News

On July 1, 2022, the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute announced a new programmatic structure to expand the center’s long-term commitment to the intersection of arts and research.

Troy NY—On July 1, 2022, EMPAC announced two Associate Director appointments to expand the center’s longtime commitment to the intersection of arts and research. These new appointments allow for the wide range of activities – including research and production residencies in arts, science, and engineering, workshops, presentations, and campus-wide events – to continue to fulfill and expand EMPAC’s mission as a major platform for arts and technology on the Rensselaer campus.

As part of the development of a “digital time-capsule”, a video capture of the CD-ROM makes the content fully accessible and allows to understand the design and interaction of the original media.

Q&A WITH MARTINE SYMS ON APRIL 30 | CLOSING NIGHT FILM | WORLD PREMIERE

The in-person premiere of Martine Syms’, The African Desperate, is premiering as the closing night film of MoMA and Lincoln Center’s New Directors New Films festival, with a Q&A with Martine Syms on April 30!

Congratulations to 2020 EMPAC Artists in Residence Cannupa Hanska Luger, Anna Craycroft, and Patricia Alessandrini on their 2022 Guggenheim Fellowships!

The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute seeks a curator with expertise in the area of music to join the curatorial team. EMPAC’s curators work within the context of contemporary production and performance practices, which include the integration of digital technology.

TROY, NY—EMPAC artist-in-residence Martine Syms’s new feature film The African Desperate, co-produced by The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, will premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 26, 2022.

TROY, NY—The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a $30,000 grant for the Center’s 2022 productions by Indian researcher and curator Nida Ghouse, American composers Bora Yoon and Miya Masaoka, and Taiwanese choreographer Su WenChi.

TROY, NY–New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA) has awarded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a three-year grant of $49,500 per year for iEAR Presents (Integrated Electronic Arts) and EMPAC (Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) as part of NYSCA’s support for the recovery of the nonprofit arts and culture sector. Following New York State’s $105 million investment in the arts for FY2022, NYSCA has awarded more than $80 million since June 2021. 

Please join us between November 15–19 for a variety of campus programs for Rensselaer’s Transgender Awareness Week organized by the LGBTQ+ Task Force.

In September Cannupa Hanska Luger, Ginger Dunhill, their two children 'Io Kahoku and Tsesa, and the EMPAC team filmed in various public locations around Troy, NY, for a newly-commissioned moving image work.

Bora Yoon narrates this short documentary about the EMPAC Wave Field Synthesis array presented by the TIME:SPANS contemporary music festival in New York City. She gives an overview of the technology, the four composers featured in the program, and her thoughts on creating a spatial sound work for the 256-channel speaker system.

Filmed, edited, and presented in 6K resolution by H. Paul Moon | Zen Violence Films.