Media Arts
This is Trash
Miranda Yee
Packaging materials collected and scanned, animated to Flight of the Bumblebee. An exploration into the normalization of consumption.
River Rock
Yenifer Gallardo Preciado
"RIVER ROCK" is a temporary interactive installation inspired by the natural movement of water and the forms it creates in the landscape. Through sculptural elements and seating, the project invites visitors to reflect on the relationship between water, nature, and the future of local water resources.
Resisting Cartography
Sarah Rose
This work explores the trajectory of mapping and imaging the Antarctic. Cyanotypes of contemporary technologies, like satellite and radar, are printed on paper made from the pulp of over 80 maps from the “Heroic Age” of imperial expedition.
The Tree
Eva Zhang
We speak to trees. We rarely wait for an answer. The Tree invites an encounter unfolding through light and sound. An approach, a pause, a whispered word may shift the light moving through its branches and the surrounding soundscape. The tree answers in its own time, drawing attention to how our bodies enter a place and how a place, in turn, touches us. Rooted in animism, the work imagines a language briefly shared between human and nonhuman life. The Tree belongs to The Lab, an ongoing vision of a world where people, nature, and space live together, leave traces, and carry one another’s unfinished creations forward. As AI reshapes work and everyday life, The Lab holds open another possibility: time returned to care, energy given to connection, and creativity continually emerging from life together. About the artist Eva Zhang is a Master of Public Diplomacy student at USC and the creator of The Lab. Their work explores shared living, ecological relationships, and creation through spatial and immersive media.
Resisting Cartography
Sarah Rose
This work explores the trajectory of mapping and imaging the Antarctic. Cyanotypes of contemporary technologies, like satellite and radar, are printed on paper made from the pulp of over 80 maps from the “Heroic Age” of imperial expedition.
Unlearning the Machine: Rediscovering Nature as a Viable Technology
Katherine Phail
As contemporary building practices have become more mechanized, the human connection to craft, material, and the collective act of making has been lost, isolating communities from the very processes that construct their own environments. Unlearning the Machine proposes an earthen-based plaster that is more earthquake- and fire-resistant than contemporary building materials, positioning natural building as a viable alternative to industrial construction. The project demonstrates how resilient earthen construction is not only an environmental solution but also a cultural tool that can rebuild both physical infrastructure and community, restoring humanity to the act of making while supporting ecological and disaster resilience.
In Another Life
Thea Dahl-Pedersen
This is an 18 × 24-inch watercolor on paper that presents a reversed representation of how we treat the species with which we coexist. Each animal represents the parasitic relationship humans have with its respective species, emphasizing the disconnect between our actions and our perceived right to dominate the animal world.
Single-use
Chloe Smalls Johnson
This ceramic sculpture depicts burnt banana tree stem addressing the practice of planting banana trees for fire resistance in LA. By showing the speculative aftermath of this planting, the artist questions the actual sustainability of initiatives that still involve implicit single-use waste.
Velella Velella
James DeLisio
A cameraless film in the tradition of Stan Brakhage's "Mothlight," which takes celluloid as the medium for an encounter between the moving-image, and the materiality of San Diego's shoreline ecosystems.
Bajo la Misma Luna
Brenda Vega Hernandez
Bajo la Misma Luna is a short video that explores the relationship between the moon, our oceans and the growing effects of climate change on coastal communities. The moon represents the connection we share across cultures and borders, reminding us that we all call the same planet home and have a collective responsibility to protect it.
Screenings - Block A
Life Beneath Sage
Chloe M Smith
United States | Colorado State University
In southwestern Wyoming, two field technicians document the nesting lives of songbirds near abundant energy fields—balancing scientific integrity, personal reflection, and the stark reality of a changing national perspective on public lands management.
Lopez Urban Farm
Isabel Wilder, Carmen Navarrete
United States | Pitzer College, Scripps College
Through a single tree-planting event, the Lopez Urban Farm of Pomona, California explores their ideology of agricultural care, methods of participatory-activism, and thriving alternative community.
The Solace of Artemis
Ava Mooney
Ireland | Ulster University
Exploring the deep connection between humanity and the natural world
Fleeting Future: Protecting Monarch Butterflies
Rebecca Lennon and Riley Smith
United States | University California Santa Barbara
Fleeting Future is a short documentary that discusses the population decline of the Western Monarch Butterflies, exploring some of the potential causes for this decline and the efforts being made by experts and volunteers.
The Hidden Ocean
Judy Zhao
United States | California Institute of the Arts
A curious young girl discovers Los Angeles's hidden ocean past and the creatures that once inhabited it through fossils buried throughout the city.
No Boundaries
Arian Tomar
United States | University of Southern California
Friends of the Boundary Waters helps students across Minnesota experience wilderness for the first time by building outdoor skills, providing environmental context, and funding summer expeditions to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
HIGH TIDE
Lilika Leblanc, Nil Didek, Martine Renaux, Phoebe Cassey
France | Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs de Paris
Blinded by their quest for profit, businessmen ignore climate change and will inevitably suffer the consequences.
She Measures the Earth
Ching Yu
Canada | University of Saskatchewan
A short poetic science documentary following four women reshaping who belongs in science through leadership, art, adventure, and mentorship.
Screenings - Block B
Waves of Wisdom
Lauren Ritchie
The Bahamas | University of the Arts London
On the northernmost island of The Bahamas, elder fishermen, artisans, and environmentalists share their knowledge and vision, inspiring a new generation of ocean stewards to shape the future of their home.
Eating Local
Robert Drummond
New Zealand |University of Southern California
With so many people talking about the sustainability of eating local, Robert investigates some farms close to USC to put these claims to the test.
Lišaja / Lichenlike
Brina Fekonja
Slovenia | School of Arts University of Nova Gorica
A story of inertia, lichens and fusion.
Lobsteropolis
James DeLisio
United States | University of Southern California
The California Spiny Lobster does not have claws, leaving it especially vulnerable to exploitation. From commercial fishing vessels to natural history archives, Lobsteropolis silently observes a series of encounters between the California Spiny Lobster and the industries of San Diego, California.
Not All Heroes are Human
Maya Gomez, Avery Lu
United States | University of Southern California
A short animated story follows a coral using its shape-shifting superpower, morphological plasticity, to adapt to environmental changes, until climate change pushes its abilities to the limit.
Last Chance at Redemption
Antonio Coelho
Brazil | University of Southern California
Mayans’ Popol Vuh, Spinoza’s God, seven deadly sins, and capitalist panopticism in dialogue in the jungle of Petén, Guatemala.
Buckskin
Mars Verrone
United States | New York University
An experimental portrait of the filmmaker’s grandfather: Carroll B. Williams Jr., a ground-breaking African-American forester, reflecting on his work and legacy in the twilight of his life.