Rebecca Cummins explores the sculptural, experiential, and sometimes humorous possibilities of light and natural phenomena, often referencing the history of science and optics in installations that have included a machine for making rainbows, a photographic rifle, paranoid dinner-table devices, and a variety of sculptural and photographic approaches to marking time. Recent investigations incorporate contemporary scientific and medical imaging; she is currently utilizing microscopy in the Wordeman Lab (UW Department of Physiology & Biophysics).
Cummins is active in public art and cross-disciplinary collaborations with artists, scientists, and community partners. Public commissions have been completed for the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (Seattle Public Utilities and the Seattle Public Library Montlake Branch), for the Washington State Arts Commission in partnership with the Western Washington University, and the Exploratorium: Museum of Science, Art and Perception, San Francisco.
Previous exhibitions include Lux’Aeterna, Art Center Nabi @ Asia Culture Center, ISEA, Gwangju, South Korea (2019); Reticula, Concepción Arte y Ciencia Biennial, Concepción, Chile (2019); Biennial of Seville, Spain (2008); Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China (2008); Quay Art Gallery, Images Festival, Toronto (2006); 6th Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai Museum (2006); The Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA, ISEA, Helsinki, Finland, 2004; the South Australia Biennale of Australian Art, Adelaide (2002); and the traveling exhibition ILLUSION: Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (2013-2018).
Recent artist residencies include Bundanon Trust, Nowra, NSW, Australia (2017) and at SymbioticA, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia (2015).
Cummins has taught in the School of Art + Design + Art History since 2001, following 16 years at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Australia.
catalogue: Selected Works 2003-2013
