Mindy Seu (born 1991) is an American designer, researcher and technologist whose work focuses on public engagement with digital archives.[1][2] She is best known for her Cyberfeminism Index project and publications, and is currently on the faculty at UCLA's Design Media Arts Department. [3]

Early life and education

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Seu grew up in Orange County, California, where her parents ran a flower shop after immigrating from South Korea.[4][5] She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Design Media Arts in 2013 and later graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design with an M.Des in 2019.[2]

Career

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After graduating from UCLA, Seu worked at the Museum of Modern Art's Design Studio, as well as the design studio 2x4 on the Interactive Media team.[5] She also taught at the California College of the Arts, and published her own archival projects, including the web-based archive of Avant Garde Magazine and a digitization of Emmett Williams' 1968 concrete poem Sweethearts.[6][7]

From 2017 to 2018, Seu published the web archives for Eros and Fact magazines, completing the digitization of Ralph Ginzburg and Herb Lubalin's iconic publications.[8][9] In 2018, Seu also became a fellow at the Internet Archive and Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for the Internet & Society.[10][11] Starting in 2019, she began work on an archive of cyberfeminism, which later received the Design Studies Thesis Prize from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.[12] Seu's Cyberfeminism Catalog project began as a spreadsheet, a medium she often employs for its legibility and longevity, and was supported by Rhizome and a grant from the Graham Foundation.[13][14][15] The project was exhibited virtually through the New Museum in 2020[16] and ultimately published as a 700-page print book, Cyberfeminism Index, in January 2023. Cyberfeminism Index featured contributions from academics and collectives including VNS Matrix, Donna Haraway, Legacy Russell, Sadie Plant, and the Old Boys Network.[17][18][19]

In 2022, Seu received a MacDowell Fellowship.[13] She has previously served as an assistant professor at Rutgers' Mason Gross School of the Arts, and as a critic at Yale School of Art.[20][21][13]

She is currently serving as an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Design Media Arts Department.[22][23] She is also curating an exhibition titled Cantando Bajito: Chorus at the Ford Foundation Gallery[24][25] and developing a series of lecture performance pieces titled A Sexual History of the Internet, in collaboration with Julio Correa.[26][27]

Selected works

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  • Sweethearts (2013)[28]
  • Avant Garde Archive (2014)[8]
  • Eros Archive (2017)[8]
  • Fact Archive (2018)[9]
  • Cyberfeminism Catalog: 1990–2020 (2019–)[12]
  • Cyberfeminism Index (2023)[29]

References

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  1. ^ "Mindy Seu | Berkman Klein Center". cyber.harvard.edu. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  2. ^ a b "Discover Harvard student Mindy Seu's research-focused design practice". www.itsnicethat.com. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  3. ^ "Mindy Seu | Design Media Arts". dma.ucla.edu. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  4. ^ Cai, Delia (2023-12-11). "For Mindy Seu, Digital Archiving Isn't Just a Job—It's a Lifestyle". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  5. ^ a b Poles, Clemence (2023-09-28). "Meet Mindy Seu". passerby magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  6. ^ "People Finder - California College of the Arts - Portal". portal.cca.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  7. ^ "Mindy Seu". NEW INC. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  8. ^ a b c "Mindy Seu on Making the Things You Want to See". thecreativeindependent.com. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  9. ^ a b "Lubalin's Radical '60s Magazines Are Giving Us A Lesson in Archiving on the Web". Eye on Design. 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  10. ^ "Get to Know Berkman Klein Fellow Mindy Seu | Berkman Klein Center". cyber.harvard.edu. 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  11. ^ "Decentralized Web Summit 2018: Global Visions / Working Code". www.decentralizedweb.net. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  12. ^ a b "Cyberfeminism Catalog 1990–2020". Harvard Graduate School of Design. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  13. ^ a b c "Mindy Seu - MacDowell Fellow in Interdisciplinary Arts". MacDowell. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  14. ^ Sholis, Brian (2020-05-11). "Citation Needed". Frontier Magazine. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  15. ^ "Graham Foundation > Grantees > Mindy Seu". www.grahamfoundation.org. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  16. ^ "First Look: Cyberfeminism Index". New Museum Exhibitions. 2020. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  17. ^ Varghese, Sanjana (2023-03-09). "With 'Cyberfeminism Index,' Mindy Seu snapshots a mutating movement". Document Journal. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  18. ^ Wu, Jenny (2023-04-01). "Mindy Seu's Cyberfeminism Index". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  19. ^ Roux, Liara (2023-01-24). "Mindy Seu: cyberfeminism 'has shifted from utopia to dystopia'". Dazed. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  20. ^ "Designer and technologist Mindy Seu to speak about origins and legacy of cyberfeminism Oct. 18 via Zoom – College of Design". Iowa State University. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  21. ^ Johnson, Juniper (2023-02-15). ""The Translation of Cyberfeminism": A Talk with Mindy Seu". NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  22. ^ "Mindy Seu's CV - Teaching". MINDY-SEU_CV-tabs. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  23. ^ "Mindy Seu". mindyseu.com. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  24. ^ "Cantando Bajito: Chorus". Ford Foundation Gallery. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  25. ^ "Mindy Seu's CV - Residencies, Grants and Shows". MINDY-SEU_CV-tabs. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  26. ^ "Teledildonic Index: The Instagram stories lecture". dirt.fyi.
  27. ^ "Mindy Seu's CV - Performances". MINDY SEU_CV-tabs. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  28. ^ "Are.na / The Poetry of Tools". www.are.na. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  29. ^ "Cyberfeminism Index with Mindy Seu". spacecityseattle.org. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
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