Jennifer Monson uses choreographic practice as a means to discover connections between environmental, philosophical and aesthetic approaches to knowledge and understandings of our surroundings. She creates large-scale dance projects informed and inspired by phenomena of the natural and the built environment. Her projects include BIRD BRAIN (2000-2006), iMAP/Ridgewood Reservoir (2007) Mahomet Aquifer Project (2009), SIP(sustained immersive process)/watershed (2010), Live Dancing Archive Vol. I & II (2012 and 2014), in tow (2015) and bend the even (2018). Monson has been on the faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign since 2008 and was a Marsh Professor at Large at the University of Vermont (2010-16). She has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships including an Illinois Artist Fellowship 2019, The Doris Duke Impact Artist Award 2014, Guggenheim Fellowship 2004, Foundation for Contemporary Art Fellowship 1998, and multiple National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. iLAND published A Field Guide to iLANDing: scores for researching urban ecologies in 2017.
