Field Trip / Field Notes / Field Guide
A three-year pilot program launched in 2015 by the Arts, Science + Culture Initiative, Field Trip / Field Notes / Field Guide was conceived as a way to build an interdisciplinary community that engaged with Chicago's vibrant urban environment. A trans-disciplinary consortium of Fellows from the University of Chicago (UChicago), the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), and Northwestern University, used the city as a unique platform for exchange and connection across disciplinary and institutional boundaries.
The consortium provided an open framework for graduate students and recent alumni to explore and digest the city as a collective body while outlining the unique perspectives and methodologies of their disciplinary studies. Counted among the three cohorts were visual artists, musicians, art historians, anthropologists, architects, and one evolutionary biologist. The consortium augmented the institutional support offered to MFA alumni and PhD candidates as they pursued their research “in the field,” asking that they consider sharing, communicating, and formulating their work within the context of an interdisciplinary community.
The Field Notes Fellows participated in a self-initiated series of expeditions, readings, meals, and discussions. Their activities provoked unexpected exchanges, built collegial relationships, and allowed for unique encounters that would not typically occur within a university setting. The field guide produced by each cohort presents the Fellows' research over the course of the year, highlighting and examining their distinctive approaches to research and practice while working “in the field.” Each guide in its entirety may be accessed on the Arts, Science + Culture Initiative’s website. In addition to the integral efforts of our own staff, specifically Naomi Blumberg, Assistant Director, and Marissa Lee Benedict, former Program Coordinator, as well as the many people around the city who opened up their places of work and research to our Fellows, we thank the following partners for their vision and commitment to this program:
Affiliated institutional representatives and administrators:
University of Chicago (UChicago)
Julie Marie Lemon, Program Director and Curator, Arts, Science + Culture Initiative
Naomi Blumberg, Assistant Director, Arts, Science + Culture Initiative
The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
Lisa Yun Lee, Director (former), School of Art & Art History
Beate Geissler, Artist and Associate Professor, Department of Art
Dan Peterman, Artist and Professor, Department of Art
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
Douglas Pancoast, Director, Earl & Brenda Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration, and Professor of Architecture
Jaclyn Jacunski, Research Associate, Earl & Brenda Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration
Northwestern University
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Artist and Professor, Art, Theory & Practice
Matt Martin, Program Assistant, Art, Theory, and Practice
2015–16 Fellows
2016–17 Fellows
2017–18 Fellows