On the dynamic stage of the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center in Miami Beach, camera lenses peer out like eyes, ready to stream virtuosic musicians performing their craft to audiences around the world. The campus’s Knight New Media Center has emerged as a beacon for artists and technologists alike, serving as a laboratory of innovation and artistic exploration.
Craig Webb, of Gehry Partners, the architect behind the space, calls the center “a place for artists to explore, requiring collaboration between visual artists and musicians.” The works created there are shining examples of what Knight Foundation has been investing in for years: art that integrates technology in ways that enhance human relationships.
Knight Foundation
“What these organizations have to do is understand how people consume visual information today,” says Philip Kennicott, chief art and architecture critic for The Washington Post. “More often than not, it’s not butts in seats, but rather eyes on phones, headphones in ears, and possibly hundreds of miles in between locations. Artists and arts leaders must adapt to this present and accelerating future.”
The foundation of a digital community is the same as that in real life: “Community means gathering together, that space of trust and exchange,” says Kelani Nichole, founder of the experimental media art space TRANSFER. Nichole’s organization, a Knight Foundation grantee, explores new formats for exhibition, collection, and appreciation of art that comes to you through the computer.
Knight grantees have been leading this charge for years, including Rhizome at the New Museum, which works to preserve online communities as part of the historical record. Makayla Bailey, Rhizome’s co-director, views online forums as a kind of art in their own right, rife with ephemera that offers clues to the mindset of the time.
Knight Foundation
“Everyone is a cultural producer,” she says. “We create access to legacy environments.” Rhizome immortalizes these unique online communities through digital art preservation, resulting in works that audiences can experience in perpetuity.
Another visionary is Lauren Lee McCarthy, a professor and co-director of the Social Software program at UCLA. McCarthy spent a decade building p5.js, an open-source coding language which allows users to easily create interactive drawings.
“We started with access and inclusion as the core ideas behind every decision in the tool,” McCarthy says. “It showed me that it’s possible to make a tool based on values we want to hold.” The p5.js language has since been adopted and taught throughout the New York City public school system.
Knight Foundation
“Art has the power to bring people together, whether in a physical space or through a digital platform,” says Jennifer Farah, director of arts at Knight Foundation. “We are committed to supporting projects that use technology to create meaningful connections and enrich human experiences.”
Knight is centered around community, and what community means today is different from what it meant ten or even five years ago. Through its investments in the arts, the foundation considers how technology and culture foster community—sometimes local and in person, sometimes online and global—and all the gray areas in between. The most interesting work happens in those gray areas, where technology can be used as a medium to unlock new experiences for both the creator and the audience.
