Megan Euker, 2022-23 Fulbright Scholar, Curates Exhibition at The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, April 25, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- From May 12, 2023 to July 23rd, the distinguished institution will be the venue for two-time U.S./Italy Fulbright recipient Megan Euker’s latest curatorial exhibition. Euker is an Italian and American artist and designer. The exhibition will include students whom she has taught and mentored from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Siracusa, Sicily where Euker completed her second Fulbright project, “Sangue Tira,” Italian for “blood pulls.” The presentation will also include select projects from her students at the University of South Florida, Tampa and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Euker is the acclaimed Project Manager at San Rocco Therapeutics (SRT), a pharmaceutical company dedicated to curing Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia. SRT is headquartered in both Tampa and Italy. Through collaboration with leading universities, SRT is dedicated to providing the safest, most affordable gene therapy to cure patients of “orphan diseases.” Orphan diseases are those which typically lack research because of lack of financial incentive.

Euker’s six month Fulbright scholar project included research related to her work with SRT, and teaching Design in Sicily at the Mediterranean Arts & Design Program (MADE), Accademia di Belle Arti Siracusa.

In part, what makes this anticipated presentation so special is that it amalgamates Euker’s artistic talents with her responsibilities at SRT. Her work as SRT project manager, artist, and teacher all have the goal of increasing accessibility of therapies, treatments, bettering lives and ultimately curing patients.

Euker’s students unanimously received recognition through the Rarinsieme Project/Scienza Partecipata, https://www.scienzapartecipata.it/project/bodies-iii/, coordinated through Italy’s National Center for Rare Diseases and the Institute of Higher Health. The honor is due to the invention and realization of the aforementioned projects. The Rarinsieme initiative recognizes designers’ projects conceptualized to improve the quality of life, especially for those facing challenges (often medical in nature).

One project in the exhibition is “Tendon Management.” These are braces designed to prevent ligament pulling and shoulder dislocation throughout the day. In addition, these braces are designed to be fashionable and act similar to a harness as an accessory. Living with disability aids often means being forced to use braces for utility rather than aesthetics, which leaves many people discouraged by the sterile medical look. The artist, Shauna Miller, describes, “I wanted to bridge the gap between fashion and necessity with these aids.”

Another example is Imagine, created by Sicilian student Giulia Gringeri. The project was created to help people with specific learning disabilities through the use of a device that allows you to imagine what you are listening to and reading through a sequence of images. The Imagine cube is used to scan the text of a book thanks to the scanner located on the lower side of the cube. After scanning the text and identifying a theme, the device chooses keywords and searches the internet for images that can explain and illustrate the topic.

This will be the third exhibition that Euker has curated at the museum on this theme. The opening reception at the museum will be Friday, May 12, 2023 from 6-8 pm. There will be a public event at the museum with Euker on Saturday, June 3, 2023 (see https://imss.org/ for details). Apart from the exhibition, Euker will also be participating in a panel discussion on bioethics at the museum in relation to Bernard Friedman’s documentary Nof1 on June 1, 2023.

A great debt of gratitude goes to the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago. The museum is located at 1524 N Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Il, 60610.

Links:

BODIES III at the International Museum of Surgical Science

Catalog for the exhibition

Megan Euker’s website

Aurora DeRose
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