CV
ABOUT
Maria Maciak is an intermedia artist, filmmaker, and educator whose art and research explore the fault lines between technology, ecology, and society. Her multidisciplinary art posits animistic perspectives as necessary alternatives to anthropocentrism. The sci-fi scenarios of her work integrate interactive components and performances in assemblages that promote kinship with non-human persons.
Maria was the director of media at the Ross Institute where she founded the Ross School media studies program, and produced documentaries and interactive apps. She headed social justice art projects, transdisciplinary collaborations, and audiovisual fieldwork in expeditions with the Smithsonian Institution that included Mo’orea, French Polynesia, and the Solomon Islands.
Maria teaches Decolonization and Cinema awe well as Producing the Documentary at Montclair State University. She also teaches 50 Days of Making at NYU’s graduate program. She received her master’s degree in Interactive Media Arts from New York University.
EXHIBITIONS & PRESENTATIONS
2023 KinderGarden, worldbuilding, research, and design collective, supported by the Tisch Creative Research Grant and Tony Patrick’s Share Lab, exhibited at NYU Shanghai and the Shanghai International Design Festival
2023 Dog Star Galaxy & Goatman’s Requiem, performed at the EMBRACE INFINITE CIRCLE butoh workshop led by Atsushi Takenouchi, Pontedera, Italy
2023 Rituals: Hole Society, guest presenter, Urban Ecologies with Prof. Jamie Allen, NYU IMA Masters Program, Berlin
2023 ROBOTA (44°34'39.5"N 72°14'45.2"W), BIDEODROMO Experimental Film Festival, Bilbao, Italy; the Stockholm Film Festival’ the Future Vision Festival, Tokyo and Amsterdam
2022 Rain Falls Humbled We Go On, single-channel video haiku, Lights Out: A Group Video Exhibition, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, MD
2022 Process: Hole Society, guest artist, Urban Ecologies with Prof. Jamie Allen, NYU IMA Masters Program, Berlin
2021 Mama, Soil, and Spirit, interactive three-channel installation at NYU ITP, Brooklyn, NY
2021 Butoh Dance with a Rock, NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) online performance
2020 Cyborgian Rock, web-based chatbot, NYU ITP/IMA/Low Res Winter Show, featured on the Coding Train
2020 Robota, site-specific performance, Priscilla Heine Art Farm, Greensboro, VT
2016 Spiral (Evolution of Human Consciousness), interactive visualization, Visualized Conference in NY; Art of Networks, Northeastern University Network Science Institute; featured by Fast Company, collaboration with Santiago Ortiz
2014 Unmasking the Muse, panel participant with Laurie Anderson and Andrea Cote, Pollock-Krasner House, East Hampton, NY
2011 BOMB Live: Sharon Hayes & Lawrence Weiner, editor, New Museum, New York, NY
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
2024 - present
50 Days of Making, elective course, Interactive Media Arts master’s degree, New York University.
MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY
2022 - present
Producing the Documentary and Decolonizing Cinema, two courses developed and taught at Montclair State University, Media and Communications undergraduate program, Montclair, NJ.
FOUNDER
WAKAME MEDIA
2019 – Present
Founder of WAKAME MEDIA, an art intervention initiative countering anthropocentrism by dancing in entanglements across species, beings, and temporalities. Collaborations include Kin Mounds and The Research Mattress.
TEACHING ARTIST
OLA MEDIA LAB
2019 – 2020
Developed OLA Media Lab, with Organización Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island, providing digital arts workshops for Latinx youth. Presented at the Parrish Art Museum, the Sag Harbor Cinema, and the Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY.
DIRECTOR/PRODUCT LEAD
ROSS LEARNING SYSTEM
2016 – 2019
New York, NY
Headed creative development of an online content delivery and learning management platform for a K–12 curriculum, e-learning courses, and a suite of interactive tools designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration.
Directed teams working on content, video production, business analysis, instructional design, UX/UI, software development, and user testing
Produced online courses comprising interactive activities and assessments, collaboration tools, and over 200 video lessons
Oversaw all aspects of the online course delivery lifecycle including course deployment, user testing, piloting with 80+ faculty, end-user support, and issue remediation
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA
ROSS INSTITUTE
2008 – 2016
New York, NY
Directed projects ranging from interactive data visualizations and video installations to media studies curricula.
Produced the interactive Spiral visualization of the Evolution of Consciousness; premiered at Visualized Conference, featured by Fast Company, and Art of Networks at Northeastern University Network Science Institute
Created video content for e-learning, multichannel installations, and conference showcases for venues such as TED and the Vatican
Led documentary filming aboard a research vessel for a Smithsonian diving expedition to the Solomon Islands; where a new parasitic crab species was discovered; shot underwater footage of biodiversity of the archipelago
Collaborated with UC Berkeley Research Station in the design and implementation of an expedition to Moorea and Tetiaroa in support of Moorea Biocode and Moorea IDEA projects
Produced Project Circles web app, in collaboration with the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University; prototype presented at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
PRODUCER, CINEMATOGRAPHER, VIDEO EDITOR
INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT
2004 – 2011
Produced, directed, shot, and edited a variety of video projects including work for BOMB magazine, Robert Wilson Watermill Center, and films shown at the New Museum, Slamdance, PBS, the Asian & Arab Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Pollock-Krasner House.
DIRECTOR, MEDIA STUDIES PROGRAM
ROSS SCHOOL
2004 – 2009
East Hampton, NY
Founded the media studies program at Ross School.
Led design and implementation of interdisciplinary 5–12 Media Studies curriculum that focuses on critical analysis, activism, and ethical creative practice
Taught filmmaking and video art courses and interdisciplinary projects; oversaw faculty, guest lecturers, and artists in residence
Curated summer film programs and international symposia; led partnerships with Human Rights Watch, Native without a Nation Iraqi Refugee Arts, Hamptons Film Festival, and the Shinnecock Nation
Co-funded Spiral Pictures, an in-house documentary production unit; projects included Sonic Convergence with Quincy Jones
2019 Columbia Journalism Review: Students of Truth
EDUCATION
New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, MA in Interactive Media Arts
New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, BA in Film & Television