newtown Creek, Brooklyn, NY
  
• Model Citizen: Assimilation, #feb27, New York, NY
• Lectures on Weather, choreographed by Athena Kokoronis, iLAND 2012 Symposium: Moving Into The Out           There, New School, New York, NY
• Mother Patch, choreographed by Athena Kokoronis, The Flea Theater, New York, NY
• Lectures on Weather, choreographed by Athena Kokoronis, Dumbo Art Center, Brooklyn, NY

2011:

• Time and Crime: Public Art Controversies as Catalysts for Conversations and the Perils of Performance, Speaker, New England American Studies Association Conference The Arts and the Public, Boston, MA
• Momentum, Studio 304, Brooklyn, NY

2010:

• NightOut, Zebulon, New York, NY
• RISD Graduate Thesis, Providence, RI
• Totem, Chace Center, Providence, RI

2008:

• PROFILES: East Asian Female, Al-Liquindoi Expone, Cádiz, Spain

 

Professional Experience and Membership, Selected

• Newtown Creek Alliance Member 2011-present
• Newtown Creek Superfund Community Advisory Group 2012-present
• New York City Beekeeping Member 2011-present
• New York Mycological Society Member 2011-present
• Genspace Member, Microbiology Lab 2011-2016
• Senior IT Associate/User Experience/Information Architect, CUNY, New York, NY 2013-present
• Communication Expert, UN Forum on Forest, Facilitative Process website, New York, NY 2013-2014
• Photographer, Harvestworks 2012-2013
• Program Developer/Instructor, Central Asia Media Workshop, Open Society Foundation, Kyrgyzstan 2011-2012
• Project Manager, UNFF, International Year of the Forest website, New York, NY 2011
• Special Projects Manager, UNICEF & UNIFEM, New York, NY 2004-2008
• Instructor, Photography Workshop, Lens on Lebanon, Nabatiyeh, Lebanon 2007
• Instructor and Founder, Photography Workshop, Kemetic Institute, Mound Bayou, MS 2002, 2005
• Photo Editor/Researcher, UNICEF, New York, NY 1998-2002
• Cultural Projects Coordinator, Magnum Photos, New York, NY 1996-1998
• Photographer’s Assistant, Bruce Davidson, New York, NY 1994-1996

Jan Mun
917-309-1144
Email: msjanmun@gmail.com