Rate My Professor Robert Spahr

Robert Spahr serves as Associate Professor with tenure and Director of the School of Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, within the College of Arts and Media. A Media Arts scholar and artist, he earned his Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Parsons School of Design in New York City in 1991, graduating magna cum laude, and his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 1988, also magna cum laude. Spahr joined SIU Carbondale in 2009 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Cinema and Photography, advancing to Associate Professor in 2015. He has held key administrative roles, including Acting Interim Chair of the Departments of Radio, Television and Digital Media and Cinema and Photography (2020-2021), Interim Director of the School of Media Arts (2021-2023), and current Director since 2023. Previously, he taught as adjunct and visiting faculty at SUNY Purchase College, University of the Arts, Hartford Art School, and Dowling College, and accumulated over ten years in industry as a web developer, usability designer, and project manager at firms like About.com, Global Education Network, and Siegel+Gale. From 1994 to 1998, Spahr co-founded Expanded Arts in New York City, where he directed over 300 productions as artistic director.

Spahr's academic interests center on computational art, generative and procedural art processes, genetic algorithms, free/open source software, free culture, mobile media, time-based media, and live art. His creative output includes code-based automated art, live performances, drawings, paintings, and sculptures that probe the Internet's nature and societal impacts through series like CRUFT, reflecting themes of information overload, uncertainty, and cultural networks. Notable publications encompass "The Slow Cancellation of the Future" (GASATHJ, 2020), "Defending Uncertainty: The Creative Process and Generative Art" (Generative Art Conference, 2021), "CRUFT: Recent Explorations in Indeterminacy, Materiality and the Ephemeral" (GA2012), and "Generative Art from Digital Leftovers" (GA2010). His works have appeared in exhibitions worldwide, such as Re-Fest Festivals at CultureHub, La Mama (2022-2023), Generative Art Conferences in Italy, and Manifest Drawing Center. Awards include the Illinois SCOERs Open Educational Resources Grant ($59,990, 2022), Unknown Territory Fellowship (2014), GNU Free Software Foundation Grant (2013), and Special Mention Jury Award at the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (2014). Spahr contributes to university governance through roles on the Faculty Senate, Graduate Council, Promotion and Tenure Committee, and various search committees, and teaches courses including New Media Production, History of New Media, and Generative Art.