Maggie
Coblentz is a researcher and artist from Canada. Her work explores a broad range of subjects, including the environment, wildlife, food, and technology. Maggie’s practice has
included Arctic fieldwork, zero gravity flights, and an experiment in the International Space
Station (ISS). Maggie’s research often takes shape as photography,
writing, image-based books, and cooking.
She is the founder and director of Fieldscape, an exploratory interdisciplinary fieldwork platform that has worked with institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and independent researchers on various field campaigns spanning from the high Arctic to the Canary Islands. Maggie was based in Svalbard from 2021-2023 where she established a field school for the MIT Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) and converted her house into a temporary research station for international scientists and artists. Bridging scientific inquiry and artistic expression, Maggie's research programs enhance accessibility to remote research environments. Her previous role at SEI, from 2018 to 2022, explored the intersection of food and culture within the ISS.
Maggie received a Master of Industrial Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been exhibited internationally including Ars Electronica (Austria), MIT Media Lab (US), World Expo 2020 Dubai (UAE), and MAXXI (Italy). She has been invited to speak at institutions including Yale, New York University, Parsons School of Design, Basque Culinary Center, and Berklee College of Music.
She is the founder and director of Fieldscape, an exploratory interdisciplinary fieldwork platform that has worked with institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and independent researchers on various field campaigns spanning from the high Arctic to the Canary Islands. Maggie was based in Svalbard from 2021-2023 where she established a field school for the MIT Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) and converted her house into a temporary research station for international scientists and artists. Bridging scientific inquiry and artistic expression, Maggie's research programs enhance accessibility to remote research environments. Her previous role at SEI, from 2018 to 2022, explored the intersection of food and culture within the ISS.
Maggie received a Master of Industrial Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been exhibited internationally including Ars Electronica (Austria), MIT Media Lab (US), World Expo 2020 Dubai (UAE), and MAXXI (Italy). She has been invited to speak at institutions including Yale, New York University, Parsons School of Design, Basque Culinary Center, and Berklee College of Music.
Exhibitions
2024 Convergence: Artistic Exploration from Nature to Society, National Applied Research Laboratories, curated by Po-hao Chi, Taipei, Taiwan 2023 Rescaling the World, Taipei Music Center, curated by Po-hao Chi, Taipei, Taiwan 2023 Science, Technology, and Society, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, curated by Caitlin Lai, Taipei, Taiwan 2023 Beyond the Cradle, MIT Media Lab, curated by Jess Sousa, Cambridge, US 2023 Technoscape, MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art, curated by Pippo Ciorra (MAXXI Architettura) and Maristella Casciato (Getty Research Institute), Rome, Italy 2022 Gusto! Gli italiani a tavola. 1970-2050, Museo M9 Mestr, curated by Massimo Montanari (Bologna University) and Laura Lazzaroni, Venice, Italy 2022 Beyond the Cradle, MIT Media Lab, curated by Xin Liu (MIT), Cambridge, US 2021 Future of Food Epochal Banquet, Expo 2020 Dubai, curated by Bompas & Parr and Sandra Ross, Dubai, UAE 2020 In Kepler’s Gardens, Ars Electronica, selected by Gerfried Stocker (Artistic Director), Linz, Austria 2019 Beyond the Cradle, MIT Media Lab, curated by Xin Liu (MIT), Cambridge, US 2019 The Future of Food, Usagi Gallery, curated by Julia Buntaine Hoel (SciArt), Brooklyn, US 2019 Out of the Box, Ars Electronica, selected by Gerfried Stocker (Artistic Director), Linz, Austria |
Outreach & Speaking
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2024 Panel, Democratizing Access to Space, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, US 2024 Workshop, Moon Rhymes in the Frost, Artica, Svalbard 2023 Talk, Matsympossium, Oslo, Norway 2023 Talk, MIT, Art Culture & Technology Studio, Cambridge, US 2022 Workshop, International Astronautical Congress, Paris, France 2022 Talk, Trænafestivalen, Træna, Norway 2022 Talk, ArktiskMat, Hurtigruten, Norway 2022 Talk, 3000 Years Among Microbes Workshop, Taipei, Taiwan (virtual) 2021 Talk, International Conference on Environmental Systems, Lisbon, Portugal (virtual) 2021 Lecture, Basque Culinary Center, San Sebastián, Spain 2021 Lecture, RISD, Master of Industrial Design Studio, Providence, US 2021 Lecture, Parsons School of Design, Emigrant Food Futures, NYC, US 2021 Talk, Berklee College of Music, Music & Food, Boston, US 2021 Lecture, New York University, Biodesigning the Future of Food, NYC, US 2019 Workshop, Yale, Prototyping Our SciFi Space Future, New Haven, US 2019 Talk, International Astronautical Congress, Washington, D.C., US 2019 Lecture, RISD, Global Food Challenges, Providence, US 2019 Lecture, RISD, Master of Industrial Design Studio, Providence, US 2019 Lecture, Basque Culinary Center, San Sebastián, Spain 2019 Talk, Emerce eDay, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2019 Workshop, MIT Media Lab, Space Fermentation, Cambridge, US 2018 Workshop, MIT Media Lab, Space Food, Cambridge, US |
Education
2018 Master of Industrial Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, US
2011 Bachelor of Design, Metropolitan University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Residencies
2022 NBK Ny-Ålesund Research Station, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard
2021 Spitsbergen Artists Center, Longyearbyen, Svalbard
2021 Visiting Researcher, Alchemist, Copenhagen, Denmark
Select Press
2020 Algae Caviar, Anyone? What We’ll Eat on the Journey to Mars, March Cover Story, WIRED
2021 Filling the Void, WIRED Japan
2021 What’s it like to design a meal that floats?, MIT The Tech
Please contact for a full CV.