Backslash Fellowship

The Backslash Fellowship is a $50,000 fellowship that supports an established, practicing artist to create a significant new work of art that engages bleeding-edge digital research and technology. This fellowship provides sustained teamwork with a committed, technical PhD collaborator to enable deep exploration of new artistic forms, expressions and features, and inspire lasting transformation of the artist’s practice.

Backslash defines established artists as those who have developed a sustained professional practice and achieved institutional recognition, including exhibitions at major venues, significant grants or fellowships, published critical coverage, and a distinct, developed approach to their practice.

As recipient of the Backslash Fellowship, the artist is awarded:

Appointment
The artist receives a one-year Visiting Fellow appointment at Cornell Tech, beginning in September at the start of the academic year. Note that this fellowship recognizes the artist themself and is an individual appointment at Cornell, not a contractual agreement with the artist’s studio.

Stipend
The artist receives a $20,000 stipend in recognition of their commitment to pursue a new collaborative work engaging contemporary technology.

Project materials
Backslash provides $20,000 for project materials.

Studio space
The artist receives studio space on campus for the academic year.

Collaborator support
Backslash provides $10,000 to a dedicated, technical PhD or faculty collaborator to provide sustained contributions to the Fellow’s project (see “Technology Activities” below). This deep collaboration is designed to greatly advance the artist's technical agency, creating a lasting impact on the artist's practice and modes of making. In addition to working with this primary collaborator, Fellows may also engage other students or faculty if additional opportunities arise organically.

Campus Access

The artist receives badged campus access for the duration of the appointment.

Technology Activities

Cornell Tech students and faculty are passionate about making an impact, both on campus and in the world beyond. They have a vision for the power of technology and are motivated by the opportunity to conduct innovative research and co-create with leading academics, entrepreneurs, industry experts, students, and artists!

Backslash prioritizes artists taking nonlinear, unconventional, and exceptional approaches towards emerging tech. Submit a 2-4 page proposal for a new artworkEngaging with the research activities listed below as mediums, what novel opportunities could adapting, hacking, or repurposing these technologies present for your practice? How might working alongside an expert in this field expand, challenge, or transform what you’re able to make?

Note that Backslash will schedule a conversation between the artist and their proposed collaborator prior to acceptance into the program. This is to ensure that the collaborator’s technical capabilities align with the artist’s needs. If both parties confirm a strong fit, the artist will move forward in the review process.

• Computational/Digital Fabrication and Accessibility. At the Matter of Techlab we are interested in making computational fabrication (think 3D printing, laser cutting, etc) accessible and relevant for the broad public, to this end we build interfaces, machines, and workflows. A topic of special interest to the lab is assistive technology, helping people with disabilities interact with the world around them. http://www.matteroftechlab.org/
• Public Interaction with Autonomous Systems, Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction. The Interaction Research Lab studies interaction with automated systems, such as robots and autonomous cars. Our research is very empirical; they have a good deal of virtual and augmented reality simulation tools and facilities. https://irl.tech.cornell.edu/team/wendy/
• Computer Vision, Computer Graphics. Our research focuses on controllable generation, illustrating how various forms of control can enable creative visual outputs, including 2D images and 3D assets. https://www.hadarelor.com/
• AI: algorithmic fairness and statistics. Our research focuses on bridging AI, decision making and economics. www.nathankallus.com
• Urban Planning, AI: Algorithmic Fairness. Our research applies computational methods (like ML) to complex policy problems (most recently, environmental regulation and emergency management). This work has concrete impacts on cities (specifically, NYC), such as improved decision-making for extreme heat emergencies and using AI to provide guidance on public benefits. We also develop better methods for conducting data-adaptive experiments. https://jennahgosciak.github.io/
• AI: interpretability and human-AI interfaces. Our research studies how to extract interpretable concepts from large language models to help build human understanding of the world. We’ve found it fascinating that in the remarkable complexity of language models, there is hidden structure. An application of this work has been to build new ways for humans to “browse” huge collections of information via interpretable “trails.” We have built a demo using data from the social media site Bluesky. https://kennypeng.me/

Artist Responsibilities

Collaborate with the designated collaborator
The artist will meet with their collaborator when on campus, and communicate with them when off campus, to further develop their proposal, make plans, coordinate schedules, research and experiment, prototype technologies, and create the artwork. Backslash staff will help coordinate these activities, including a kickoff meeting to share best practices for art+tech collaborations.

Show the work
Translating research to impact is central to Cornell Tech’s ethos. A goal of this collaboration is to make a significant work the artist is excited to show, that makes a difference to their practice, and that is a contribution to the field. Backslash can help to show the work on Cornell Tech’s campus. In addition, the artist should arrange to show the work through their own channels, e.g., at an upcoming show, in response to a biennial invitation, etc. It may also be possible for Backslash to help arrange or coordinate opportunities.

Engage with the campus
Over the course of the academic year, the artist is expected to spend at least one month on Cornell Tech’s campus. In addition to collaborating with their partner, the artist should participate in academic programs as appropriate and contribute to the art and culture of Cornell Tech. This may include giving at least one campus talk presenting the results of the collaboration, guest lecturing in a course or seminar series, organizing an artist panel on an emerging area of art, etc. Backslash staff can help facilitate these opportunities.

Documentation and communication
The artist will document their work for the Backslash website and pursue other channels to share and discuss the work.

Be backslash
This fellowship should represent something new, nonlinear, unconventional, unexpected, adventurous, intense, questionable – for the artist’s practice, for the field – any or all these are symptoms of being backslash.