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DETROIT — Michigan Central Art and Newlab Detroit present Interface, an exhibition of new work by the Creative Residency, 2025 Art + Technology Fellows: Nicolás Kisic Aguirre (Mexico City/Lima), Salam Rida (Detroit), and Ananda Ray (Detroit). On view April 9-11, 2026, the presentation brings together three practices that explore technology’s role in shaping memory, labor, and community. Interface is the inaugural public exhibition of the Art + Technology Fellowship, marking the culmination of a six-month residency in which artists work within the Michigan Central and Newlab innovation ecosystem. 

Art + Technology Fellowship 

Developed by Michigan Central Art in partnership with Newlab Detroit, this residency-based program is one of the few of its kind in the U.S., supporting creative practitioners whose work engages art, technology, and civic life. Structured through distinct fellowship tracks, it advances research, experimentation, and public engagement through funding, fabrication resources, and cross-sector support. The Art + Technology Fellowship, now in its second year, is the inaugural track within the program and is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. 

 

Art + Technology Fellows 2025 

Nicolás Kisic Aguirre — Disobedient Robots 

Design and Prototyping Fellow 

Disobedient Robots ask: What if machines were built for curiosity rather than efficiency? Rooted in desobediencia tecnológica, a concept introduced by Cuban artist and designer Ernesto Oroza, the project operates as both research platform and artistic framework. Kisic Aguirre proposes robots as active participants in open dialogue around ethics and alternative technological futures, inviting audiences to consider who designs technology and what it might look like if built differently. 

Nicolás Kisic Aguirre is an artist and researcher exploring robotics, autonomy, and technological resistance. Drawing from critical art and design traditions across Latin America, their practice challenges dominant narratives of efficiency and control, proposing alternative futures grounded in experimentation and agency.

 

Ananda Ray — Held in Sight 

Data and Privacy Fellow 

Held in Sight positions AI as a witness rather than an author, facilitating conversations about Black culture in Detroit through real-time presence detection and synchronized LED visuals. Visitors activate memories as they move through the space, where the spoken memories of Detroit community members are brought to life within a volumetric LED display. The work transforms observation into reciprocal reflection, ensuring participants leave as remembered voices.

Ananda Ray is an interdisciplinary artist working across AI, immersive installation, and community practice. Their work critically examines surveillance and data systems while building alternative technological frameworks rooted in Black-centered design, memory, and collective agency.
  

Salam Rida — Portal 

Curatorial Fellow 

Portal is a mobile civic engagement studio housed in an 18-by-6-foot aluminum trailer inspired by Detroit’s automotive legacy and fabricated by Newlab Detroit member Beacon MFG. Traveling directly into neighborhoods, Portal creates space for residents to record oral histories, co-design maps, and engage community issues together. Grounded in the Urban Pulse framework, which centers residents’ rhythms, memory, and voice, the project’s current phase maps the impact of arts investment, transforming everyday storytelling into a powerful tool for advocacy and community-led change.

Salam Rida is a designer and civic artist working at the intersection of storytelling, public policy, and community infrastructure. Her practice centers participatory design as a tool for equity, building platforms that translate lived experience into collective action and systemic change.

 

Interface — Overview 

April 9–11, 2026 

Newlab Detroit, 2050 15th Street, Detroit, MI  

Exhibition:  April 9–11

Free admission; advance registration is required here. 

  • Thursday, April 9: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM (Media Day) 
  • Friday, April 10: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM
  • Saturday, April 11: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM 

 

Saturday, April 11 — Public Program and Reception 

Free admission; separate registration required for the public program here. 

On Saturday, the exhibition is accompanied by a public program featuring individual artist presentations followed by a panel conversation with all three fellows, moderated by Rafael Villares, Assistant Professor and Area Head in Sculpture in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at Michigan State University. A special announcement will be made during the reception.  

  • Exhibition Open to Public — 11 AM–2:30 PM 
  • Panel Conversation with all three fellows, moderated by Rafael Villares — 2:30–4:00 PM 
  • Closing Reception — 4:00–6:00 PM 

 

About Michigan Central Art 

Michigan Central Art is the cultural nonprofit of Michigan Central, dedicated to ensuring that art and creative innovation remain central to the district’s growth. Through residencies, public art, and talks, it fosters public engagement across art, design, technology, and society. Learn more at michigancentral.com/michigan-central-art-program/.

About Michigan Central 

Michigan Central is a 30-acre technology and cultural hub in Detroit, where leaders, thinkers, communities, and creators come together to accelerate bold ideas and technologies that shape our collective future. By providing access to world-class infrastructure, tools, and resources, Michigan Central inspires innovators and community members to collaborate on real, ground-breaking solutions to global problems. Since opening in April 2023, Michigan Central has grown into a diverse ecosystem of nearly 250 companies and startups working at the intersection of mobility, technology, and society. Learn more at michigancentral.com. 

About Newlab 

Newlab is a venture platform for critical technology startups transforming core industrial sectors. We help startups commercialize faster by aligning Infrastructure, Projects, and Capital in locations with strategic advantages. Newlab operates 5 innovation hubs globally and manages active pilot programming in additional regions. To date, Newlab has partnered with over 50 industry and government leaders and has supported its 400+ member companies in raising over $5.8B from venture capital firms, with over $2.3B of successful exits and a collective valuation of over $20B. Visit newlab.com to learn more.