Julietta Cheung

Julietta Cheung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Contemporary Practices at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where she teaches Core Studio Practice, Research Studio courses, and Graduate Studio Seminars. Previously, she served as an assistant professor in the Department of Art at Florida State University. Her interdisciplinary work examines contemporary American narratives of the future as interpreted by diverse publics through typographic prints, sculptures, installations, and reading performances.

Her educational background includes:

• MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2012), where she was a New Artists Society Trustees Merit Scholar
• Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University

As a second language user who grew up in Hong Kong during British colonial rule, Cheung is particularly drawn to loosely defined cultural concepts like 'innovation' and 'American' that promise much without clear definitions. Her work mines and unmakes popular writing, buzz terms, and utility objects to explore how language functions as a designed system that shapes cultural understanding. She creates 'reading scenarios' that consider sightlines, reading distances, and angles of view to prompt embodied examination of how collective aspirations become defined through the public sphere.

Cheung's publications reveal consistent exploration of how cultural ideas become naturalized through interpretive standardizations and widespread adoption. Her work investigates the boundaries between participation as activity versus participation as product, challenging assumptions about collaboration in art versus commercial contexts. She examines how spatial circumstances in installations affect meaning-making, particularly in relation to language games, authorship, and reception.

Her notable artistic projects include:

• 'True Exposure' (2012-2013) which replaced 'innovation' with 'true exposure' in search results
• 'If, And, Or, Nor, But' (2015) - fifty-five 3D-printed sculptures exploring language as functional components
• 'Every Voice Contains Walls' (2021) - a hybrid work combining live reading with projected photographs
• 'Consonance' (2021) presented as part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial

Cheung has presented her work at venues including the Poetry Foundation, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, Museo Universitario del Chopo in Mexico City, and partner programs of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. She has participated in artist residencies at the Banff Centre in Canada (2015, 2016) and continues to be an active member of Chicago's art community.