Artist Fereshteh Toosi to be in residence Nov. 6-10, with talk planned Nov. 9

LAWRENCE — The Commons, in partnership with the Department of Visual Art and the Advanced Poetry Writing class, will host artist Fereshteh Toosi at the University of Kansas this month. Toosi’s work largely examines the relationships between humans and nature, and they utilize multiple media to create experiences for audiences.

Toosi designs experiences that pose questions and foster animistic connections through encounter, exchange and sensory inquiry. Their artwork involves documentary processes, oral history and archival research. Immersive performances are produced in conjunction with small sculptures, short films, installations, scores and poetry.

Toosi will give an artist talk at 6 p.m. Nov. 9 in the Forum at Marvin Hall.

During their residency, Toosi also will lead two workshops with students, through which students will create poems based on ecologically stimulating sites on the Lawrence campus. From their poems and site-specific experiences, they will generate audio-augmented reality with Toosi.

“The workshops will expand on our class’s ongoing exploration of poetry as a medium that situates our individual experiences within the larger communities of which we are a part,” said Megan Kaminski, associate professor of English. “Toosi's work offers opportunities to understand — as well as transform and re-vision — the ways we show up in the world and for each other. I’m so excited to see the work that comes out of the collaboration and for this opportunity for students to learn from an innovative and socially engaged artist and share their own creative research with the larger KU community.”

Once produced, the works generated by the class in collaboration with Toosi will be available for listening online, offering another way for campus visitors to experience the dynamism of KU’s campus.

Toosi recently earned a Knight New Work Award and a Miami Live Arts Lab Alliance residency. Their work, “Water Radio,” a series of contemplative canoe and kayak outings, was supported by The Ellies Creator Award.

Toosi is an assistant professor in the art and art history department of the College of Communication, Architecture and the Arts at Florida International University in Miami. Learn more about their work on their website and at Oil Ancestors.