Sample Works from "Alchemy" Collection
2022-2023
Professional master's degree program MLA I in the #1 ranked landscape architecture department
•Honors: A full Harvard University Dean's Merit Scholarship for top-ranked incoming students at the GSD that covers 100% tuition. GSD Independent Study + Solo Exhibit (with Professor Ed Eigen).
•Graduate Teaching Assistant: HIS 4141: Histories of Landscape Architecture I: Textuality and the Practice of Landscape Architecture
•Cross Register Classes: MIT (School of Engineering)
•Activities: Harvard Innovation Lab, Design.Able, GSD First-Generation Initiative, Design Entrepreneurs
Fall 2022: Histories of Landscape Architecture I: Textuality and the Practice of Landscape Architecture (HIS-4141)
Graduate-Level Harvard Course for Professor Edward Eigen, Department of Landscape Architecture
Building the startup Recess at Harvard I-Lab at Harvard Business School; I-Lab Venture Incubation Program: part of Harvard I-Lab Fall 2022 select cohort
-Recess is a gaming startup that hosts outdoor game sessions for adults in the US. "Recess Games" are 1-hour social fitness sessions, utilizing favorite playground games such as Capture the Flag and Dodgeball. Designed around the childhood philosophy of ‘play’, Recess lets people make friends by having organic fun whilst getting some exercise.
-Recess' website slogan is: Hey Siri, How Do I Find Friends After College? Recess is built for adult customers of all ages who want to meet people without being particularly athletic or social. Our unique value proposition is: re-enforcing "play" and play equity for adults. No online matches, no intense crossfit classes, no bars, and alcohol, we help people meet, exercise, and have fun simply through playing: just like when you were at recess time.
Harvard University (2021-2025), University of Cambridge (2019-2020), Columbia University (2016-2019),
•originally written research in cultural history, sociology, new media, art history, film history, architecture, ethnomusicology, and marine biology
•originally produced, written, directed, and edited short films & video projects
•original mixed media, kinetic art, sculpture, painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and installation projects
•originally designed landscape architecture studio projects
(see the projects section below for details, conference presentations, and artistic exhibitions)
Research-based master's degree in Sociology. The Cambridge Department of Sociology is #1 ranked in UK league tables. Postgraduate at Downing College.
Master's Thesis: "The Influence of Social Media on Modern Romantic Relationships" (Supervisor: Dr. Rikke Amundsen)
Honors: The Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Twining Egginton Prize, Downing Graduate Conference (Select Research Presenter), Downing College MCR-SCR Seminar (Select Research Presenter), Downing College Twining Egginton Exhibition (Select Art Exhibitor), Downing College Cedar Tree Exhibition (Select Art Exhibitor), Seton Cavendish Bequest Grant
Activities: Downing College MCR, Cambridge Tap and Jazz Dance Society, Cambridge Technology and New Media Research Cluster, Cambrovision. Initiated the creation of the first-ever art studio for students use at Downing College (first student beta user), and the first student to propose an art residency.
3.86 GPA, FIRST CLASS
Honors: Magna Cum Laude (High Honors/Great Distinction), Dean's List, Leadership Service Award, Senior Thesis Stipend Award, Senior Thesis Studio, Independent Study: Advanced Video (Department Chair, Matthew Buckingham), Tuition Scholarship, Junior Marshall Selectee, Spectator Senior Profile
Senior Thesis: "Clashings of Art, Culture, and Technology in a Digital Anthropological World" (Advisors: Matthew Buckingham, Nicola Lopez, Serra Victoria Fels)
Activities: Ivy Council National, Ivy Council Steering, First Generation Student Advisory Board, Orientation Leader, Peer Mentor, Ivy Policy Conference, Ivy Leadership Summit, Spring Gala Design Co-Chair, Apollo Society, One For The World, Latin Dance
Courses Taken: Visual Art, Art History, Architecture, Global History, Literature, Ethnomusicology, and Biological Sciences. Additional courses: Chinese Language and Literature (Chongqing University), and Social and Computer Sciences (Harvard University)
2022:
A Conceptual Art Video
See Full Series Here
See Full Portfolio Here
See Full Series Here
2021
2021
2021
Project Street Pool: A Street of Access
2o21
2020
Conceptual Short Film
2018
As a part of "Clashings" series
Conceptual Short Film
2018
As a part of "Clashings" series
Conceptual Short Film
2018
As a part of "Clashings" series
Kinetic Sculpture and Video Installation
2018
As a part of "Clashings" series
Kinetic Sculpture and Video Installation
2018
As a part of "Clashings" series
Human Wifi
Kinetic Sculpture and Performance Installation
2018
As a part of "Clashings" series
Conceptual Art Video
2018
As a part of "Self-Portraiture" series
Narratus
Mixed Media
2017
Patere
Photography and Silkscreen Printmaking
2017
Zane
Conceptual Short Film
2017
2016
Upcoming ExhibitioN
alchemy: a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination.
Inspired by the traditional craftsmanship of Chinese artistry, “Alchemy: Between the Past and Magic” embeds the ancient philosophies of the intellectual sisters of painting, poetry, and landscape.
Through contemporary compositions between the magical realism of nature and the organic connections of timeless materiality, “Alchemy” probes its own conceptual process through inquisitive methodology and visual abstraction.
Originally produced, written, directed, and edited original short films & video projects, original architectural designs, as well as original mixed media, sculpture, painting, and kinetic art installation projects.
Ongoing Art Projects:
"Swan Song" A Conceptual Art Video, 2022
Select Exhibitions:
2022 - "Alchemy: Between the Past and Magic" (Solo: Elizabeth Ulanova), Independent Study Exhibition, Gund Hall, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upcoming
2021 - "Design Award 2021 Exhibition" A + D Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles, California (In Collaboration with Anna Stevens for "Palka")
2021 - "Fall 2021 Core I Studio Exhibitions" Gund Hall, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2020 - "Twining Egginton 2020 Exhibition" Heong Gallery, Cambridge, England (Covid Canceled)
2020 - "Twining Egginton 2020 Exhibition" Downing College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England (Virtual Exhibit)
2020 - "Cedar Tree Exhibition" Battcock Lodge, Downing College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England
2018 - "Fall 2018 Senior Thesis Presentation", Leroy Neiman Gallery, Manhattan, New York
2018 - "Fall 2018 Visual Arts Department Exhibition" Prentis Hall, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York
-"Spring 2018 Visual Arts Department Exhibition" Prentis Hall, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York
2017 - "Fall 2017 Visual Arts Department Exhibition" Prentis Hall, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York.
-"Spring 2017 Visual Arts Department Exhibition" Prentis Hall, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York
2016 - "Fall 2016 Architecture Department Exhibition", Columbia University, Manhattan, New York
Original designs, in response to studio projects at Harvard Graduate School of Design MLA I.
Recent Projects:
Exhibitions:
Fall 2022 - "Alchemy: Between the Past and Magic" (Solo: Elizabeth Ulanova), Independent Study Exhibition, Gund Hall, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Upcoming
Fall 2021 - "Fall 2021 Core I Studio Exhibition", Gund Hall, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The role of social media technology has had a profound influence on modern romantic relationships in the past decade. This dissertation critically reviews empirical literature from the field of new media studies (situated within the broader field of media and communications) that focus on the heightened impact of social media usage in the beginning to maintenance stages of romantic relationships. Moreover, gaps in the current literature are explored, such as limitations in the demographics and romantic relationship stages that are analyzed for data collection. For example, the paucity of published literature regarding how social media affects relationships past once users meet their partners is examined. Furthermore, this review questions the scope and focus of existing empirical case studies as well as highlights the importance of literary representation and the cruciality of diversity in this emerging field. It is important to note that this research is focused specifically on social media (such as Facebook), however, this does not exclude dating websites and applications (such as Tinder) that utilize social media profiles within its algorithms. Ultimately, future research must become more invested in inclusivity, namely who and what is represented both topically and empirically, to allow for more insightful exploration into this burgeoning research area regarding the influence of social media on modern romantic relationships.
Conference Presentations:
October 2020: Downing College, University of Cambridge, Downing Graduate Conference 2020 (Select Research Presenter) - "The Influence of Social Media on Modern Romantic Relationships"
January 2020: Downing College, University of Cambridge, MCR-SCR Seminar Night (Select Main Research Speaker) - "Social Intimacy in an Age of Tech-Inspired-Culture"
For my theses at Columbia University, I created original short films and installations that showcased alternative universes set in the immediate future. These storylines were centered around the modification or mediation of human behavior through fictional technology. For example, “Voices” critiqued the nature of internal transparency and surveillance within society, through the lens of a fictionalized world that mandates its citizens to wear telepathic brain microchips. Likewise, “Remember” focused on the subjective role of memory through the apparatus of glasses that record and playback every one of life’s moments. The goal of these projects was to present the sociological questions that inevitably arise when technology and culture overlap. Hence, I wanted audiences to digest my hypotheses in an engaging, visceral manner (through media) while I visually critiqued our human behavioral and cultural patterns. In my last thesis film “Connection," I focused on social interactivity and the role of self-medication through the framework of bioengineered pills that induce apathy. Live installations that included the utilization of video projection, sculpture, and paintings, such as “Cracked”, “Screens”, and “Body”, were also produced as tangible mixed collages that sought to create said dialogue in the physical sphere. In conclusion, I did not seek to predict the future, but rather to continually analyze and synthesize the influence of technology-inspired-cultures and culture-inspired-technology.
Exhibition: Leroy Neiman Gallery, December 2018, Manhattan, New York.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
2022
Downing College Cambridge Graduate Conference 2020
The Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Twining Egginton 2020 Exhibition
Downing College Cambridge
Cedar Tree Exhibition 2020
Downing College Cambridge
Downing College MCR-SCR Night 2020
Columbia University
2018
Academia
Vimeo
Medium
©Elizabeth Ulanova 2022
