Research/Areas of Interest
mass tourism, the built environment, emerging media, digital futures, AI, immersive video
Education
- Master of Fine Arts, Univ Of Notre Dame, USA, 1998
- BFA, Tufts University, Medford, United States, 1995
Biography
Mat Rappaport is a Chicago-based artist, filmmaker, curator, and educator known for works that utilize documentary film, mobile video, performance, and photography to explore habitation, perception, and power related to built environments. His current documentary film, touristic intents, explores Prora, Germany, a 3 mile long Nazi-designed resort in Prora, Germany. The building, designed to house 20,000 workers, took cues from American industrial titan Henry Ford, and is currently being redeveloped as a contemporary vacation destination. How do we reconcile this monumental architecture's history against modern commercial forces?
Rappaport's work has been exhibited in the United States and internationally in museums, galleries, film festivals, and public spaces. Recent projects have been featured during the 500 Anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, Italy, the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, the 2017 and 2018 Ann Arbor Film Festival, and performances with the Range Mobile Lab at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Block Museum at Northwestern University.
Rappaport's photographic work is included in the Midwest Photographer's Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago and in and at the Newberry Library Protest Art Collection. He has received fellowships from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Howard Foundation, the Mary L. Nohl Fund, the Montgomery County Ohio Cultural District, and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's Center for 21st Century Studies. Rappaport is the Donald W. Klein Professor of the Practioce of Film and Media Studies at Tufts University and a Professor in the School of Film and Television Arts at Columbia College in Chicago.
Rappaport's work has been exhibited in the United States and internationally in museums, galleries, film festivals, and public spaces. Recent projects have been featured during the 500 Anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, Italy, the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, the 2017 and 2018 Ann Arbor Film Festival, and performances with the Range Mobile Lab at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Block Museum at Northwestern University.
Rappaport's photographic work is included in the Midwest Photographer's Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago and in and at the Newberry Library Protest Art Collection. He has received fellowships from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Howard Foundation, the Mary L. Nohl Fund, the Montgomery County Ohio Cultural District, and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's Center for 21st Century Studies. Rappaport is the Donald W. Klein Professor of the Practioce of Film and Media Studies at Tufts University and a Professor in the School of Film and Television Arts at Columbia College in Chicago.