WORKROOM 2024 Resident Artist Spotlight: Betsy Zacsek + Niema Qureshi
Betsy Zacsek and Niema Qureshi are artists exploring how physical computing can deepen our sense of play. Using materials originally discovered in our classrooms along with custom drawing tools, and amplified sounds we’re able to create new sensory experiences. Qureshi and Zacsek work together in a freeform lab setting, creating from a sense of shared play and exploration.
Betsy is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who has created and curated art in galleries, moving trucks, public spaces, parks, and schools. Niema is an interdisciplinary artist and Assistant Professor, Adjunct at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her research focuses on engaging underrepresented youth in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math).
Betsy and Niema are CAPE teaching artists in the Artist/Researcher Partners program, and Betsy also teaches in the after school program.
Niema Qureshi demonstrating her collaborative work with Betsy Zacsek to participants of the Young Audiences National Conference 2024
As part of WORKROOM and in continuation of their participation in last year’s WORKROOM, Betsy and Niema “will reestablish and build on last year’s freeform lab for exploring materiality, sound and technology, continue to experiment with physical computing (with the Makey Makey device), experimental electronics and/or digital computing (such as coding) from an experiential perspective.”
This year, taking inspiration from Max Neuhaus, they look forward “to play more deliberately with sound.” Seeking out overarching connections created by their work, they inquiry “What does it mean to make art that bridges technology in a public space? While the larger context questions are important, our co-play in the CAPE space is more important. Material investigations of sound and technology and pushing the capabilities of the existing tools will guide our investigations.”
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