Backslash Grants

Backslash Artists receive an $8,000 grant along with faculty consultation to deepen the technological considerations of their work. This faculty partner receives $2,000 to fund students to collaborate with and further engage the artist. In addition to producing their artwork, Backslash Artists may exhibit their work on campus, guest speak in classes, or participate in campus events.

As recipient of a Backslash Grant, the artist receives:

Appointment
The artist receives a one-year Visiting Artist academic appointment at Cornell Tech, beginning September 2025 with the start of the 2025–26 academic year. Note that this appointment recognizes the artist themself and is thus an individual appointment at Cornell, not a contractual agreement with the artist’s studio.

Honorarium
The artist receives an $8,000 stipend in recognition of their commitment to pursue a new collaborative work engaging contemporary technology.

Faculty home
The artist receives several hours of remote or in-person consultation from a relevant faculty member and their research team.

Student Support
Backslash provides up to $2,000 support for PhD and Masters students who are committed to working with the artist on the work.

Campus access
The artist has badged access to campus for the term of the appointment, making it easy to meet with faculty, attend events, or just hang out on campus.

Technology Areas

Cornell Tech 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!

Each year, different faculty from varying technology areas volunteer to work with Backlsash Artists. Collaborations in these inspiring areas can result in exceptional work that is not possible through the use of generally available software or software developers the artist could contract on their own.

The 2025 technology areas are:

Computational fabrication and human computer interaction
We build interfaces to support the development of custom hardware through computational fabrication. Examples include design tools (CAD), hardware debugging tools, documentation tools for craft workflows, and more. We are also interested in AI for accessibility, thus far mostly explored in the domain of speech accessibility. We take a tool-oriented perspective where we end up building technology to support people with disabilities instead of just studying the community.
Thijs Roumen. www.matteroftechlab.org

Virtual and augmented reality
The XR Collaboratory accelerates activities in augmented and virtual reality at Cornell Tech through course offerings, projects, and cross-campus collaborations. Our primary interests are in 3D user interfaces and interaction design for head-mounted displays. We build high-fidelity prototypes with our students through projects and coursework, and collaborate with Cornell faculty on exploratory AR/VR-related research.
Harald Haraldsson. https://xr.cornell.edu/collaboratory

Robotics and human-robot interaction
This project aims to prototype robot embodiment designs (or robot forms) for healthcare facilities from low-cost materials. Embodiment refers to the form of the robot (e.g., humanoid, animal, or non-anthropomorphic forms). The healthcare facilities explored in this work include emergency room settings, sleep clinics, and long-term healthcare facilities (e.g., Coler Rehabilitation Center). This project builds on the outputs of a 3-month-long workshop focused on building new robots well-suited to and for users in these settings.
Angelique Taylor. https://airlab.cis.cornell.edu/

Computer vision and generative AI
One of my focus areas is generative techniques, particularly in creating controllable visual models, both in 2D and 3D. I think it nicely connects to creative applications in the real-world, and am looking forward to exploring this with an artist.
Hadar Elor. https://www.hadarelor.com/

Urban data science and spatial analysis
We use computational and theoretical methods to study how urban resources are allocated. Our goal is to foster more equitable city policies. Current work includes modeling population flows, resident engagement in crowdsourcing, and geographic disparities in school access. We seek an artist exploring space, cartography, and urbanity–thinking about how urban systems are visualized, and reflecting on what spatial data shows, what it obscures, and how spatial tools shape understanding and policy.
Nikhil Garg. https://gargnikhil.com

Artist Responsibilities

Show the work
Translating research to impact is central to Cornell Tech’s ethos. A goal of this award is to make a work the artist is excited to show, that makes a difference to their practice, and that is a contribution to the field. Backslash will help to show the work on Cornell Tech’s campus, if possible. 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
Backslash Artists must engage students at least once during their tenure. Backslash staff can help facilitate these opportunities. This could include:

• speaking at a class or independent lecture on campus
• exhibiting work on campus
• attending/participating in a campus event

Assist with documentation
The artist will document their work for the Backslash website.

Be backslash
This grant 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.