T Braun
2021 – Present – PhD Student in the Humanities, Concordia University
2015 – MFA, Interdisciplinary Art, Montclair State University
2011 –BFA with Honours, Studio Art, University of Manitoba
T Braun is an interdisciplinary artist who creates virtual worlds, drag performances, and interactive installations that challenge binary notions of gender. Their Ph.D. work explores the rich intersections of queer embodiment and VR, a concept they call Virtual Queerality. They are collaborating with trans and non-binary communities in the social VR platform VRChat to build a web VR archive where gender non-conforming people can share their stories, explore new means of virtual embodiment, and envision speculative futures.
Presentations of Research-Creation
2023 Collaborative World Building: Co-creation and Social Engagement in Art and Art Education | Angewandte University of Applied Arts | Vienna, Austria | Presentation: Participatory Research and Collaborative Practices in Social VR
2023 Inhabiting the planet: Challenges for media, communication, and beyond, organized by the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) | Lyon, France | Presentation: Virtual Queerality: Building Speculative Futures Through Virtual Reality
2023 Art Forum lecture series | Montclair State University | Montclair. NJ | Presentation: Welcome to VRChat
2022 Scenographies of Site-Writing & Critical Spatial Practices Across the Americas, organized by Hemispheric Encounters | Concordia University | Montreal, QC | “Queer Digital Practices” Panel Presentation: Building Speculative Futures Through Virtual Reality
2022 9th Emerging Ethical Scholars Symposium, organized by The Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling | Concordia University | Montreal, QC | “Subversive Practices” Panel Presentation: Virtual Queerality: Conducting Field Work in Queer Social VR
2021 The New School for Social Research’s Anthropology & Design Conference | The New School | NYC, NY | Presentation: dermis: An Interactive VR Archive of Skin Stories
2021 De/Reconstructing Gender Through Visual Art, Public Lecture | Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art | Winnipeg, MB
2021 Brighton Digital Festival: Subverting Archives and Digital Spaces | University of Sussex | Brighton, England | Presentation: Embracing the Glitch in Queer Virtual Embodiment
2021 Institute of Visual Communication Digital Conference: Artists at the Digital Border | Institute of Visual Communication | Beirut, Lebanon | Presentation: Virtual Queerality: Liminal Digital Queerness
Selected Exhibition + Performance History
2022 Villain Edit | Club Cumming | Manhattan, NY
2022 Metaternity | Practice Gallery | Philadelphia, PA
2022 Mythos | The Diving Bell | Montreal, QC
2022 Confluence: Tradition in Contemporary Art | Sichuan Arts Institute | Chongqing, China
2022 Pink Lines: Enacting the Translocal | Queer Summer Institute | York University | Digital Cabaret
2021 Life is Drag | The Cell Theater | NYC, NY
2021 Exponential Festival | The Brick Theater | Brooklyn, NY
2021 In 7 Experimental Video Residency and screening | Gardenship Art Center | Kearny, NJ
2020 Memories of the year 2030 | Walker Art Center | Minneapolis, MS
2019 Lupercalia | Talon Bar | Brooklyn, NY
2019 SalON! | Vital Joint | Brooklyn, NY
2017 Crossing the Line | Eastern Mennonite University | Harrisonburg, VA
2016 Who From Below video installation | Catharine Clark Gallery | San Francisco, CA
2016 Ecohack 2016: The Temple of Taste and Remembrance | presented aboard SWALE: floating edible food forest | Brooklyn, NY
2015 Out of the Ash | Glasshouse LifeArtLab | Brooklyn, NY
2014 Nuit Blanche 2014: Reheading | La Petite Mort Gallery | Ottawa, ON
2013 My Winnipeg | Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art | Winnipeg, MB
Publications + Press
2023. Protopian Glitching in Social VR | Cronos Journal | Queer/cuir Constellations and transmedia circulations in the Americas: Aesthetic Practises and Performative Dimension
2021 Virtual Queerality | Take Shape Magazine | Cyberspace Issue | January 2021.
2019 Ridgewood-Based Canadian takes on American Politics through Drag Performance | Bushwick Daily | October 25, 2019.
Art Collectives + Curatorial Work
2022 – Co-curator for The Coop: A HEN Hangout | Hemispheric Encounters
2019 – 2021 Drag/Genderf*ck Curator at The Brick Theater
2017 – 2021 Member of AWFUL Wrestling performance collective
2015 – 2020 Founding member of Asylos performance art collective
2015 – Co-founder of sacra performance duo (with Ayodamola Okunseinde)
