Patrick Lichty
Education
- MFA: Digital Art (virtual and augmented reality, interactive art, physical computing, and imaging) | Bowling Green State University (2006)
- BSEET: Electronic Engineering Technology | University of Akron (1990)
- ASEET: Electronic Engineering Technology | University of Akron (1985)
- Additional study in glass and art history at Kent State University
Personal Statement
I am a media artist, writer, curator, and educator whose work investigates how technologies and systems of mediation shape perception, identity, and social reality.
Across more than 3 decades, I have worked with virtual and augmented reality, generative artificial intelligence, interactive installation, animation, video, physical computing, networked performance, and digital fabrication.
In the classroom, I combine critical inquiry with hands-on experimentation, encouraging students to take creative risks, test ideas through prototyping, and understand emerging technologies not simply as tools, but as cultural systems with ethical, political, and aesthetic consequences.
Professional Statement
Since 2021, I have taught Creative Digital Media at Winona State University. Previous academic appointments include Zayed University, the American University of Sharjah, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Columbia College Chicago, where I coordinated Media Theory and Emergent Practices, the Fab Lab, and the Virtual Worlds Initiative.
My creative and scholarly work has appeared internationally in exhibitions and festivals including the Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale, Yokohama Triennale, and Sundance Film Festival. I co-founded the virtual performance collective Second Front, worked as an animator and associate with The Yes Men, and served for a decade as editor-in-chief of Intelligent Agent for Christiane Paul, Senior Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
My current research addresses algorithmic art, artificial intelligence, immersive environments, virtual narratology, and the evolving relationship between human and machine creativity.
Courses Taught
- MCOM 172: Print and Web Production
- MCOM 202: Creativity and Innovation
- MCOM 210: Visual Communication
- MCOM 271: Interactive Environments
- MCOM 280: Principles of Media Literacy
- MCOM 305: Mass Media History
- MCOM 307: Creative Digital Media Lab
- MCOM 316: Experimental Visual Communication
- MCOM 349: Advanced Audio-Video Production
- MCOM 371: Advanced Interactive Environments