CV
ABOUT
Maria Magdalena Maciak is an intermedia artist, educator, and an international media producer. She teaches Decolonization and Cinema, and Producing the Documentary at Montclair State University, and 50 Days of Making at NYU’s IMA graduate program.
Maria’s art and research explore the fault lines between technology, ecology, and society. Her multidisciplinary approaches posit animistic perspectives as necessary alternatives to anthropocentrism. The sci-fi scenarios of her work integrate interactive components, hybrid documentaries, and performances in assemblages that promote kinship with non-human persons.
As the Director of Media at the Ross Institute, Maria collaborated with educational institutions, artists, and scholars in China, Cuba, Egypt, Ghana, Japan, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, and across US. As producer/director, Maria created interactive educational apps, video programs and curricula. She headed social justice art projects and founded the Ross School Media Studies program, the first of its kind for K-12 students. Maria led audiovisual fieldwork in Mo’orea, French Polynesia, and the Solomon Islands, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution.
EMPLOYMENT
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
2024 - present
50 Days of Making, Interactive Media Arts Low Res graduate program, Tisch, Brooklyn, New York
MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY
2022 - present
Producing the Documentary, Media & Communications program, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey
Decolonizing Cinema, Media & Communications program, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey
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, New York.
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, business analysis, instructional design, UX/UI, software development, and user testing
Produced online interactive activities and assessments, collaboration tools, and over 200 video lessons
Oversaw course deployment, user testing, piloting with 80+ faculty, end-user support, and issue remediation
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA/EXPERIENTIAL PRODUCER
ROSS INSTITUTE FOR INNOVATION IN EDUCATION
2008 – 2016
East Hampton, NY
Directed projects ranging from interactive data visualizations to international video projects to design of 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
Led filming underwater and aboard a research vessel for a Smithsonian diving expedition to the Solomon Islands
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
Led design, development and implementation of interdisciplinary 5–12 Media Studies curriculum at the Ross School
Directed video content for multichannel installations and conference showcases for venues such as TED and the Vatican
Curated film festivals and international symposia at the Ross School; collaborated with Human Rights Watch, Hamptons Film Festival, and the Shinnecock Nation
FILMMAKER
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, PBS, the Asian & Arab Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Pollock-Krasner House.
ENGAGEMENTS & RESIDENCIES
2024. Find a Mound of Thick Hope! Sensory Unlearnings, installation/performance, in collaboration with the Research Mattress, Brooklyn, NY
2024 Catwalk Art Residency, in collaboration with the Research Mattress, Catskill, NY
2024 The School Of The Pluriverse: Humans But Not Only Residency, NOMASMETAFORAS Collective and the Autonomous Intercultural Indigenous University of the Indigenous Regional Council of Cauca—CRIC, Popayán, Cauca, Colombia
2023 KinderGarden, 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 Hole Society (Rituals,) 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 Hole Society (Process,) 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, presented at the New Museum, New York, NY
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