The Flea Theater, 20 Thomas Street, New York NY
Reception and Presentations
Tuesday, October 29, 6:00-8:30 pm
As our MFA in Design progresses to its fifth year, we announce our inaugural Design Research Spotlight, an evening of conversation and presentations by recent graduates of our MFA in Design program. For our alumni, design is a tool for inquiry, critique, speculation, as well as communication. The event is hosted by Chat Travieso, artist, designer, and the new Tepper Chair in the Department of Art & Design. Our graduate speakers are Corina Coughlan, Rachel Herring, and Melisa Tekin, who will present work that employs a range of media from print to installation to address their research directions.
Chat Travieso will speak about the social impact of design. He states, “I want my students to be civically engaged and be conscious of their impact on the world.” He is the co-founder of the multidisciplinary collaborative duo Yeju & Chat, with Yeju Choi. His practice encompasses community-centered urban interventions, public art projects, and research initiatives that explore ways of creating more inclusive and just cities.
Corina Coughlan’s work uses design to tell feminist narratives, particularly around the female body and performance data. She is driven by the desire to make data more human and accessible through visual storytelling and immersive experiences. Her work looks to expand abstracted data communication to encompass lived experience by visualizing experiences and sharing personal narratives.
Rachel Herring is a medium agnostic educator, writer, and designer creating work at the intersection of techno-critique, design ethics, and participatory research. Her background as an art director in Manhattan’s beauty industry, informs her desire to interrogate the ethics of design. She is interested in how the rapid pace of technology, intertwined with the aestheticization of society, shapes our perception of time, space, and sociopolitical dynamics. Ultimately, her work is about a way of being in the world—slowing down and looking closely at the everyday. In a world where everything is designed, she hopes to democratize design by creating products with the consumer and allowing them to customize products to best suit their individual needs.
Melisa Tekin is an Assistant Professor of Visual Communications at SUNY Farmingdale and is the Founder and Creative Director of M/WBE-certified graphic design studio Neighbors. With a background in Urban Studies, her research is focused primarily on housing and placemaking, using design as a tool to communicate important issues that affect our communities to the public. Melisa’s research examines issues of history, access, affordability and transparency in housing developments and public housing projects in New York City. She invites citizens to be curious about the spaces constructed around them, and to recognize the power of collectivism in dense environments, which also informs her research on placemaking in neighborhoods in New York City and beyond.