Erin Johnson & Maia Chao

Maia Chao and Erin Johnson received the 2026 UVP Residential Commission and will be in-residence at Light Work in July 2026 to work on their project Water Lift (working title), a site-specific video work addressing the lead crisis in Syracuse and exploring water as a symbol of and requirement for life, water as a human right, and water as a resource to be stewarded. 

As part of the piece, the artists plan to collaborate with young writers in the co-creation of a script that interweaves mythology, environmental science, and lived experience. This collaborative narrative will be combined with imagery shot on location around the region, from the pristine waters of Syracuse’s municipal water source, Skaneateles Lake, to the failing inner-city infrastructure that is the source of contamination.

About the Artists

Erin Johnson is a video artist based in NYC. She is a 2024 Working Artist Fellow at Pioneer Works. She has attended residences at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Jan van Eyck Academie, Lower Manhattan Community Council, Hidrante, and Lighthouse Works. Her videos have been exhibited or screened at e-flux, Rencontres Internationales de Paris/Berlin, BIENALSUR 2023, MoCA Toronto, Munchmuseet,  Times Square Arts, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Billytown (The Hague), and REDCAT. She is the Undergraduate Director of the Studio Art Program at New York University.

Artist’s website: erinjohnson.online

Maia Chao is a Philadelphia-based artist whose collaborative work spans social practice, performance, and video. Her commissions include The Shed, MoMA Education, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She has also presented work at the RISD Museum, Bronx Museum, Oregon Contemporary, Mural Arts Philadelphia, and Boston Center for the Arts. Chao has participated in residencies at Pioneer Works, Fine Arts Work Center, and Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. She was a 2022-23 Pew Fellow and is currently Public Artist-in-Residence at the Times Square Arts. She teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Artist’s website: maiachao.com

About the UVP Residential Commission

This piece is being created as part of the UVP Residential Media Arts Commission program. Chao and Johnson’s proposal was selected from an open call by a jury that included past UVP commissioned artist Adam Khalil of New Red Order and scholar, independent curator, archivist, and Assistant Professor of Film History, Film Preservation and Collection Management at Toronto Metropolitan University, Almudena Escobar López.

Related Exhibition

Coming to UVP in Spring 2027…

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