Artist Diplomat

As an American Arts Incubator Exchange Artist Diplomat, Amy Karle’s task is to facilitate creative expression and social innovation to empower women in STEAM.

While Amy Karle was the American Arts Incubator (AAI) Artist Diplomat to Poland and first Artist in Residence at Centrum Nauki Kopernik (Copernicus Science Center), she conducted research, led workshops, distributed grant funding, supported teams to create community projects using art and technology to address social issues in the model of a silicon valley type incubator – and also created artwork and an exhibition herself. The exchange concluded with a panel review, public exhibition and small grants program for participants to continue their work. 

American Arts Incubator (AAI) is a cultural exchange initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that is administered by ZERO1. AAI addresses community challenges through cross-cultural art, science, and technology collaborations. American Arts Incubator – Poland was implemented in collaboration with U.S. Embassy Warsaw and the Copernicus Science Centre. Karle is thankful for her partners, participants, collaborators and supporters without whose support this project would not be possible.

While leading “Layers of Life” American Arts Incubator workshop at Copernicus, Artist Amy Karle also created her own artwork, leading by example collaborating with other disciplines and institutions in the similar artist residency and incubator style as the workshop participants.

Amy Karle’s larger project as an artist studies what it means to be human. She uses the body, science and exponential technology (including 3D printing, regenerative medicine / synthetic bio, AI etc) in her work as mirrors to the self and mirrors to who we can become. She works with technologies that can be used for healing and enhancing the body and develops the workflows, materials and technology in the process to help achieve those goals. The outcome is expressed in artworks, which can be seen as “artifacts of a speculative future” – a time to stop and consider these topics she’s exploring.

For her work as Artist in Residence at Copernicus and American Arts Incubator Artist Diplomat empowering women in STEAM, she considered “Layers of Life” and how we form – biologically/socially/emotionally/spiritually – all levels, as well as questioning “What is Life in the Bio-Tech era?” She considered these topics through the lens of empowerment and proposed ideas which could help shape a more resilient future.

Amy Karle focused on transcending these layers – from the micro to the macro, from the individual to the social, from the internal to the external, from the depths of the earth to the sky, space and beyond. She conducted artistic research in the labs at Copernicus and in UNESCO heritage sites Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines. She did research in one of the deepest parts of the earth accessible to humans in Bochnia, and studied concepts of space at Copernicus. She researched how nature forms and grows: in this case the natural additive manufacturing (natural 3D printing) of salt and crystallization. Karle also considered salt as a vital, life-sustaining element in our bodies and of our earth, and learned about theories of the origins of life beginning in salt lakes proposed by astrobiologists.

Combining her research, influences and inspiration from being an American Arts Incubator exchange artist at Copernicus, artistic research in the lab and in the Royal Salt Mines, as well as her social research and practice in cultural diplomacy and social innovation as an AAI exchange artist, she created performance art, sculptures, and a show for the planetarium in collaboration with Copernicus Biolab and Planetarium team and Grain Films. 

Considering “Layers of Life” and expressing it in art forms, her work inspired new ways of thinking, new ways of making, and new ways of collaborating; empowering herself and others in the process.

A very special thank you to:

American Arts Incubator, US Department of State, ECA, ZERO1, U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Poland, Centrum Nauki Kopernik, Kopalnia Soli “Wieliczka”, Kopalnia Soli “Bochnia” Planetarium Niebo Kopernika, Titanic Design: Rapid 3D Printing, Grain Films, and all those without whose generous support this project would not be possible.