Bard Graduate Center is a research institute for advanced, interdisciplinary study of diverse material worlds. We support the innovative scholarship of our faculty and students as well as resident fellows, guest curators and artists, and visiting speakers.

Photo by Fresco Arts Team.

Our Public Humanities + Research department focuses on making scholarly work widely available and accessible through the coordination of the fellowship program and public programming that combines academic research with exhibition-related events. Across the institution—from the classroom to the gallery, from publications to this website—we utilize digital media to facilitate and share original research. This section outlines current programming and provides a repository for past scholarly content.

To request access to the full archival video for research purposes please email archives@bgc.bard.edu.

Acclaimed director Sister Sylvester and a cohort of BGC students lead audiences through this bio-art lecture performance. Genetic and archival research—on a costume hat from Bertolt Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble—are woven together to help us remember the stories of those who wore it. This hands-on experience is for ages 14 and up.

Sister Sylvester (aka Kathryn Karaoglu Hamilton) is an artist based in New York and Istanbul. As Sister Sylvester, she creates essayistic performances that use first-hand research, found documents, animals, and technology to make cross-species collaborations and cyborg theater. She is a current resident at ONX Studio, a new media workspace created by the Onassis Foundation and the New Museum; a 2019 MacDowell Fellow; and an alumnus of the Public Theater Devised Theater Working Group and New Works program. Her most recent film, Our Ark, co-directed with Deniz Tortum, premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam in November 2021 and has screened at international festivals, including the Istanbul International Film Festival, where it won Best Short Film.

Additional Credits

Bruce Steinberg, Associate Director
Script and visuals by Sister Sylvester
Lighting and video by Bruce Steinberg
Dramaturgy by Andrew Kircher
Additional video by Robin A. Ediger-Seto and Hyung Seok Jeon
Additional sounds by UCCS orchestra and Lane Shi Otayonii
Biological support, Genspace and Desplan Lab, NYU
Production Stage Manager, Josh Massey
Ensemble: Angela Crenshaw, Anna Van Lenten Crowley, Mariá José Espinosa, Bob Hewis, Dorothy Hudson, Caroline Montague, Rachel Salem-Wiseman, Samantha K. Santana, Alex Stern, Teddy Styles, Luli Zou.
Special Thanks: students of University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 2019 and Bryn Mawr 2020 for workshopping brilliance, and Beth Tuck, Dr. Michael Flanagan, Dr. Angela Armendariz, Jehovani Lopez, and Cyborg Reading Group participants for science and theory guidance and experiments.