Poetic Justice is a research group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab. Founded in spring 2019 by artist Ekene Ijeoma, we research intersectional issues, such as racial and environmental justice, and develop artworks about or with communities. Our participatory public artworks, including phone and online accessible sound and video streams, have been presented by the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, and Museum of the City of New York.

Our current projects in development question, if “Artists need to create on the same scale as society has the capacity to destroy,” as Sherrie Rabinowitz suggested in 1984, then how can we scale social practice through conceptual art and computational design strategies? We’ve been thinking through this question by developing a series of generative sound and video portraits of linguistic and ethnic diversity in US cities, Black thought and expression in the US (TBA), and liberty and equality across multiple countries (TBA). These digitally-distributed artworks feature oral histories from crowdsourced phone and webcam recordings or internet archives remixed into evolving poetic collages. Next year we’ll be announcing our first physically-distributed artwork, including a series of monuments and sound portraits for Black lives lost to COVID-19 in the US. 

We’re building a community of staff, students, research affiliates, and guests interested in developing new modes of social practice art. Please review our current openings below if you’re interested in joining our team as staff or freelancer.

• A Counting Community Engagement Manager
• Freedom Radio Community Engagement Manager
• Black Forest Community Engagement Manager
• Social Media Manager
• Program Manager
• Product Developer
• Frontend Developer
• Backend Developer (Python)
• Architectural/Urban Designer
• Graphic Designer
• Writer/Researcher

Poetic Justice is a group of critical thinkers and makers exploring new forms of social justice with art through collapsing content and form. We research intersectional issues, such as racial and environmental justice, and develop artworks about or with communities. Our participatory public artworks, including phone and online accessible sound and video streams, have been presented by the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, and Museum of the City of New York.

To apply, send a short cover letter, resume, and relevant work samples to pjg-jobs@media.mit.edu, with the position title in the subject line. All positions are open until filled.