Global Creative Studies

Projects & New Work in Global Creative Studies

Global Creative Studies students collaborate widely with nationally and internationally reknowned artists, with faculty from across UMN, and with each other, to create projects that span disciplines. Bringing together aesthetic power, conceptual insight, and ethical depth, these projects engage communities in Minnesota and beyond. 

Between a Barrel and a Heart 

What happens when a weapon becomes a tender, vulnerable, expressive instrument? In this collaboration between GCS Professor Matthew Rahaim and Pedram Baldari (professor of sculpture at the University of Michigan,) decommissioned rifles are transformed into beautiful instruments: flutes, clarinets, santoors, chimes, and more. Matthew composes new pieces for these instruments, drawing on the biblical image of וכתתו חרבותם לאתים (“Swords into Ploughshares” Isaiah 2:4 / Micah 4:3), the poetry of Faiz, and the futuristic Orphic myth of American Afrofuturist science fiction master Samuel L. Delaney.

UMN Summer Reggae Institute

An annual celebration of Jamaican music organized by GCS Professor Scott Currie — from roots, mento, ska, and rocksteady, to reggae, dancehall, raggamuffin, and beyond—with seminars from distinguished researchers, workshops with acclaimed artists, and faculty/student concerts. Read more about the Summer Reggae Institute. 

Listening to the Mississippi

A collaborative project between Professor Matthew Rahaim and Professor of Art Monica Haller, in which images, hydrophonic sounds, and human stories from the Mississippi river are interwoven. Iterations include public listening stations at the Wakpa Triennial and the exhibition A Nation Takes Place at the Minnesota Maritime Museum.

Naghma-e Hawa

An immersive sound installation by GCS professor Matthew Rahaim was designed to hold and honor the Narrative Threads exhibition of Kutchi textiles at the Goldstein museum of design. It includes a collage of irresistibly evocative bird songs from Western India, sampled sarangi melodies by Suhail Yusuf Khan, and a new textile instrument devised by Rahaim called Tambur-e Hawa. The Tambur-e Hawa is played by blowing air over a hanging ajrak textile piece handprinted by master Kutchi textile artist Sufiyan Ismail Khatri. The wave patterns produced by the wind are translated into sound by a ZOIA patch, producing resonant tones that weave into the bird songs and sarangi. The tapestry of sound grounds this exhibition in a strong sense of place, amplifying the aesthetic ecology of Kutch and Rajasthan while suggesting an open-ended, unpredictable, improvised future on the wind.

Drone Not Drones 

GCS Professors Matthew Rahaim, Kyle Motl, and Maja Radovanlija regularly contribute volunteer sets to the annual Drone Not Drones festival at the Cedar Cultural Center, a benefit for Doctors Without Borders originally conceived to protest Obama-era drone policy. Learn more about Drone Not Drones.