Artists in Research
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Laura Splan
Artist in Research resident
September 2025 - April 2026
RESIDENCY ARCHIVE
An online public conversation with Laura Splan and Open Fung
Hosted by Open Fung
WATCH THE RECORDING ONLINE
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
1:00 – 2:15 PM PT / 4:00 – 5:15 PM ET
On May 20, 2026, Laura Splan gave an online artist talk followed by conversation and Q&A with Open Fung co-founders Courtney Fink, Rachel Linzer, Rolando Perez and Phil Ross.
Laura Splan was the inaugural resident of Open Fung's Artist-in-Research program, a collaboration that brings artists into sustained dialogue with Open Fung scientists, not to illustrate their work, but to genuinely explore alongside it. Over eight months, Splan followed her curiosity deep into Open Fung's research world - from fungal inks to speculative ideas about fungal computing - sitting with questions that are still opening up.
This event was an invitation to hear where that process took her: what it revealed, what it changed, and what it left her wanting to know more about. It's a conversation about the edges of knowledge, and what art and science can find there together.
About Laura SPLAN
Laura Splan is a New York City based artist working at the intersections of Science, Technology, and Culture. Her research-based studio practice and interdisciplinary collaborations culminate in multimedia exhibitions and events. With an approach grounded in what she calls the “tactical tactile”, her work cultivates intuitive comprehension of the interconnectedness of cultural and biological systems. Recent projects have included immersive multisensory experiences, interactive installations, networked devices, participatory sculptures, and intimately scaled objects. These wide-ranging formats explore possibilities for understanding complexity through curiosity, wonder, and play. By reframing artifacts of the posthuman landscape with embodied encounters, Splan’s artworks reveal the “GUI/gooey” or liminal technological interfaces that mediate our relationship to nature. Her companion lectures and workshops unpack concepts and themes in her work—such as A.I., invisible labor, and genetic engineering—while providing insight into laboratory techniques, specialized software, and experimental methods used in her studio.
Splan’s internationally recognized artworks and exhibitions have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Brooklyn Museum (NYC), Musea Brugge (Bruges), Museum of Arts & Design (NYC), Santa Mònica Art Centre (Barcelona), Nantes Museum of Arts (Nantes), SÍM (Reykjavík), Galerie FOFA (Montréal), and The Nobel Prize Museum at Liljevalchs (Stockholm). Her work is represented in the collections of the Spalter Digital Art Collection, Thoma Art Foundation, and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Commissions include projects for the Museum of the Moving Image, CDC Foundation, Vanderbilt Planetarium, Beall Center for Art+Technology Black Box Projects, and Bruges Triennial. Her artist lectures and talks have been presented by The National Arts Club, Frontiers of Science Institute, University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, and Coalesce Center for Biological Arts. Publications featuring her artwork include “The Routledge Companion to Biology in Art & Architecture” and "Life Eternal" published by The Nobel Prize Museum. Reviews and articles including her work have appeared in The New York Times, Nature, Wired, BOMB, Discover, and Frieze and she has been featured on Science Friday and Voice of America. Her research has been supported by the Simons Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Creative Australia, EY Metaverse Lab, and NEW INC at the New Museum. Her contributions to contemporary art have garnered awards including the Herringer Prize for Excellence in Art, Wave Farm’s Media Arts Assistance Fund for Artists Grant, and AS220’s National Endowment for the Arts Digital Arts Fellowship.
Learn more about Laura at laurasplan.com