AUBREY MURDOCK
Place-based inquiry & interdisciplinary creative practice.
Aubrey Murdock is an artist, designer, educator, and urbanist with a focus on creating tools to render complex systems visible.
EDUCATION
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University of Hartford Art School, Residency-based program with various locations. Interdisciplinary MFA Nomad MFA, 2019 - 2021
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University of Wyoming - The Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ruckelshaus Institute, Collaboration Program in Natural Resources, 2015 - 2016
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Parsons the New School for Design, New York. M.S. Design & Urban Ecologies, 2012 - 2014
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Universidad EAFIT . URBAM, Medellin, Colombia. Workshop Ecologias Urbanas, 2013
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Costa Rica TEFL, Playa Samara, Costa Rica. EFL Instructor Certification, 2010
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Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL. B.A. Film & Video Production, 2003 - 2007
RELEVANT PROJECTS
Seepage, part of the Force Fields Exhibition, Joseloff Gallery, Hartford, CT, 2021
This interdisciplinary installation explores the mechanics and ideologies of extractive infrastructures through lived experience and sense memory.
Ecotonal Defragmentation, The Meadowlands, NJ, 2020
Contributor to RiverLabs.org: Using interdisciplinary research methods, poetics and art-making, our cohort built a living document and speculative toolkit to revisit what restoration can be. Ecotonal Defragmentation focused specifically on the Meadowlands of New Jersey as an ecotonal ecology.
Forgotten Places Fieldguide, 2019
The Forgotten Places Fieldguide is a guide for place-based inquiry and unlearning the concept of “nowhere.”
Hidden Treasures of Our Orange, Orange, NJ, 2014 - present
Hidden Treasures of Our Orange is a multiyear, trans-media project recording and sharing the stories of Orange, NJ.
Project Lead
Create online archive and tactile materials to connect participants with the oral history resource.
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Collaborate with project stakeholders to develop a “feel” and user experience for the website.
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Manage web designer and coder in building the website.
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Create designs for the website.
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Produce audio and video stories for the archive.
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Develop user guides for site contributors to navigate the GitHub Interface.
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Host workshops for site contributors.
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Design materials to connect users with the site
Making the Just City: An Examination of Organizing for Equity & Health in Shaw & Orange, Orange, NJ and Washington, DC, 2017 - present
Making the Just City is a comparative study of the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC and the city of Orange, NJ. Interdisciplinary Research Leaders is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Assistant Researcher
Conduct research with University of Orange, in partnership with OneDC and American University.
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Utilize situation analysis framework to gather and process data
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Interview over 25 stakeholders from diverse perspectives
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Participate in and assist in planning “inter-urban exchanges” between Orange and DC
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Analyze and synthesize findings
EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Professor
Department of Art and Design, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, 2021 - present
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Develop and implement curricula
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Lead students in the creation of independent projects
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Support students in cultivating research-based creative practices
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Facilitate student-led exhibition planning
Mentor
Learning Actively Mentor Program, University of Wyoming, remote, 2020 - present
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Support STEM professionals in expanded pedagogical practice
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Create and deliver dispersed, place-based, experiential learning modules
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Facilitate remote discussion sessions
University of Orange, Orange, NJ, 2014 - present
University of Orange is a free people’s urbanism school that builds collective capacity for people to build more equitable cities.
Co-Executive Director (2015 - present)
Manage organizational operations including non-profit compliance, bookkeeping, development, fundraising, budget creation and management.
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Review the pedagogy of the organization’s programs, as they relate to the mission of building collective capacity.
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Represent UofO through presentations and workshops. (see below)
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Administer programs, collaborating with program leads, volunteers, and participants.
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Music City (2016 - present)
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Colony in Crisis in Haitian Creole (2019 - present)
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Head Of School & Lead Designer (2014 - present)
Collaborate with team members and volunteers to create and run programs within the free school framework.
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Lead documentation for the national 400 Years of Inequality project (2019 - present)
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People’s Pathway to Equity Guide (2019 - 2021)
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400 Years of Inequality national observance documentation (2018 - 2021)
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A Call Answered (2019 - present)
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Create project-specific tools, workshops, online courses, and “starter kits” for 400 Years of Inequality project - 400yearsofinequality.org (2017 - present)
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Develop and deliver curricula that teach the UofO approach to urbanism and encourage civic engagement through lifelong learning.
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Organizing with the City in Mind (2017 - 2018)
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Building Collective Recovery into What You Do (2017 - 2018)
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Create visual, experiential and audio educational tools, stand-alone & curriculum-based, to engage multi-modal learners in complex issues.
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Community Musicology Research Group & Performance Series (2018 - present)
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Hidden Treasures of Our Orange (2014 - present)
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Horizontal Development: Equitable Development for City-Makers, produced in collaboration with DS4SI (2018 - 2019)
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The Domino Effect (2015)
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Manage the creation of communication materials and design.
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Lead program and organizational documentation - UofO Vimeo Channel.
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Coordinate the creation of UofO free course catalog and create the Orange Adult School course catalog for city-wide distribution. (2015 - present)
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Conduct research for planning processes, research projects, and curriculum development.
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Making the Just City: An Examination of Organizing for Equity & Health in Shaw & Orange (2017 - present)
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Lower Eastwick Public Land Strategy (2017 - 2018)
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Youth Urbanism Summit, Detroit (2019)
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Collaborate with Co-Director and Urbanists-in-Residence to produce annual January Term and Spring Placemaking programming to engage Orange residents and other stakeholders.
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Support building of a “culture of health” in Orange, NJ by facilitating workshops, trainings, and meetings with focus on group process for Healthy Orange Coalition. (2017 - 2020)
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Coordinate with higher education institutions and students working with University of Orange, including Parsons at The New School, Pratt Institute, Drew University, and Montclair State University.
Video Production and Editing, 2007 - present
Independent Consultant & Volunteer
Produce and edit short videos, including graduate film projects, public service pieces, and memorial videos for organizations including WIC, Africa First, OkayAfrica, UHAB, and Design and Culture Lab.
Parsons the New School for Design, New York, NY, 2013 - present
Guest Lecturer, Workshop Lead, & Guest Critic
Center for Urban Pedagogy, New York, NY, 2015
Teaching Artist: New School on the Block.
Youth Urbanism Summit, New York, NY & Orange, NJ, 2014
Planning Team Member & Designer
LNNY (Late Night New York), New York, NY, 2013 - 2014
Executive Producer of Web Series
Parsons the New School for Design, New York, NY, 2012 - 2014
Research Assistant, Drawing and Material Thinking . Cinemetrics
Breckenridge Montessori, Breckenridge, CO, 2009 - 2010
Assistant Primary Room Teacher
New Line Cinema and Blink Digital, Santa Monica, CA , 2008
Assistant Editor
Lowlands, Documentary Feature-Peter Thompson, Chicago, IL, 2006 - 2007
Assistant Editor