Visiting artists 2023–24

Art is essential. Art is consequential.

Stanford’s visiting artist programs encourage experimentation, exploration, and education in interdisciplinary arts research and practice. During the 2023–24 academic year, Stanford welcomes the following acclaimed artists for deep campus engagements:

Janani Balasubramanian, ‘12, practices across immersive media, conceptual art, and literary work and in long-term collaborations with scientists, inviting deeper connections with nonhuman worlds while nurturing social imagination for care, complexity, and play. Hosted by the Department of Electrical Engineering, the Stanford Compression Forum, the Physics Department, and the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, with funding from the Stanford Visiting Artist Fund in Honor of Roberta Bowman Denning.

Karina Gutiérrez, PhD ‘20, is a director, dramaturg, and scholar who considers theater a powerful space for social change and community mending, healing, and restoring. Hosted by the Department of Theater and Performance Studies.

R.O. Kwon is a nationally bestselling author with her first novel, The Incendiaries, named a best book of the year by over 40 publications and translated into seven languages. Kwon’s next novel, Exhibit, will be published in 2024. Hosted by the Creative Writing Program as part of the Stein Visiting Writers Program.

Sabelo Mlangeni is a South African photographer who captures the complex cultural identities found within contemporary South African society through intimate photographs that draw out the inherent beauty in the ordinary. Hosted by the Department of History in collaboration with the Center for African Studies with funding from the Stanford Visiting Artist Fund in Honor of Roberta Bowman Denning.

Isaiah Phillips is a hip-hop artist whose work focuses on coping with loss and striving for self-actualization as a black man in America. Hosted by the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity in collaboration with the Institute for Diversity in the Arts as part of the Mellon Arts Fellowship Program.

Rodrigo Reyes is a filmmaker who is deeply grounded in his immigrant identity, using striking imagery to portray the contradictory nature of our shared world while revealing the potential for transformative change. Hosted by the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity in collaboration with the Institute for Diversity in the Arts as part of the Mellon Arts Fellowship Program.

Sarah Rosalena has built a reputation for her seductive hybrid creations, which are rooted in indigenous cosmologies and are re-interpreted through such digital tools as machine learning, computer-sequenced weaving, and 3D printing. Hosted by the Office of the Vice President for the Arts, the Stanford Arts Institute, and the Institute for Human-Centered AI. 

Erika Chong Shuch is a choreographer, director, and performance maker whose work spans devised experimental performance and social practice and produces unexpected forms of audience engagement. Hosted by the Department of Theater and Performance Studies.

Arthur Sze is a poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of 11 books of poetry, including The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (2021); Sight Lines (2019), which won the National Book Award; and Compass Rose (2014), a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Hosted by the Creative Writing Program as part of the Mohr Visiting Poets Program.

Jenifer K Wofford is a San Francisco artist and educator whose work investigates hybridity, history, calamity, and global culture, often with a humorous bent. Hosted by the Department of Art and Art History as part of the Holt Visiting Artist Program.

Christine Wong Yap is a visual artist and social practitioner specializing in hyperlocal participatory research projects that gather and amplify grassroots perspectives on belonging, resilience, and mental well-being. Hosted by Residential Education and the Office of the Vice President for the Arts as part of the Neighborhood Visiting Artist Program.

Kim Ye is a Chinese American artist whose research-based practice engages gendered constructions around power and the entanglement between public space and private desire. Hosted by the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity in collaboration with the Institute for Diversity in the Arts as part of the Mellon Arts Fellowship Program.

Contact: T +1 (650) 736 4087 / stanfordarts [​at​] stanford.edu.

*Image above: Clockwise from top left: Janani Balasubramanian courtesy of Rowan Haber; Erika Chong Shuch courtesy of the artist; R.O. Kwon courtesy of the artist; Isaiah Phillips courtesy of Lauren Mari Dyer; Sarah Rosalena courtesy of Star Montana; Jenifer K Wofford courtesy of the artist; Christine Wong Yap courtesy of Nicholas Bruno and California College of the Arts; Kim Ye courtesy of the artist; Arthur Sze courtesy of Mariana Cook; Rodrigo Reyes courtesy of the artist; Sabelo Mlangeni courtesy of the artist and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris © Sabelo Mlangeni. Photograph: Ferrante Ferranti; Karina Gutiérrez courtesy of the artist.