Art is a practice of attention: of learning with and from others, of thinking and theorizing from lived experience. Through art, I practice ways of being with the world: uncovering its curiosities and rubbing up against its contradictions. 

My work is time-based, spanning video and new media, sculpture and installation, performance and publication. My work unfolds in project-based investigations, driven by a combination of research, embodied experience, and serendipity.

I consider taking the time to think a political act: a potential cut within the flow of late capitalism. I want to make things to think with. I want to slow down, pry apart, and reconfigure our image culture—our collective hopes and subconscious dreams—so that we might find space for radical imagining. 

Kayla Anderson participates in the art world as an artist, a critical writer, a sometimes-curator, a precarious administrator, and a roaming educator. Their visual work has been shown at itinerant spaces in the US, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore, Germany, and Australia. Their work often investigates the ways that culture and subjectivity shape, and are shaped by, technologies.

Their writing has been published by Art & Education, Temporary Art Review, Leonardo Journal, Kustlicht Journal, Aperture Magazine, and various artist-run platforms. They approach art criticism as a testing ground for developing new relations, ethics, and worldviews — with a particular interest in post-colonial post-humanisms. 

Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, where capitalism and disenfranchisement are more relentless than the sun, they value art as an arena for non-strategic modes of thinking, feeling, and communing with others. 

kander7@saic.edu

Kayla Anderson

Education

2020 Master of Fine Arts in Art, Theory, and Practice, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL Graduate Fellowship Recipient (Full Tuition Waiver and Stipend).

2014 Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies; Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fiber & Material Studies + Film, Video, and New Media, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL. Thesis: Art Beyond Anthropocentrism. Distinguished Merit Scholarship, Leroy Neiman Scholarship, George Roeder Award in Visual and Critical Studies, Student Leadership Award.

2015 - 2018 The New Centre for Research & Practice (non-degree)
Seminars: Global Perspectives on the Anthropocene, Carlos M. Amador; Entangled Legacies: Institutional Collections and Curatorial-Editorial Agency, Anna-Sophie Springer; The Future is Unmanned: Technologies for Corrupt Feminisms, Virginia Barratt + VNS Matrix.

Residencies

2021 Rupert Residency, Vilnius, Lithuania (Postponed from 2020)
Art Writers Workshop, Andy Warhol Foundation Art Writers Grant + AICA-USA (online)
2019 Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art, Spike, Berlin, Germany
Anthropocene Campus: The Mississippi River @ Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
2018 The Ark Center for Interdisciplinary Experimentation, Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, Paris
2016 Anthropocene Campus: The Technosphere Issue @ Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Center Program Arts Incubator, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
2015 Elsewhere: a Living Museum, Greensboro, NC
ACRE, Steuben, WI
Hatch Projects Art Incubator, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
2014 Launch Invitational Residency, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL

Awards + Grants

2022 Best in Show, Onion City Experimental Film & Video Festival, Chicago, IL
2021 Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts, American Austrian Foundation, Salzburg, Austria
2020 Envision Grant, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation + Chicago Artist Coalition
2019 Graduate Research Grant for Faraday Wear, Northwestern University
2017 Project Development Grant, Luminarts Cultural Foundation
2016 Juried Finalist 3D Category (top 5) Art Prize, Grand Rapids, MI
Travel Grant, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Center Program Professional Development Grant, Luminarts Cultural Foundation
2015 Visual Arts Fellow, Luminarts Cultural Foundation, Chicago, IL

Exhibitions, Screenings, Performances

2022 World that Awaits, Mu Gallery, Chicago, IL
Justify My Love, Oklahomo @ MDW Fair, Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL
A Hiccup of Ubiquity, Onion City Experimental Film & Video Festival
2021 Stay With the Body (solo retrospective screening), Nightingale Cinema, Chicago, IL
Matieres a Relations, HTMlles Festival, AdaX, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Chemical (Re)Actions: A Salon and A Garden With A View, People For Community Recovery, Chicago, IL
Chemical (Re)Actions: The Fish Hotel, Goethe Institut Chicago, Chicago, IL
But When You Come From Water, The Chapter House, Los Angeles, CA
Collective Communities: Actions on Environmental Crises, Weinberg/Newton Gallery, Chicago, IL
Ground Floor, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
While We’re At It, 6018 North, Chicago, IL
2020 The Current, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Direct Sunlight, LVL3, Chicago, IL
Old Future’s Almanac Telethon, Late Capital, Chicago, IL / online
Artists Run Chicago 2.0 (Booths: ACRE, Adds Donna), Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Art To Go, Buddy (Chicago Cultural Center), Chicago, IL
2019 Confluence Ecologies, Southern Illinois University Museum, Carbondale, IL
unsettled, Adds Donna, Chicago, IL
Pocket Object, Tusk, Chicago, IL; Kamihara, Philadelphia, PA; Elephant Gallery, Nashville, TN; Mount Analogue, Seattle, WA; Forage Modern, Minneapolis,
MN; Cherry Gallery, Richmond, VA; Mass Gallery, Austin, TX; Gloria Project Space, New York City, NY
2018 QueerTech.io, URL @ (http://queertech.io), IRL @ Testing Grounds + RMIT University Spare Room Gallery + Australian Centre for the Moving Image
ART+FILM Festival, Melbourne & MELT Festival, Brisbane, Australia
Future Tense, University Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
(house): The Diane and Browne Goodwin Collection, Illinois State Museum, Lockport, IL
Seeing the Weave: Textile based abstraction from the Piedmont, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina
Personal Space, High Concept Labs, Chicago, IL
Up like a sun, down like a pancake, Institute for Contemporary Art, Baltimore, MD
If the hours were already counted, Sector 2337, Chicago, IL
2017 Currents International New Media Festival, El Museo de Cultural Santa Fe, NM
Model Home (ChicTraditionalSimpleClassicContemporary), Roman Susan, Chicago, IL Future Reliquaries, Chicago Athletic Association, Chicago, IL
Summer Sessions, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL
Universal Love, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL
Stronger Together, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Art Games, Digital Art Demo Space, Chicago, IL
Public Pool, TCC, Chicago, IL
2016 Future Talk, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI
Improbable, LVL3, Chicago, IL
Documents of the Past Present Future, Efrain Lopez Gallery, Chicago, IL
New Business, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Secular Studies, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL Streetlight, Roman Susan, Chicago, IL
Brilliance, Union League Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2015 Return of the Unicorn, Pinky Swear, Chicago, IL
Kệ, Nhà Sàn Collective, Hanoi, Vietnam
Nitty Gritty, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
Construct, FLATSstudio, Chicago, IL
Dark Fiber, EXPO Chicago, Chicago, IL
MISCHMASCH, Comfort Station, Chicago, IL
Digital Buffet, Catalyze Maker Space, Chicago, IL
Line of Sight, Chicago Artists’ Coalition, Chicago, IL
2014 Currents International New Media Festival, El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Media Futures, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
Frame/s, Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography, Detroit, MI
The Enigmatic Object, Johalla Projects, Chicago, IL
Double Cherry, Threewalls, Chicago, IL
of Play, Ballroom Projects, Chicago, IL
West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Digifabulous, Regis Center for Art at the University of Minnesota, Minnesota, MN
CAAlternate, Tritriangle, Chicago, IL (in conjunction with College Art Association)
2013 Currents International New Media Festival, El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Of the Land, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Tracing Affinities, The Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
The Photographic Self, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Beaming Baudrillard (Thesis Exhibition), Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
I Changed My Mind, Rational Park Gallery, Chicago, IL
In Situ, The Leroy Neiman Center Gallery, Chicago, IL
1001, Tom Robinson Gallery, Chicago IL
Glitch OP3NR3PO (Internet Superheroes), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
2012 The Fifth Wall, The Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
Artifact /Artifice, Site-specific installation at the SAIC Film & Video Festival, Chicago, IL
Life is But a Dream, The Leroy Neiman Center, Chicago, IL
Psychopomp Productions, Psychopomp Productions, Chicago, IL
This Magik Moment, Oxbow School of Art & Artist Residency, Saugatuck, MI
Homecoming, The Nightingale Independent Cinema, Chicago, IL
Prescribed Meanings, Casa Duno, 2nd Floor Rear Itinerate Arts Festival, Chicago, IL
All You Can Eat, Tom Robinson Gallery, Chicago, IL
2011 Baring Investigation, Parallax Gallery, Chicago, IL
Brilliance, The Project Space, SAIC Film & Video Festival, Chicago, IL
Object Relations, ExTV & Flaxman Library, Chicago, IL (w/online component)
CANTV Spring Series, ExTV & Chicago Public Access Television, Chicago, IL
2010 The Rain-Makers, Abandoned Practices Summer Institute, Chicago, IL
2009 Axiom: Growth Spurt, Axiom Gallery, organized by Public Acts of Art, Atlanta, GA

Authored Publications

2021 “In The Studio: Joiri Minaya,” Art21, New York City, New York (online)
“Floral Facades,” AICA-USA (Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art) Magazine, New York City, New York (online)
2020 Old Future’s Almanac, Flatland, Chicago, IL (print)
2019 “Mounting the Horizon,” Collaborative Center for Storm Space and Seismic Research (online) 2018 “In Search of a Recuperative Aesthetics,” Art &
Education Classroom, e-flux, New York City, New York (online)
“Learning to Live Together,” Temporary Art Review; compiled in From New Institutionalism to
New Constitutions, Academy of Art & Design, Basel
2017 “Twelve Books, One Long Zoom,” The Photobook Review, Aperture Magazine, New York
“The World Outside The World Outside Our World,” For the Undersphere: Lindsey French and Rosalynn Gingerich (exhibition catalog), The SUB-MISSION,
Chicago, IL
2016 “Holding Up the Sky: Art-Science Approaches to an Aero-dialogue,” Translation as Method, Kunstlicht, Vol. 37, 2016, no. 2, University of Amsterdam,
Netherlands
“Future Reliquaries: Outposts,” The 3D Additivist Cookbook, Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
2015 "Ethics, Ecology, and the Future: Art and Design Face the Anthropocene" published in Leonardo Journal, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA; reprinted in MU TXT
for the program Weather or Not at MU Art Space, Eindhoven, Netherlands
“Writing Down Whatever Comes to Mind,” atleastitried.org (online exhibition catalog) on the occasion of the exhibition "at least i tried" by The Stolbun
Collection, Chicago, IL
"Animism: Curating Discourse," The Royal College of Art, compendium for the International Awards in Art Criticism (IAAC) competition (top 10 English
language entries), London, UK
2014 “Object Intermediaries: How New Media Artists Translate the Language of Things” published in Leonardo Journal, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

Conferences + Symposia

2017 “The Only Thing Worth Starting, The End of the World, For Heaven’s Sake!: Environmental Apocalypse through the lens of Black Quantum Futurism and
Queer Futurity” presented at The Ark Center for Interdisciplinary Experimentation, Les Laboratories d’Aubervillers, Paris 
2016 "Ethics, Ecology, and the Future: Art and Design Face the Anthropocene" Visiting Critic Lecture for Studium Generale, Gerrit Rietveld Academie,
Amsterdam, NL
“Minor F.luxuations: An informal guided meditation on circadian rhythms, artificial light, and the infinitely liminal space between sleep and wake” w/ Chris
Collins, Color + H Symposium, Tritriangle, Chicago, IL
“SetOutputWorld” REvolution, International Society of Electronic Arts (ISEA) New Media Festival, Hong Kong (could not attend)
2015 “Artifacts on the Loose” (Performance Lecture), Reconfiguring Human and Non-Human: Texts, Images and Beyond, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
"Ethics, Ecology, and the Future: Art and Design Face the Anthropocene,” Media(ting) Art and Human Experience, SIGGRAPH 2015, the 42st International
Conference & Exhibition on Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques, Los Angeles, CA
"Doing Philosophy: Art as Ethical Testing Ground for the Anthropocene,” Transformative Makers, Approaching the Anthropocene: Perspectives from the
Humanities and Fine Arts, University of California, Santa Barbara Interdisciplinary Humanities Center
"Doing Philosophy: Art as Ethical Testing Ground for the Anthropocene,” Repositioning the Social at the Heart of the Anthropocene, University of Canterbury,
Kent, UK (could not attend)
“Writing Down Whatever Comes to Mind: Thoughts on ‘at least i tried’ by Rafaël Rozendaal” presented at at least i tried opening panel, School of the Art
Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL
“Reading Zephyr: A Performative Decoding through Reverse Image Search,” The Dissemination of Blind Light, Chicago Artists’ Coalition, Chicago, IL 
2014 “Object Intermediaries: How New Media Artists Translate the Language of Things,” Embodiment, Affect, Translation, SIGGRAPH 2014, Vancouver, Canada
BC“
Art Beyond Anthropocentrism: Artifacts on the Loose and Models for an Object-Oriented Worldview,” Liminally Human, Subjectivity², Annual Symposium on
Visual & Critical Studies, Chicago, IL (SAIC).

Curatorial Projects

2017 The Short Forever (with Phoebe Chin, Andrew Yang, and Jeremy Bolen), Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, IL
The Body is Merely the Apparition of a Framework (with John Stevens), Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, IL
98% Air: Symbolic Limits of the Natural and Artificial, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, IL
Exercises in Receptivity: Solar Works, Social Solar Rooftop Space, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Post/Natural: The Anthropocene and Artists’ Publishing, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, IL
2016 Code/Switch, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Interstice, Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL
2015 Bibliodérive, John M. Flaxman Library of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL
2014 Vi-trine: Work-in-Progress of the Hans-Ulrich Obrist Archive, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, IL
Dispersions: Point d’ironie and the Hans-Ulrich Obrist Archive, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, IL
2013 [History] Under Construction, Gallery X, Chicago, IL
Freeze Frame: Artists’ Books and the Moving Image, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, IL

Professional Experience

Teaching Artist, Chicago Arts Partnership In Education (CAPE), Chicago, IL May 2021 - Present
-Develops arts-integrated curriculum for public school students in collaboration with CPS teachers. Courses: North-Grand High School - The Art of Gardening: Food Sovereignty & Healing with Plants, Chicago Art Immersion, Intro to Drawing, Media Art & Storytelling; Everett Elementary - STEAM, Art and Empathy; Waters Elementary - Art in the Garden.

Instructor, Department of Adult Continuing Studies & Early College Program, SAIC, Chicago, IL Oct 2022 - Present
-Courses: Digital Design: Adobe Illustrator, Ecological Art: Materials and Methods.

Instructor, Northern Illinois University, Department of Time Arts, DeKalb, IL Jan 2022 - Present
-Course: Intermedia Arts ARTD 446 Studies in Combining Multiple Electronic Media, Undergraduate, Freshman to Senior. Covers history, theory, and practice pertaining to sound, video, 3D animation, media performance, art games and virtual reality.

Teacher, Eco-Explorers, Chicago Parks District, Chicago, IL Jun 2021 - Aug 2021 (Seasonal)
-Developed and led a nature-based curriculum for ages 5 - 12, with an attention to the intersections of scientific research, cultural understandings of nature, and hands-on exploration.

Teaching Assistant, Northwestern University, Department of Art, Theory, and Practice September 2019 - June 2020
-Assisted with twice-weekly instruction including: creating thematic presentations, delivering technical demos, facilitating class discussion, providing feedback on student work, and grading.
-Courses assisted: Intro to Time Based Art, Professor: Jeanne Dunning; Critical Methods for Contemporary Art, Professor: Steve Reinke; Introduction to Sculpture (on Zoom), Professor: Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle.

Manager of Special Collections, John M. Flaxman Library (SAIC), Chicago, IL 2014 April - 2018 May
-Headed year-round exhibition and events program aimed at providing curatorial and exhibition opportunities to students and emerging local artists/curators
-Provided project advising and research assistants for students, faculty, and patrons outside of the institution 
-Served as liaison for the departments of Visual & Critical Studies, Fiber & Material Studies, Performance, and Sculpture
-Participated in and supported the curatorial, instructional, access, and preservation functions of the Flaxman Library’s Special Collections program
-Assists in all aspects of collections management and daily operations, including management of facilities and collections (physical and digital) and interactions with students, faculty, staff, and the public.
-Managed a staff of 10-15 student employees and volunteers.
[Previous position, Special Collections Assistant, January 2011 to April 2014]

Visiting Tutor, MA Art Praxis program, Dutch Art Institute, Arnhem, Netherlands 2016 March
-Led one week session of the seminar “Open! CO-OP Academy Publishing Class: Between Animals or Beyond Being Human” and conducted face-to-face meetings with students. Invited by Jorinde Seijdel.

Collections Management and Archivist, Threewalls, Chicago, IL 2014 January - July
-Headed organizational and maintenance efforts for the gallery’s archive
-Developed policy for maintaining and accessing the archive to be used for future archive development
-Later oversaw transfer of the archive to a permanent home after gallery closure (2016)

Teaching Assistant, Department of Contemporary Practices (SAIC) 2014 January - May
-Led weekly tutorials on video production and sound editing for students with no prior experience
-Lectured and facilitated class discussions on contemporary video, sound, and performance art in relation to assignments
-Held regular one-on-one meetings with students to discuss project goals, conceptual and technical development, concerns and broader curricular goals at SAIC

Project Advisor, Publication Clinics, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Flaxman Library April 2014 - May 2018
-Conducted weekly project-advising sessions for students and faculty creating publication-based projects. Guided participants through brainstorming, research, and formal development.

Career Advisor, Expert Exchange, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Career Services September 2016 - November 2018
-Met with graduate and undergraduate students to review professional materials (CVs, cover letters, portfolios) and provide guidance on preparing for graduation / professional life.

Portfolio Review Panelist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Student Union Galleries April 2014 - May 2016
-Met with graduate and undergraduate students to workshop portfolios and exhibition proposals.

Critique Panelist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago September 2015 - May 2018
-Provided students with feedback and advice on final projects in conversation with other faculty.
-Graduate Final Critiques, Interdisciplinary (All Departments) MFA + MA Visual and Critical Studies; Individual courses: Electronic Publication Studio (Grad+Undergrad), Visual Communication Design Studio: Truth, Perception, and Storytelling (Graduate), Photography Studio: Structuring, Sequencing, Series (Grad+Undergrad), Research Studio, and Core Studio (Undergraduate).

Professional Service

2017 Program Committee Member and Juror for Visual Art Exhibition, IEEE Vis Arts Program, VISAP 2017, Phoenix, AZ
2016 Peer Reviewer, Leonardo: The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology, MIT Press
Program Committee Member and Juror for Visual Art Exhibition, IEEE Vis Arts Program, VISAP 2016, Baltimore, MD
Primary Jury Member, Art Papers Committee, SIGGRAPH 2016, Anaheim, CA
Exhibition Juror, Code/Switch, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
2014 Primary Jury Member, Student Publication Grant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL