Participatory Action Research & Design
StudioLab
Curated by Jon McKenzie, Owen Madigan, and StudioLab Spring 2024
EXHIBITION April 5th-6th, April 11th-13th, 3PM-7PM
OPENING April 5th 5PM-9PM
ZINE WORKSHOPS: Friday, April 5th and 12th, 3PM-5PM
Zines, Memes, PAR&D” showcases participatory action research and design projects with nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations in the US, Africa, and Middle East. Connecting communities, designers, and researchers, StudioLab teams at Cornell co-design transmedia campaigns addressing issues of social justice, the environment, healthcare, and public infrastructure, working across digital and analog platforms.
The exhibition features a Great Wall of Projects documenting co-design projects by some 130 students and 15 community partners; plus over 30 Make Media! videos on different transmedia forms, from comics to Pecha Kuchas to pop-up installations; and finally, a Great Wall of Zines showcasing artist Owen Madigan’s recent work and zines from his workshops at Newfield High School and Cornell University.
For those interested in making zines, Owen will run a zine workshop on Saturday, April 6th, 1:00-3:00 PM.
Funding for this exhibition comes in part from the Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship and the Literatures in English Department at Cornell University.
Special thanks to Sunny Miller and students at Newfield High School, 14BC Gallery, Jim Fealy, Walter Salas-Humara, Ken Weaver, Alexis Karl, and Joe Levine.
Part of a multi-year Civic Storytelling project to translate StudioLab into practices, policies, and infrastructures of different disciplines and institutions in order help democratize digitality, the class and workshops are supported by the Society for the Humanities’ Mellon Rural Humanities Initiative, Einhorn Center, and a Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship, with support from the Department of English and the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research.
All teams also created and curated content for StudioLab’s first design exhibition, Zines, Memes, PAR&D: Participatory Action Reserach & Design, at 14BC Gallery in NYC’s East Village.
The exhibition features a Great Wall of Projects documenting co-design projects by some 130 students and 15 community partners.
The exhibition also features a Great Wall of Zines showcasing artist Owen Madigan’s recent work and zines from his workshops at Newfield High School, Cornell University, and the East Village.
The back wall monitor displays over 30 Make Media! videos on different transmedia forms, from comics to Pecha Kuchas to pop-up installations. StudioLab plans to do another design exhibition next year, along with another set of workshops.
Zine Workshops at Newfield High School and Cornell University
This term all teams participated in part of a series of zine workshops by Brooklyn artist Owen Madigan organized by StudioLab at three locations: Newfield, Ithaca, and New York City.
On March 13th, StudioLab hosted zine workshops by for Newfield High School classes in English Language Arts and Sociology. Students drew and wrote handmade, analog zines shown at 14BC Gallery.
Owen also gave a workshop to StudioLab design teams at Cornell University on March 15th. Here we made one handmade zine and several digital zines and poster which were exhibited in NYC.
Owen’s last zine workshop was held at 14BC Gallery in NYC’s East Village on April 6. Participants created handmade zines using cut-out photos, crayons, and collage materials. Zines were displayed as part of the show.
