Sleep and Rest, Dr. Maureen Nappi
by IAWRT USA
It is with deep sorrow that IAWRT USA announces the passing of our longtime member, Dr. Maureen Nappi.
She recently retired as the Professor of Media Theory + CGI and as the Coordinator of the MA + MFA Programs in Media Arts, in the Media Arts Dept, Long Island University in Brooklyn.
It was Friday, June 23rd, at Noon; IAWRT USA president Sheila Dallas-Katzman was on the Safety Training call for IAWRT Afghanistan members when she received a telephone call from a total stranger.
“Is this Sheila Dallas?” She said yes.
“Do you know Maureen Nappi?”
She affirmed and asked, “What happened?”
It seemed like forever, she was anxious to learn the news, which could not be good.
He (introduced himself as Ray) had more questions to which Sheila asked, “Is Maureen alright?” (knowing damn well that she wasn’t).
Ray said, “I am a cousin and she was visiting us for the weekend.” After dinner last night and chatting a little, Maureen told them she was not feeling so good. She retired to bed. She never woke up this morning [Friday morning].
Dr. Maureen Nappi’s work has been exhibited + published internationally at MoMA; IBM Gallery of Science and Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; Bronx Museum of the Arts; the Kitchen/NYC; Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art; Art Futura-Virtual Reality, Barcelona; London Film Festival; ISEA; and several New York Digital Salons, ACM SIGGRAPH Art Exhibitions and CAA conferences. Her multi-screen animation commissions include the video wall (VW) exhibition for the Rose Center for Earth and Space, American Museum of Natural History; the 42 projection cube OS/ VW on-air set for CNBC’s Trade Center Wall, Art Director for HBO’s The MAX Talking HEADROOM Show, and VW animations. She taught two of our founding members who will miss her dearly.
She received her Ph.D. in the Critical Studies Area in the Department of Art and Arts Professions from New York University as an American Association of University Women (AAUW) Doctoral Fellow. Publications include “Drawing w/Digits_Painting w/Pixels: Selected Artworks of the Gesture over 50 Years,” “Lillian F. Schwartz Redux: In Movement, Color and 3D Chromostereoscopy,” “Shulamith Firestone: Cybernetics and Back to a Feminist Future,” “Indubitable Hybridity: Amy Sillman + Charles Bernstein collaborate on Pinky’s Rule.”
Dr. Nappi recently retired as the Professor of Media Theory + CGI and as the Coordinator of the MA + MFA Programs in Media Arts, in the Media Arts Dept, Long Island University in Brooklyn.
For our colleagues and founding members of IAWRT USA chapter, Dorothy and Arshiya, we know you must be impacted by this loss. We send you our warm embrace, holding you tight as death is sweet and kind to those who feel unbearable. Maureen slept. We will miss her. We wait to hear from her cousin about arrangements for the final goodbye.
