Collaborations with Artists

Artist-at-Large Program

Program Overview

Northwestern’s Artist-at-Large program is a unique opportunity to explore intersections between the interests of the artists and those of Northwestern Engineering faculty, with an emphasis on generative, open-ended inquiry. A key part of the project is based in providing artists with a “hall pass” that provides them access to the brain trust of Northwestern Engineering and resources across campus — putting them in direct contact with people whose work could be catalytic for their artistic practices. The extended timespan of the program allows artists and members of the Northwestern community to cultivate mutual relationships so that they might inspire each other’s thinking in unexpected ways.

Northwestern Engineering faculty have found the program to be particularly generative and rewarding for deepening consideration of ethical and long-term societal impacts of their work. Because artists ask different questions about social impacts and consequences—and use artistic media to provoke, reframe, and animate these inquiries — they can inspire new approaches for engineers to consider about what they make and put out into the world.

Dario Robleto: Artist-at-Large 2018-2023

In spring 2018, Northwestern Engineering and the Block Museum of Art hosted the artist Dario Robleto at Northwestern to launch a new Artist-at-Large Program, joining other activities organized by the McCormick School of Engineering as part of its ongoing Art + Engineering Initiatives.

Robleto, whose work is born out of cross-disciplinary research and collaboration, was uniquely positioned to serve as the initiative’s first artist. Over the last 20 years, Robleto’s work has explored the intersections of music, popular culture, language, storytelling, and the histories of science and war. He draws upon unconventional materials spanning from archival materials, to meteorite, to heartbeat recordings from the 19th century. A self-proclaimed “citizen-scientist,” Robleto pursues deep collaborations with experts across fields of inquiry spanning astrophysics, cardiology, glaciology, and neuroscience. He has even been an artist-in-residence at the SETI Institute.

Starting in spring of 2018 and continuing through spring 2023, Robleto embedded himself within Northwestern’s Chicago and Evanston campuses. Robleto attended courses, visited laboratories, and met regularly with faculty and students from across McCormick and beyond — including astrophysics, bioethics, cardiology, computer science, neurology, the Segal Design Institute, sound studies, and synthetic biology, among others.

Robleto named the “hall pass” as one of the most important parts of the experience for building long-term, mutually rewarding intellectual and creative relationships with faculty and students at Northwestern.

Read More About the Artist-at-Large Program

In winter 2023, the Block Museum, in conjunction with McCormick School of Engineering, exhibited The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto. In conjunction with the exhibition, Robleto facilitated numerous public conversations with the faculty and students he worked with during his time at Northwestern.

Read more about the exhibition: The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto

• The Art in Bringing Humanity to Science
  February 2023
  An in-depth interview with Robleto about his wide-ranging work to explore the ways that scientists and artists share an obsession with increasing the sensitivity of their observations.
• In new exhibition, Dario Robleto explores history of the human heart and cosmic boundaries of perception
  February 2023
  From understanding the pulses and brainwaves of the human body to receiving the faintest glimmers from the edge of the observable universe, artist Dario Robleto argues that it is the project of groundbreaking science to push the limits of perception.

Read additional coverage of Robleto’s work on campus on the Past Events page.