Miah Artola

I work in New Media, short-form documentaries, and Fine Arts, with my paintings often incorporated into my interactive installations and films. I am on the faculty of The School of Visual Arts.

In creating interactive installations, I utilize MaxMSP, Jitter, and a software I co-created called APE (Audio Peak Etcher) that creates imagery and effects through audio amplitude and frequencies. I utilized APE and integrated it into my installations and performances, such as TheProblem of Memory, which was shown at Harvestworks, Landlinesat Pioneer Works, and The Man from Eritrea at EV Gallery. I originated and co-produced the monthly show "Ab Uno Pluribus” (2015 - 2020), which featured live projected visuals and new music. I also originated and currently produce a four-times-a-year production called Mixed Poeticsat Maysles Documentary Center, which explores documentaries through transmedia.

For the past six years, I have focused on a multi-platform project titled “…and also with you,” where I use various methodologies to create artworks based on the experiences of individual refugees and asylum seekers. For this project, I visited refugee shelters in New York, Texas, and Mexico. One result was a film and installation called Sky, for which I received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts and an Arts Corp grant.

Earlier projects include Far Away, a documentary on Nicaragua's history and poetry. I am of Nicaraguan descent and, before the 2018 uprising, visited often. I also created an installation of Far Away that focused on one poem, “The Drowned Horse” by Pablo Antonio Cuandra. Far Away: Installationwas shown at “The Wild Project" for a two-month duration and utilized MaxMSP. The centerpiece was a wall-size video projection of the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua. As individuals approached the projection, the volcano underwent a disintegration process, while simultaneously, the viewer’s movements triggered images from a second projector on the opposite side of the room.