Artist Name: Ekene Ijeoma
Residency Dates: March – May 2026
Born: 1984
Hometown: Fort Worth, Texas
Lives & Works: Brooklyn & Manhattan, New York
URL: http://www.ekeneijeoma.com | Instagram @ekeneijeoma
Education:
2009 – MA in Interaction Design, Domus Academy, Milan, IT
2006 – BS in Information Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Bio/Statement:
Ekene Ijeoma is one of the selected artists for the 2026 NYC-Based Artist Residency Program.
Ijeoma researches social, political, and environmental systems to develop multimedia works that poetically expose inequities and mutually empower communities. Working across monumental and personal scales, his practice spans community-based land works, interactive light installations, and data-driven sculptures and performances.
His interdisciplinary projects include community events where trees are planted for Black lives across the US, jazz performances in which notes are removed from the Star-Spangled Banner at the increasing rate of incarceration in the US, and sculptures in which a wage-based height map of NYC is submerged in water at rising rent costs.
Ijeoma’s work has been presented by Boston Public Art Triennial (2025), Bloomberg Philanthropies (2025), Dutch Design Week (2025), Getty PST Art (2025), Onassis Foundation (2024), Van Alen Institute (2022), the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis (2021), Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (2021), Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2020), Contemporary Art Museum of Houston (2020), The Arts Club of Chicago (2019), The Kennedy Center (2019, 2017), Annenberg Space for Photography (2016), Neuberger Museum of Art (2016), Storefront for Art and Architecture (2015) and Museum of Modern Art (2015).
His work has also been supported by Architectural League of New York (2025), Opportunity Agenda (2025), Community Engagement (2025), MIT Media Lab (2018–2024), New York Foundation for the Arts (2022, 2016), New York State Council on the Arts (2021), Creative Capital (2019), Map Fund (2019), Wave Farm (2018), and The Kennedy Center (2017).
The 2026 NYC-Based Artist Residency Program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
