
From Merce Cunningham to Creative Computation: Media Artist Sarah Bennett-Davidson Shares Her Journey
Sarah Bennet-Davidson is a media-based artist in New Mexico. She is currently a graduate student here at The University of New Mexico, enrolled in the MFA program in Electronic Art & Technology, and has been taking vvvv classes with The NODE Institute since 2022. vvvvv is a visual-first live programming environment for the .NET ecosystems. Bennet-Davidson was a recipient of a Summer Season ’24 scholarship with the NODE Institute for the vvvv Intermediates classes. Its language, VL, combines metaphors known from dataflow, functional and object-oriented programming.
Bennet-Davidson is teaching Electronic Art to students and working at UNM ARTSLab, which focuses on art/tech research. She started out being interested in experimental dance and choreography. The concepts behind algorithmic body movements captivated her, and after she saw a pieced by Merce Cunningham called “Biped” (1999), at Lincoln Center in New York City, which sparked her interest in generative large-scale projects.
She said she is excited to be at UNM and has also recently been selected to participate this spring as an artist in a competitive collaborative lithography course at Tamarind Institute. There she will be collaborating with Tamarind printmakers-in-training to create three print editions and using vvvv to create imagery for it.
We are excited to see what Sarah Bennet-Davidson does next!
LEARN MORE about Electronic Art & Technology courses offered during the Spring 2025 semester by visiting https://art.unm.edu/
LEARN MORE about UNM ARTSLab by visiting https://artslab.unm.edu
Susan Deese-Roberts Outstanding Teaching Assistants of the Year Awards
Two graduate students here at the UNM Art Department are being honored with the Susan Deese-Roberts Outstanding Teaching Assistants of the Year Award!
Faculty Spotlight – Professor Gigi Yu: Continuing to bring Reggio Emilia model of Italy to UNM’s art education program
The UNM College of Fine Arts congratulates Dr. Gigi Schroeder Yu, Assistant Professor of Art Education in the Department of Art, on a remarkable series of scholarly accomplishments that highlight her leadership and expertise in the field of art education.
A Step into the Shadows: Ghost Sonata Haunts the Stage
The Student and Colonel’s Daughter are locked in a vice-grip, their hands glued to each other’s heads, rotating around, dipping and swirling, as it appears some great force has overtaken both. How can something be violent and tender? The Daughter is fighting something within that is about to burst out, and the Student is helping her keep it at bay. Eventually, the unknown force wins.