Virtual Artist-in-Residence Claudia Berger

We’re delighted to welcome Claudia Berger as Scholars’ Lab Virtual Artist-in-Residence!

Berger will virtually present their data quilt project, “Footpath for the People?”, on 4/15/2025. The event will be a hybrid one, with a viewing of the completed data quilt installed in the lab following the Zoom talk, for those able to attend in-person.

Berger describes their planned project: “This quilt will explore the Appalachian Trail and who this ‘public’ resource was actually designed for. It will look at the history of the trail and through-hikers like Emma Gatewood, who popularized the trail, as well as how it was created and how it is used today. In particular the project will explore how the trail intersects with histories of race, gender, and Indigenous rights of both the trail as a whole and in the specific states is passes through. The quilt will be paired with a zine that will connect viewers to more information and resources about the trail.”

To read about related past work, please see Berger’s and collaborator Gabriella Evergreen’s recent data embodiment project “Pockets of Information”.

Claudia Berger is the Digital Humanities Librarian at Sarah Lawrence College and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute’s School of Information. Their research centers on digital environmental humanities and how we can use digital methods to tell stories about the environment, as well as data physicalization.

More details and registration information to come later in December or January, for this Spring 2025 event.