Melissa F. Clarke is a Brooklyn based interdisciplinary artist whose work often employs generative and procedural processes. In much of her work she combines data and research into multimedia immersive installations, performances, virtual reality pieces, printed three dimensional and two dimensional works. Since 2009, Clarke has been working with bathymetric and other geophysical data sets studying glaciers and the underwater landscapes they shaped. Past processes have included computer vision and generative algorithms to composite and extract these data sets over time revealing otherworldly scenes depicting both deep time and speculative futures. In 2012 Clarke went on an Arctic expedition, where she traveled up the west coast of Greenland for a month conducting research and collecting data for her work. With her installation projects, Polar, Untitled Antarctica and Sila, Clarke endeavored to reconnect the data collected from beneath the glaciers with its organic source. Using sound, video projection, and glass sculpture, she created immersive neo landscapes giving physical form to the information collected about the giant landmass and the terrain beneath the seas surrounding it. Other projects have included research and data on subjects such as nano-physics, zoology, meteorology, astronomy, and info security. Melissa often works across mediums as a way to look at the connections between what we distinguish as natural and technological spaces—towards considerations of nature at the center of human experience, technological exploration, myth, science, and information collection.
Clarke was recently an artist in residence with The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon, and was an artist in residence with Clock Tower at Pioneer Works, New Inc, Visible Future Labs and Simon’s Center for Geometry and Physics. Clarke has exhibited her multimedia work at spaces such as: Federal Hall, Knockdown Center, Pioneer Works, the Interactive Art Fair, Eyebeam, Issue Project Room, and with the Queens Museum. Her work has been featured by Art F City, Creators Project, L Magazine, Art in America, and with publications such as Impose Magazine. Melissa has a masters from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. She has been a lecturing professor at SUNY Stony Brook and NYU, teaching interactive art, computational art, web art and physical computing. Today she teaches art and technology at NYU Steinhardt’s Visual Arts Administration MA Program.
selected press + events 📰
Performing with Glass @ the Silent Barn, Youtube (excerpt)