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Projection Portals (2026)
Hall of Architecture, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA


Projection Portals was a large-scale, immersive live video performance program that I curated and produced in the Hall of Architecture at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The project transformed the museum’s collection of monumental plaster casts into a responsive audiovisual environment, activating the space through real-time projection and performance.

The program brought together artists working across analog video synthesis, generative coding, and expanded cinema. Performances unfolded continuously throughout the evening, using light, motion, and signal as spatial and sculptural materials in direct conversation with the architecture. The result was a dynamic, time-based environment that encouraged movement, exploration, and sustained audience engagement.

Projection Portals extended a growing network of artists developed through prior curatorial work, placing Pittsburgh-based practitioners in dialogue with nationally recognized artists including Sean Russell Hallowell and Sarah Sarah Turner Turner. Eight of the ten participating artists were based in Pittsburgh, reflecting the rapid development of a regional live video performance scene shaped through sustained investment and programming.

The event drew more than 400 attendees over the course of the night, exceeding the 250-person capacity of the space.

Production Credits:

Live Music
Provided by Good Dude Lojack & the performers themselves


Live Video Mapping
ProjectileObjects

Lighting Design
Jaeden Arrington

Sound Design
Ben Peters

Production Support

Tech25, CMU’s Video and Media Design & Lighting Departments

Produced & Curated by
Nica Ross

Program Schedule

7:00 PM
Prof Quad (TV Installation)

7:30 PM
Jules Malice

8:00 PM
extreme girlhood & FriendlySpinach

8:30 PM
PXLXPXL & Nasty Taxi

9:00 PM
Sean Russell Hallowell (SF)

9:30 PM
Sarah Sarah Turner Turner (NM)

Production Crew

Video & Media Design at CMU Team:
Collin McCormack
Ryan Yu
Mei Yu
Brenda Yue Cai
Sherry Wu
Qingyu Huang
Jo Adereth

Tech25 Crew:
Zarien Santiago
Tech25 Students

Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry:
Dave Zak
Harrison Apple
Mary Sutton

Carnegie Museum of Art Leads:
Dana Bishop-Root
Blaine Siegel


Performer: Sean Russell Hallowell, Carnegie Museum of Art, 2026; photo: Nica Ross
Projection Portals Selected Documentation, Videography by Olivia Cunnally, Edited by Nica Ross
Poster by Nica Ross
Carnegie Museum of Art, 2026; photo: Zachary Riggleman
Installation by Prof Quad, Carnegie Museum of Art, 2026; photo: Zachary Riggleman