In this episode, we talk with New York–based visual artist Dakota Gearhart about her four-part animated video series Life Touching Life, currently featured in the Projected Ecologies program within the exhibition Pulsar at MUCA in Mexico City. We discuss the show’s algae femme host Tiffany—part toxic bloom, part human—who travels through time to interview scientists, poets, and caretakers about reimagining relationships between human and non-human life. Dakota shares how humor, multiplicity, and collaboration shape the series, blending found footage, analog techniques, and diverse animation styles into speculative, eco-futurist narratives. We also dive into her sculptural practice, the challenges of large-scale installation, the translation of Life Touching Life into multiple languages, and her upcoming public art commission for Flushing Meadows Park. Plus, we hear about the zine that brings the series off-screen and into readers’ hands.
Dakota Gearhart is a New York-based visual artist born in Arizona, raised in Florida, and educated in the Pacific Northwest. Her work has been exhibited, screened, and presented at the New Museum, Bronx Museum, Queens Museum, St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, Tacoma Art Museum, Oregon Contemporary Art Center, Northwest Film Forum, and International House of Japan, among others.

https://www.dakotagearhart.com/
https://newinc.metalabel.com/life-touching-life
https://www.instagram.com/_dakotagearhart/
https://muca.unam.mx/pulsar.html
https://www.lydianstater.co/projected-ecologies
https://www.elisagutierrezeriksen.com/