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Project Collaborator

Marc Downie

Lecturer in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, Media Arts and Design, and the College University of Chicago

Biography

Marc Downie is a Scottish-born digital artist. His pioneering approach to digital art combines three signature elements: non-photorealistic computational imagery; the incorporation of body movement by motion-capture and other means; and the autonomy of artworks directed by artificial intelligence. Over the last decade his studio, OpenEndedGroup, has worked in the broadest variety of contexts: making art for façade, gallery, dance, cinema and VR. His collaborative works respond to an ever-expanding range of materials — drawing, film, motion capture, photography, music, and architecture. In the field of dance, Downie has worked closely with Merce Cunningham, Bill T. Jones, Trisha Brown and Wayne McGregor. His public artworks include outdoor projections and performances in spaces ranging from York Minster Cathedral to Barclays Center Brooklyn. OpenEndedGroup has presented work at Lincoln Center, MoMA, Hayward Gallery, ICA Boston, Sadler’s Wells, Festival d’Automne, Detroit Institute of Art, SITE Santa Fe, the film festivals of Sundance, New York, Rome, Berlin and many others. Downie has had residencies in museums, schools and research institutions including the Gardner Museum, the University of Chicago, IRCAM, Stanford, ZKM, Le Fresnoy, the University of Michigan and EMPAC.

Featured Project

Untidy Objects

2023 – 2025

Projects

Climate Games: Transforming Middle School STEM Education through Transmedia Play

Climate Games: Transforming Middle School STEM Education through Transmedia Play

This project created and evaluated an “Alternate Reality Game” that engaged seventh-grade students from three Chicago schools in a curriculum about climate change and environmental science.

This project used techniques of gaming, mixed reality performance, and networked media culture to create and evaluate an intervention that engaged middle school students in a curriculum about climate change, environmental science, and twenty-first-century skills. This intervention took the form...