My practice questions the world we inhabit and envisions the one we will leave behind. Through collaborations and choreographed interactions with living and non-living systems, I construct performative sculptures and installations that incorporate familiar objects interacting in unfamiliar ways to challenge the framework of our present reality. Reflecting on my background in research science, I combine elements of scientific investigation and material exploration to consider the politics of ecology, one of constant change (inevitable decay, reconstitution, and regeneration). My time-based works synthesize elements of environmental ecology with Zen poetics to explore the interconnected nature of our material world. Creative explorations emerge from research which spans fossil records, current socio-political events, and science fiction speculative futures to inspect the contemporary moment through the context of vast timescales, forward and back. Experimental play transforms into poetic contemplation as I embed organic materials, such as molted cicada shells, bleached brain coral, and sensitive plants, within a synthetic world of antifreeze, polystyrene, and the magenta glow of LED grow lights to render the uncanny nature of our present reality. I collect, deconstruct, and recombine everyday materials to create work that reflects on the existential trauma of our persistent environmental anxiety. These ephemeral constructions allude to their impermanence and, by proxy, our own.

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Christopher Lin is a Brooklyn-based artist and educator with a background in research science. Fueled by a lifelong obsession with fossils, his experimental installations, sculptures, and performances question the world we inhabit and envision the one we will leave behind. Often collaborating with non-human organisms and wider ecologies, his time-based works synthesize elements of environmental ecology with Zen poetics to explore the interconnected nature of our material world.

After receiving a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Hunter College, Lin received the C12 Emerging Artist Award in 2016. He has shown work and performed throughout New York City, including at: SVA Curatorial Practice, ABC No Rio, Recess Art, Flux Factory, Wave Hill, the United Nations Headquarters, the Bronx Museum, and the Queens Museum. He was a 2020 Bronx Museum AIM Emerging Artist Fellow, a 2022 Wave Hill Winter Workspace Artist-in-Residence, and a 2023 Swale Lab + Urban Soils Resident Artist. He currently teaches at Hunter College and Parsons, The New School and is co-director of the research-based artist collective, Sprechgesang Institute.