Claire Pentecost

Claire Pentecost serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where her practice interrogates institutional frameworks governing knowledge production through interdisciplinary methodologies.

Her research critically examines the natural/artificial boundary with concentrated focus on agricultural systems, bio-engineering ethics, and corporate power structures. Pentecost co-founded Compass to organize public hearings targeting Monsanto Corporation activities and maintains long-term collaborations with Critical Art Ensemble, Brian Holmes, and the late Beatriz daCosta on globalization-themed seminars. Recent exhibitions at dOCUMENTA(13), Whitechapel Gallery, and the 13th Istanbul Biennial reflect her international engagement with art-science interfaces.

Active in collective frameworks including 16Beaver and Compass, Pentecost develops participatory models that challenge institutional authority through public discourse and artistic intervention, emphasizing the political dimensions of scientific practice.