JOERILEY.WORK




joriley@ucsd.edu
@pleasedontfront
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Photo: Natalie Conn

  Joe Riley is an artist, historian, and Ph.D. candidate at UC San Diego Visual Arts in a joint environmental research program with Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. 

  Joe’s research has recently been supported by the Getty Scholars Program, a UCSD Rita L. Atkinson Fellowship, and the UC Humanities Research Institute. His dissertation, Fixing the Sea: Case Studies Toward A Critical Environmental History of Ocean Art and Science since 1970, foregrounds and critically examines histories and practices of interaction between artists, oceanographers, and marine life situated within California’s university-military-research complex.

  From 2020–2025 Joe has been a participating artist and co-curator for the Pacific Standard Time exhibition Embodied Pacific, featuring projects by thirty artists working with researchers in laboratories, field sites, and archives in Southern California and the Pacific Islands. 

  Previously, he was an Ocean Fellow with TBA21-Academy and participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program. Joe holds a BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art and has taught at UC San Diego, Cal State San Marcos, Stevens Institute of Technology, and The Cooper Union.
ABOUT




Photo: Natalie Conn



Joe Riley (b. 1990, Richmond, Virginia) is an artist, historian, and Ph.D. candidate at UC San Diego Visual Arts in a joint environmental research program with Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. His dissertation, Fixing the Sea: Case Studies Toward A Critical Environmental History of Ocean Art and Science since 1970, foregrounds and critically examines histories and practices of interaction between artists, oceanographers, and marine life situated within California’s university-military-research complex.

Since 2019, Joe has been a participating artist and co-curator for a Getty PST ART: Art and Science Collide partnership between UCSD Visual Arts and the Birch Aquarium. On view in 2024-2025, the PST ART exhibition Embodied Pacific features projects by thirty artists working with researchers in laboratories, field sites, and archives in Southern California and the Pacific Islands. The project invites immersive engagement in oceanography, Indigenous design, and critical craft through exhibitions, workshops, and programs at six interrelated venues. 

As an artist, Joe designs and builds large-scale sculptural installations that reverse-engineer vessels and instruments such as cars and boats and infrastructures such as railroads and maritime shipping networks. His collaborative work with Audrey Snyder and the collective Futurefarmers has been exhibited at venues including Clockshop (Los Angeles), Socrates Sculpture Park (New York), Artes Mundi 7 (Wales), and Sharjah Biennale 13.

In 2025-26 Joe’s research is supported by a Getty Scholar’s Program Predoctoral Fellowship and a UCSD Rita L. Atkinson Fellowship. His scholarship has also received support from UC Humanities Research Institute, Wildland-Urban Interface Climate Action Network, Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts, and UCSD Nature, Space & Politics. In 2021-22, Joe was a Fellow of the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego, researching the hydro-ethics of race and gender and the problem of documentation in oceanography. Previously, he was an Ocean Fellow with TBA21-Academy’s Ocean Space in Venice, Italy and a participant in the Whitney Independent Study Program. 

Joe is a rank-and-file organizer with the UC graduate student workers union UAW 4811. He holds a BFA from The Cooper Union and has taught at UC San Diego, CalState San Marcos, The Cooper Union School of Art, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Bruce High Quality Foundation University.


CONTACT:

joriley@ucsd.edu
@pleasedontfront
linktr.ee/joeriley
MAILING LIST:

CV
*last updated: May 2025
EDUCATION


2019-presentPh.D. Candidate, Art History & Art Practice, UC San Diego Visual Arts 
Program for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research, Center for Marine Biodiversity & Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography 
2016-17Whitney Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum of American Art 
2009-13The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, School of Art, BFA 
POSITIONS


2025-26Getty Residential Scholar, Getty Center, Los Angeles
2023-25Associate Instructor, UC San Diego
2024-24Lecturer, Cal State San Marcos
2023Graduate Student Co-Coordinator, UCSD Nature, Space, & Politics2019-24Graduate Researcher & Teaching Assistant, UC San Diego
2018-19Adjunct Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology
2014-19Adjunct Instructor, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
FELLOWSHIPS & AWARDS
2025Getty Residential Scholar Fellowship, Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA

Rita L. Atkinson Graduate Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Studies, UC San Diego

Friends of the International Center Endowed Fellowship, Ruth Newmark Award, UC San Diego

Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts Fellowship, UC San Diego

Russell Grant, Visual Arts Department, UC San Diego

La Verne Noyes Foundation Scholarship, UC San Diego 

2024Interdisciplinary Research Award, Graduate Student Association, UC San Diego

Climate Action Training & Dissertation Fellowship, UC Humanities Research Institute

Summer Institute in Environmental Humanities Fellowship, Colby College, Maine

Freida Daum Urey Fellowship, UC San Diego

La Verne Noyes Foundation Scholarship, UC San Diego 
2023Kenneth & Dorothy Hill Research Fellowship, UC San Diego

Visual Arts Department Tuition & Fees Scholarship, UC San Diego

Getty Research Library Grant Recipient, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA

La Verne Noyes Foundation Scholarship, UC San Diego 

2022International Institute Graduate Research and Travel Grant, UC San Diego

Graduate Student Fellow, “Institutional Failure as Global Leadership,” UC Humanities Research Institute 

Co-recipient for “Humanistic Approaches to Coastal Crises: a Multicampus Graduate Student Working Group,” UC Humanities Research Institute

2021Institute for Practical Ethics Graduate Student Fellowship, UC San Diego
2020Ocean Fellow, TBA21-Academy Ocean Space, Venice, Italy

Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant, Los Angeles, CA

International Institute Graduate Research & Travel Grant, UC San Diego

2019Competitive EDGE Fellowship, UC San Diego

2019Competitive EDGE Fellowship, UC San Diego

2018Socrates Sculpture Park Emerging Artist Fellowship, Queens, NY

Interdisciplinary Art & Theory Program Fellow, New York, NY

2017Art & Law Program Fellow, New York, NY

2013Service to the School Award, Cooper Union School of Art
PUBLICATIONS

2026Cartwright, Lisa, Nan Renner, Joe Riley, eds. Oceanographic Art and Science: Navigating the Pacific (Bloomsbury, London). [forthcoming]
2024Review of King, Richard J. Ocean Bestiary: Meeting Marine Life from Abalone to Orca to Zooplankton. H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. March, 2024. [PDF]  
2023“Militarized Seaweeds,” in Holding Sway: Seaweeds and the Politics of Form, a special edition of UCHRI Foundry, eds. Melody Jue and Maya Weeks, Spring 2023. [link]
2022“Density Gradient Chemostat for Adapted Laboratory Evolution,” co-inventor with Bowman Lab, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, US Provisional Patent Application, No. 63/344,498, May 2022.
2021“The Enigma of Waves,” in Oceans Rising, ed. Daniela Zyman, Sternberg Press, May 2021.[link]  
2020“The Pencil of Nature: Tracing Intertidal Media through the Development of Early Photography,” in tba: Journal of Art, Media, and Visual Culture, issue #2, University of Western Ontario, December 2020. [PDF]

“Ocean Fellowship: The Chain Interview,” eds. Markus Reymann and Daniela Zyman, in Ocean Archive, TBA-21 Academy, 2020. https://ocean-archive.org/view/1464.

2019“Wastestreaming.” Urban Omnibus, Architectural League of NY, October 2, 2019. http://urbanomnibus.net/2019/10/wastestream/.

“Country End Near, Country End Far,” in FREE TRADE OR ELSE, ed. Laurie Robins, South London Gallery, May 2019.[PDF]
2018“the enigma of...”, artist’s essay in Unbag Magazine, Vol. 2, Winter, 2018. [PDF]
2017“Interview: Future Farmers.” Contemporary Art Stavanger (blog), May 5, 2017. https://www.contemporaryartstavanger.no/interview-future-farmers/.
2014ZAHOPLENNYA Catalog, Izolyatsia Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv, Ukraine, Summer 2017.https://izolyatsia.org/en/project/zahoplennya.
2013“Parallel Cases: a story,” article and interview with Joe Riley and Audrey Snydey, Boneshaker Magazine, July 2013.

2012“Parallel Cases,” article and interview with Joe Riley and Audrey Snydey, written by Caroline Frayser, Treadlie Magazine, December 2012.

“Parallel Cases,” Joe Riley and Audrey Snyder, letterpress printed artist book, edition of 50.
EXHIBITIONS & RESIDENCIES


2025In Plain View: Transforming Freshkills from Landfill to Landscape, Aronson Gallery, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY 
Artist-in-Residence aboard R/V Sally Ride Research Cruise: Characterizing Santa Lucia Escarpment: Linking Bottom-Up Processes to Marine Biodiversity in a Proposed National Marine Sanctuary, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD
2024Embodied Pacific: Ocean Unseen, Getty Pacific Standard Time Exhibition, UCSD & Birch Aquarium at Scripps

Social Sediment, group show curated by Dane Nakayama and gene aguilar magaña, New Wight Gallery, UCLA

2022The Mothership Artists Residency, Yto Barrada & ArtAngel, Tangier, Morocco

Fruiting Bodies, participating artist with Futurefarmers, group exhibition curated by Sam Rauch, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY

Artists' Research Laboratory, Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy
2021Climate Changing: On Artists, Institutions, and the Social Environment, participating artist with Futurefarmers, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH

A World Without Us, Art Practice Ph.D. Student & Candidate Exhibition, Visual Arts Facility Commons Gallery, UC San Diego

Freshkills Park Field R/D Virtual Exhibition, curated by Dylan Gauthier and Mariel Villeré, online

2020Into the ground, permanent installation at The Courts, Borrego Springs, CA

2019A public appearance, Art Practice Ph.D. Student & Candidate Exhibition, University Art Gallery, UC San Diego 
Into the Ground: Los Angeles, Clockshop, The Bowtie Project, Los Angeles, CA

Cooper Union Alumni Exhibition, Fish House, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

2018The Socrates Annual, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY

2017Sharjah Biennale 13, participating artist with Futurefarmers, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Resistance After Nature, participating artist with Futurefarmers, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College

Futurefarmers: Arrange participating artist with Futurefarmers, Hunter East Harlem Gallery, NY 

Reconstruir, group exhibition, Cooper Union, New York, NY

Freshkills Field R/D Artist Residency, NYC Parks & Freshkills Park Alliance, New York, NY

2016Artes Mundi 7, participating artist with Futurefarmers, National Museum Cardiff, United Kingdom

ALT/FUTURE: A Video Screening aboard SWALE, curated by BiomeArts, Brooklyn, NY

SCAM, curated by Erica Lyle, Wayfarer Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2015Guest Artist Residency, participating artist with Futurefarmers, University of Wisconsin Interdisciplinary Program, Madison, WI

Flatbread Society: Soil Procession, participating artist with Futurefarmers, Oslo, Norway

Left Coast: California Political Art, participating artist with Futurefarmers, CUNY James Gallery, NY

2014Our Education!?, an exhibition with Free Cooper Union, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY

ZAHOPLENNYA, Izolyatsia Platform for Culture Initiatives, Kyiv, Ukraine
2013The Politics of Destruction, performance with Free Cooper Union, e-flux, New York, NY

Free Cooper Union Residency, Bruce High Quality Foundation University, New York, NY 

Free Ride, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY

CONFERENCES & SYMPOSIA 

2025Keynote: “Ocean Art Practice & Critical Environmental History: Visualizing Algae & Ballast as Passengers of Change,” Blue Visions: Thinking with Ocean Ecologies across the Arts and Humanities, Center for Environmental Futures, Oregon Humanities Center, University of Oregon, May 2025.

Displacement & Reparation: Climate, Labor, & Migration Justice Symposium, co-organizer and panelist, presented by UCSD Nature, Space, and Politics, February 2025.

2024“Ocean Art History and Critical Infrastructure Studies: Visualizing Liquid Ballast,” IN THE BURROW: Critical Approaches to Infrastructure, UC Irvine, February, 2024,

Ocean Art History and Critical Ecological Practice: Visualizing Algae as a Passenger of Change, Getty Graduate Symposium, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, February 2024.

2023 “Passengers of Change: Co-laboratories for Ocean Art & Science,” When Species Travel Panel, organized by Jonathan Galka and Anthony Medrano, Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Meeting, Honolulu, HI, November 2023.

Horizon Seaweed panel and workshop; co-sponsored by UCSD Nature, Space & Politics Group and Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation; La Jolla, CA, June 2, 2023.

2022Beall Center Art + Ecologies Series: Ocean Research-Creation Panel; Organized by Lauren Lees and Raechel Jasmine Hill; Moderated by Jesse Colin Jackson; Sponsored by UCI Illuminations, UC Irvine, April 11, 2022.

“Paraschools & the Free Cooper Union Movement,” Visiting Designer Lecture, Higher Institute for Artistic Industries (ISAI), Urbino, Italy.

2021“Canoes, Conservation, and Computation,” Getty PST Ocean Prototype Nights Panel, UCSD Design Lab,San Diego, CA, Noevemebr 18, 2021.
2020“Tracing Intertidal Media through the Development of Early Photography,” Interdisciplinary Humanities Graduate Conference: The Production of Space and its Interdisciplinary Study, April, 2020.

“The Engima Of Waves,” part of Soluble Geographies of the Equatorial Pacific, contributor and panelist, TBA-21 Academy Ocean Space, June 17, 2020

Introductory notes and facilitation for Finding Perspective: Looking through the waters of the North Atlantic, contributor and panelist, TBA-21 Academy Ocean Space, June 10, 2020.

Conversation with Yto Barrada and Omar Berrada, Mnemonic Ocean: Monsoons, Memory, and Atlantic Movements, contributor and panelist, TBA-21 Academy Ocean Space, June 25, 2020.


2018“Wastestreaming: Convening the Commons,” presentation and panel discussion with Freshkills Field R/D, Queens Museum International, Queens, NY

“Waste Time: Breakdown, Decay, and Regeneration,” 8th Floor Artist Talk and Panel Discussion, Rubin Foundation, New York, NY

“Wastestreaming,” Open Engagement Conference Panel, Queens Museum, NY

“Freshkills Park Showcase & Panel Presentation,” New Art Dealers Alliance, New York, NY
2015“Radio Chain,” Panel: Ukraine Report, with Clemens Poole and Olena Chervonik, 266w25st, New York
SCHOLARLY & UNIVERSITY SERVICE

2024Participant in CSU’s Teaching Climate Change & Resilience Faculty Learning Community  

2023Graduate Student Co-Coordinator, UCSD Nature, Space, & Politics Working Group, Annual theme: “Climate Change, Displacement and Reparation” 

2022Visual Arts Department Steward, UC-UAW 4811 Graduate Student Workers Union

Graduate Student Co-organizer for Visual Arts PhD Candidate Colloquium

2021Graduate Student Representative to the Visual Arts Department Faculty

Graduate Student Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Forum for Environmental Research, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

2020Graduate Student Representative to Visual Arts Admission Committee