PLASMA speaker series brings cutting-edge guest artists, films to UB

The Department of Media Study’s PLASMA (Performances, Lectures and Screenings in Media Art) speaker series brings internationally celebrated artists and scholars to campus to discuss how innovations in media arts and technology are helping shape our culture, politics and industry.

PLASMA is taking place from 6–8:30 p.m. every Monday through May 6, both in person in 112 Center for the Arts, and on Zoom. The series presents a diverse lineup of guest speakers whose media work and interests range from documentary filmmakers and curators to sound experts, writers and beyond.

“The goal of PLASMA is to expose UB students and the Buffalo community to new and different forms of media arts by showcasing local, national and international artists, filmmakers, theorists and other kinds of makers that challenge us to think about media in expanded ways,” says Elia Vargas, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Media Study, College of Arts and Sciences, and organizer of PLASMA.

The series was also created to introduce students to the wide range of professional paths and approaches to media that are available to them. The emphasis in this series is on highlighting makers whose work offers models of practices that are distinct from the expertise represented in the Department of Media Study.

PLASMA also serves as a public platform for introducing faculty who are new to UB and work on various media disciplines, among them Jenson Leonard and Christine Marie, assistant teaching professors in the department. Leonard and Marie are among the nearly 100 new faculty members who joined the College of Arts and Sciences in fall of 2023.

“I’m looking forward to presenting at PLASMA because it affords me the chance to correspond with students and the wider UB community — not just as a professor, but as an artist out in the world,” says Leonard. “PLASMA presents a context that’s different from the classroom and allows me to show students my work, how I arrived at it and the strange, rewarding, nonlinear paths available to students, so long as they are willing to let their minds travel,” he adds.

Marie also offers a new faculty perspective on her participation in the PLASMA series. “I will deliver an intimate account of why I create work, what I’m curious about and the events that have shaped my work and career,” she explains. “I’m honored to present within a series of artists and thinkers I know and admire.

“I sat beside my students to hear the first speaker in the series, Kalpana Subramanian. While discussing her presentation afterwards, my student said: ‘It was so cool to hear her talk, I took her class a while ago and no idea she makes films like that; 10 of the 14 speakers have been my professors, I can’t wait to know more about their work.’

“This is what makes PLASMA great: established artists sharing with young artists inspiring creativity and discourse while building community,” Marie adds.

The full spring lineup includes over a dozen speakers. Those speaking after spring break are:

• March 25: Ceci Moss, director and chief curator, Mandeville Art Gallery, University of California San Diego.
• April 1: Jenson Leonard, assistant teaching professor, UB Department of Media Study.
• April 8: Anne Pasek, assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in Media, Culture, and the Environment, Trent University.
• April 15: TJ Demos, professor of history of art and visual culture, and director of the Center for Creative Ecologies, University of California Santa Cruz.
• April 22: 0rphan Drift co-founders Maggie Roberts and Ranu Mukherjee.
• April 29: Mark Shepard, associate professor, UB departments of Architecture and Media Study.
• May 6: Christine Marie, assistant teaching professor, UB Department of Media Study.

PLASMA is presented by the Department of Media Study and the College of Arts and Sciences; co-sponsors include the Department of Art, COALESCE: Center for Biological Art, the Digital Humanities Workshop and the Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art.

For more about PLASMA and the guest speakers, including information on Zoom presentations, visit the Department of Media Study’s website.