UF Center for Latin American Studies
Venezuelan digital artist will teach "Foundations of Art+Technology" in Fall 2026
June 1, 2026
Venezuelan digital artist Yucef Merhi is the Fall 2026 Kislak Family Foundation Artist in Residence. He will join the Center in the fall to teach the course Foundations of Art+Technology (undergraduate and graduate sections available) and participate in Center activities and mentorship with students. His course will explore how creativity and technology have evolved together to shape the world we live in today, connecting early thinkers like Archimedes and Al-Jazari to pioneers of media and interactive art. Students in the class will develop a piece of art during the course, which will be on display in the University Galleries at the end of the Fall 2026 semester.
View the undergraduate syllabus for Foundations of Art+Technology
View the graduate syllabus for Foundations of Art+Technology
Merhi is the third artist to receive a residency from the Kislak Family Foundation Writer/Artist in Residence program, which was inaugurated at the Center in Fall 2022. Previously, the Center hosted Colombian artist Nicolás Paris in Fall 2025 and Mexican artist Eduardo Abaroa in Fall 2024 as well as two writers, Mexican author Ave Barrera in Fall 2023 and Ecuadorian author Gabriela Alemán in Fall 2022.
Special thank you to the Kislak Family Foundation for their continued support of Latin American arts and literature at the Center with their generous funding of this position!
About Yucef Merhi (b. 1977, Caracas)
Merhi is an artist, video maker, writer, researcher, coder, and a pioneering figure in the field of digital arts. His work engages with poetry, hacking, retro video game platforms, and other media to create interactive experiences and environments while raising cultural awareness. Merhi's work has been exhibited in museums, biennials, galleries, and public spaces, including the New Museum (New York), LACMA (Los Angeles), National Art Gallery (Caracas), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), La Colonie (Paris), and Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul); as well as the 30th Ljubljana Biennial, the 13th Cuenca Biennial, the São Paulo-Valencia Biennial, and the 14th Dakar Biennale, among others.
