Professor: Ava Wanbli
Adjunct Professor, Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Email: avawanbli@gmail.com , 

Fridays 9 am - 3 pm

Department: Art & Technology / Sound Practices

Area of Study: Virtual Reality, interactive environments, programming, modeling, immersive art, human perception.

Location: In person, Maclean 402 

Teacher Assistant: Rose Ansari, MFA ransar@saic.edu

Ava Mirage Wanbli is a New Media artist and performer based in Chicago, IL, whose work spans video game engines, live performance, installations, sculptures, video, and the body, focusing on self-exploration through modalities of becoming. Her practice involves performing for the camera, virtual body reconstructions via 3D scanning and avatar creation, and virtual environment building to collapse temporalities and archive the body, offering a lens into the futurity of the self. By augmenting authorship and intimacy, Ava reorients erotic imagery and voyeuristic consumption of the body within technology, aiming to challenge voyeurism and address the complexities of trans narratives amidst hyper-sexualization and subjugation. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019 and has since taught at various art institutions. Ava is a 3Arts New Wave Artists Award recipient and has participated in residencies such as ACRE and New Art City. Her recent work has been featured at Roots and Culture Contemporary Art Gallery, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, and Mana Contemporary, with publications in Tone Magazine. She continues to build spaces to advance conversations about her transwoman body and its role in education, selfhood, and visibility. Wanbli Gamache, also an alumna of SAIC's Film, Video, New Media, and Animation Department, exhibits at festivals like New Blood Performance Festival, Sullivan Gallery, Zhou B Art Center, and Supernova Digital Animation Festival, and is a recipient of the MANA Contemporary Chicago New Media Artist Residency.