Alison Cornyn
Brooklyn, NY
Alison Cornyn is an interdisciplinary artist who works at the convergence of technology and traditional medias. She is the director and founding partner of Picture Projects studio. Her installation and video work as well as curatorial projects have been exhibited in Europe, South America, and the US. She produced an international online dialogue for The New York Times‘ project Bosnia: Uncertain Paths to Peace, which was the first website to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Cornyn teaches at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program and has guest lectured about digital documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival, the Montreal Film Festival, IDFA in Amsterdam, New York University and numerous other institutions. She has a BA from Connecticut College, a Masters in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University and an MFA from Hunter College. She was an artist in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program from 2000-2001. Prior to her involvement in multimedia, she worked as an art director on films in Los Angeles and New York.
360degrees.org
360degrees.org is a participatory investigation of the American criminal justice system. Since its launch in 2001, 360degrees.org has tackled issues such as immigration, welfare reform, class bias, and the workplace. Modules were added to the series with first-person stories, interactive data and a forum for discussion. The project uses 360-degree panoramas to place viewers in the center of a prison cell or cell block or living room or judge’s chamber while listening to intimate portraits captured through audio diaries. Interactive data games invite visitors to put themselves in the big picture. In one scenario, participants answer a series of questions aimed at challenging assumptions about who commits crime and why. Another questions one’s philosophy on punishment and behavior.
Sue Johnson
New York, NY
Sue Jaye Johnson spearheaded an unprecedented collaboration between The New York Times, NPR and WNYC to tell the story of the first women to box in the Olympic games. The series included a NY Times Magazine photo essay and several radio features co-produced with reporter Marianne McCune. Johnson gave gold medalist Claressa Shields a microphone and recorder to document her journey to the Olympic Trials. Claressa’s diary, co-produced with Radio Diaries, won the Peabody Award and the Third Coast Audio Festival’s Gold Medal. Johnson is co-producing T-REX, a documentary film about Claressa’s Olympic journey. From 2003-2007, she lived in South Africa where she co-produced Mandela: An Audio History for NPR and co-founded Iliso Labantu to provide training and support for local photographers. She has taught visual and audio storytelling at Harvard University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.