The inaugural Art+Tech exhibit Dec. 6, hosted by the Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity, gave students the opportunity to showcase their creative work at the intersection of art and technology.
The event invited undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines to display their projects at the historic A.D. White House. From the minute that visitors walked through the doors, they were presented with a variety of media, including video games, virtual reality, AI collaborations, fashion, sculpture, graphic design and music, transforming many rooms of the house into vibrant, interactive spaces. A pamphlet that numbered each exhibit by location and student information helped guide visitors through the house.
“I hoped that the ‘Art + Tech’ exhibit would create a crossroads for the compelling work being made all across campus — from AI-inflected fiction to one-dimensional collaborative games, from 3-D printed fashion to sound installations,” said Austin Bunn, associate professor of performing and media arts in the College of Arts & Sciences and director of the Milstein program. “The Milstein Program prides itself in serving as the ‘ampersand’ in the Arts & Sciences, and I think the "+" sign in Art + Tech speaks to the same interdisciplinary, recombinatory energy.”
Shuquin Lyu ‘25, a performing and media arts and information science major, presented “Synchrotron Symphony” at the event, a sensory ethnographic film that explores the Wilson Lab particle accelerator — a hidden scientific space beneath Cornell’s football field.
“From the control room to the accelerator tunnel, I used primarily close-ups shots to bring the viewers closer to the machinery, cords, and structures, not only to appreciate their beauty and colors, but also to create a sense of intimacy within the environment,” she said, adding that the underground scenes in the lab are juxtaposed with physical scenes of football training and games going on above.
“Through this immersion in the underground world of machinery, we ask ourselves how we can re-imagine spaces familiar to us, and how we can entrust new meanings to these often-overlooked environments and transform the way we observe and understand them,” Lyu said.
Marc Davila ‘26, a computer science major from the College of Arts and Sciences, came to the exhibit because he was curious about the intersectionality between technology and the humanities. Davila said that he enjoyed how diverse the projects were and how each room had a varying different project sharing an overall theme.
“The Art + Tech exhibit was more than just a showcase of student work; it was a celebration of creativity, innovation and the dynamic potential of interdisciplinary exploration,” he said.
In addition to the opportunity to share their work, student projects were also judged by a panel of faculty for the chance to win prizes. Winning projects were:
Cheng Peng and Sissy Tian, graduate students in design tech, “Go Big Red” ($1,000 first prize for graduate students)
Kanika Bhagat ‘25, College of Architecture, Art and Planning (architecture), “Draw with a Thousand People” ($1,000 first prize for undergraduate students)
Eliot Burk, graduate student in music/composition, “Vertical Integration (In Memoriam James Thomer)” ($500 jury prize)
Otis Fuqua, graduate student in creative writing/Literatures in English, “Prompt IV” ($500 jury prize)
Nanyi Jiang, graduate student in information science, “Substrate Fantasia (2023)” ($500 audience favorite prize)
Thomas Knoepffler, graduate student in design tech, “Studies in Fluid Flow Analysis” ($500 jury prize)
Hendrik Stoops Lugo ‘27, College of Architecture, Art and Planning (art), “Intonarumori” ($500 jury prize)
Shuqian Lyu ‘25, Arts and Sciences (performing and media arts, information science and College Scholar Program), “Synchrotron Symphony” ($500 jury prize)
Marcus McDermott ‘25, College of Human Ecology (fashion design), “Bistable Auxetic Body Cuff” ($500 jury prize)
Ryan Qiu ‘28, Arts and Sciences (computer science and music), “Three Dreams of December” ($500 jury prize)
Willem Schreiber ‘25, College of Architecture, Art and Planning (art), “Stage Show” ($500 jury prize)
Elizabeth Lara-Rivera '26 is a communications assistant for the College of Arts & Sciences.
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