Backslash Interventions

Backslash is currently accepting artist proposals for the 2026 Backslash Interventions. The application deadline is May 8th.

Backslash Interventions are $11,000 grants that invite emerging and mid-career artists to transform an existing work and advance their technical agency by engaging emerging technologies. Artists join the Backslash community on campus, gaining access to Cornell Tech’s expertise, labs, campus resources, and organic collaboration with faculty and students. Artists receive an $8,000 stipend. In addition, Backslash provides up to $3,000 in funding to student collaborators to contribute to the artwork.

Interventions are designed as flexible opportunities for artists to advance their practices through engagement with cutting-edge research and resources available at Cornell Tech. The program is a part-time, collaborative engagement where artists can expand, challenge, or reshape existing projects by working with Cornell Tech’s academic community.

Backslash defines emerging and mid-career artists as those in the early stages of their professional practice, with limited exhibition history and minimal institutional recognition. They are typically in the process of developing a distinct artistic voice and have not yet received many significant grants, fellowships, or critical press coverage.

Grant Details

Appointment
The artist receives a one-year Visiting Artist academic appointment at Cornell Tech, beginning September 2026 with the start of the 2026–27 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.

Stipend
The artist receives an $8,000 stipend in recognition of their commitment to advance an artwork by engaging contemporary technology.

Student Support
Backslash provides PhD and Masters students with up to $3,000 to collaborate with the artist, should a collaboration opportunity organically arise. Lab tours and Backslash community events are scheduled throughout the year to facilitate connections between artists and potential student collaborators.

Campus Access
The artist receives badged campus access for the duration of the appointment, enabling use of Cornell Tech’s makerspace, labs, events, and community to actively develop their technical capacity and advance their work with contemporary technologies.

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. Engaging with the research activities listed below as a medium, submit a 1-3 page proposal on how you might use one or more of these Tech Activities to advance your work. What novel opportunities could adapting, hacking, or repurposing these technologies present for your practice? How might working alongside an expert in one or more of these fields expand, challenge, or transform what you’re able to make?

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• 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/

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• 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/

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• AI: algorithmic fairness and statistics. Our research focuses on bridging AI, decision making and economics. www.nathankallus.com

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• 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/

Artist Responsibilities

Show the work
Translating research to impact is central to Cornell Tech’s ethos. The goal of Backslash Interventions is to advance a significant work, resulting in an outcome that the artist is excited to show, while also making a lasting difference to the artist’s practice. Backslash will help to show the work on Cornell Tech’s campus for Open Studio. 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

Documentation
The artist will document their work for the Backslash website.

Be backslash
The artist’s artwork should be advanced in a way that represents something new, nonlinear, unconventional, unexpected, adventurous, intense, and/or questionable for the artist’s practice – any or all these are symptoms of being backslash.