Student profile
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Kristen Lewis
Kristen Lewis (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the department of Art History at Concordia University and holds an MA in Philosophy (Concordia) and BA in Philosophy and Religious Studies (Memorial University). Supported by a SSHRC CGS Doctoral Scholarship, her doctoral research interrogates the politics of spectator participation in contemporary art, focusing on how data-driven interactive and immersive technologies challenge the capacity spectators have to refuse participation.
Kristen has published in Esse Magazine, written on MUTEK and research-creation for the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology, and is an editor for Acta Universitatis Carolinae Interpretationes Studia Philosophica Europeanea. She is an active member of the Art History and arts communities in Montreal, serving as the general coordinator for the art history graduate student symposium Hypotheses, PhD Representative for the Doc-Inter Student Committee, PhD representative for the Art History Graduate Student Association, and is a member of the Feminist Media Studio.
Working Thesis Title: Challenging Hyper-Participation: Interrogating Tactics of Artistic Non-Participation
Supervisor: Dr. Kristina Huneault
Research Interests:
- Participatory Art
- Interactive Art
- New Media Art
- Art and Technology
- Art and Philosophy
- Aesthetics
Teaching:
- ARTH 353: Contemporary Art and Technology, Winter 2025
Teaching Assistantships:
- 2023 ARTH 200 – Perspectives of Art History (Teaching Assistant, Concordia)
- 2022 ARTH 300 – Art Historical Methods (Teaching Assistant, Concordia)
- 2021-2022 ARTH 200 – Perspectives of Art History (Teaching Assistant, Concordia)
- 2021 PHIL 210 EC – Critical Thinking (Teaching Assistant, Concordia)
Research Assistantships:
- 2024 Milieux Institute Writing Pod, Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology, Research Assistant (PI: Bart Simon)
- 2022 Explorations in Sensory Design, Centre for Sensory Studies, Research Assistant (PI: David Howse)
Conferences, Exhibitions and Publications:
- 2024 “The Limits of Participation: Art and the Politics of Spectatorship.” Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC). (Session Co-Chair).
- 2024 “Analyzing Artistic Techniques of Invisibility to Reconsider Public Participation in the Digital Expository Society.” EASST-4S Amsterdam: Making and Doing Transformations. (Conference Presentation).
- 2024 Frequency for Nausea, interactive sound and experimental movement performance, Embodied Interventions: The Tentacular Inquiry of Performance. Montreal, Quebec.
- 2024 “Somatic Co-Attunement: A Workshop on Collectively Listening to the Body.” philoSOPHIA: A Society for Continental Feminism, Making, Doing, Sensing. (Conference Workshop).
- 2023 “On Desiring Interactivity” Digital Intimacies: Concordia’s DIGS and Feminist Media Studio Research-Creation Residency Exhibition. (Public Lecture/Interactive Workshop).
- 2023 “Roundtable Talk on Research Creation and Intimacy.” Digital Intimacies: Concordia’s DIGS and Feminist Media Studio Research-Creation Residency Exhibition. (Panel Discussion).
- 2023 “Overwhelmed and Alienated? The Comparative Impacts of AR and VR on Museum Publics.” Uncommon Senses IV. (Conference Presentation).
- 2023 “Refusing Resilience.” Esse Magazine, Issue 10: Resilience, Spring Summer 23’.
- 2023 “AI at MUTEK Forum: Centralizing Infrastructure and Impact.” Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology
- 2023 “Mess and Method: A Reflection.” Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology.
- 2023 “Embodied Interventions.” Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology.
- 2023 Sonic Reticulum, four-channel interactive sound installation, Digital Intimacies: Concordia’s DIGS and Feminist Media Studio Research-Creation Residency Exhibition (Group Exhibition).