Studio: esther@estherchoi.net
Photographic Commissions: Visual Culture
Academic profile: The Cooper Union
Esther Choi is a multidisciplinary artist, trained in photography and architectural history, whose work explores how concepts of nature—and by extension ideas pertaining to what is “natural” and “normal”—have been shaped by the social and ecological relations of modern worldmaking practices in the West/ Global North. Her artistic practice and research draw from art and architectural history, decolonial and postcolonial theory, critical environmental studies, and feminist science and technology studies.
In addition to her photographic and time-based work, she is the creator of dialogue-based socially engaged artworks that center a global network of practitioners who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour. These include Office Hours (2020–), a knowledge sharing project that has elicited the participation of thousands of BIPOC cultural producers around the world, and Public Service (2023-), a web zine featuring notable BIPOC artists, scholars, and designers in conversations about catalyzing social change in the culture industries and beyond. Her Fluxus-inspired conceptual cookbook Le Corbuffet (Prestel, 2019), was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award in Photography in 2020.
She frequently receives commissions for still life photography from cultural publications such as T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Dazed and Confused, Vice, Le Monde, AnOther Man, T: Japan, T: Australia, T: China, and The New York Times Magazine.
Choi's writing and scholarship have been published in Art Papers, Harvard Design Magazine, and e-flux, in addition to edited volumes and exhibition catalogues. She is the co-editor of Architecture at the Edge of Everything Else (MIT Press, 2010) and Architecture Is All Over (Columbia U, 2017). Her work has received recognition and support from The Ford Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada, Richard Rogers Fellowship, James Beard Foundation, Princeton University, Harvard University, The Getty Foundation, The Graham Foundation, Society of Architectural Historians, and Canadian Centre for Architecture, among others.
Choi is an Adjunct Associate Professor at The Cooper Union. She was previously a 2022 Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Art and has held teaching appointments at OCAD University, University of Pennsylvania, and The New School. She holds a joint-Ph.D. in Architectural History and Interdisciplinary Humanities (Princeton University), a MDes in Architectural History (Harvard University), an MFA in Photography (Concordia University), and a BFA in Photography (Toronto Metropolitan University).
- Education
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2019
Ph.D., History and Theory of Architecture, Princeton University
• Recipient of the David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award, Society of Architectural Historians (2020) -
2008
MDes (AP), History and Theory of Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
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2007
MFA, Photography/ Studio Arts, Concordia University
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2001
BFA, Photography, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Recent Writing
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2024
"The Unsustainable Sublime," Perspecta, Issue 56 (Spring 2024, Forthcoming). Print.
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2023
“A World At One With Itself,” Harvard Design Magazine, Issue 51: The Multihyphenate. Guest edited by Sean Canty, Zeina Koreitem, John May. Print.
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2022
"Keywords," PIN-UP Magazine (Summer 2022). Print.
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2022
"Life, In Theory: The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies," in Radical Pedagogies, eds. Beatriz Colomina, Ignacio G. Galán, Evangelos Kotsioris, Anna-Maria Meister (Cambridge: MIT Press).
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2021
“New Forms of Articulation: Sumayya Vally in conversation with Esther Choi,” Deem Journal. (2021).
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2021
"The Interpretation", Solicited: proposals, E-flux Architecture and ArkDes, Print and Web.
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2019
“Sustainability’s Image Problem.” Library Stack for the Oslo Architecture Triennale.
- Books
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2019
Le Corbuffet: Art and Design Classics (Prestel 2019).
• Nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Photography (2020). -
2017
Architecture Is All Over, coeditor (Columbia U; with Marrikka Trotter)
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2010
Architecture At the Edge of Everything Else, co-editor (MIT Press; with Marrikka Trotter,)
- Selected Bibliography
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2022
Gabrielle Chua, "Five Artists Who Are Also Masters in the Kitchen," Tatler Asia. (June 2022). Web.
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2021
Jess Myers, "Esther Choi Is Building a Global Community to Nurture the Next Generation of Designers," Dwell Magazine (Sept./ Oct. 2021): 44–45. Print and web.
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2021
Leilah Stone, "Low Ego, High Impact," Metropolis Magazine (July/ August 2021). Print and web.
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2021
Wanda Lau, "Esther Choi: Courage Is a Muscle," Architect Magazine, June 21, 2021.
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2021
Jack Balderamma Morley, "The second season of Office Hours promises more opportunities for young BIPOC designers." The Architect's Newspaper. (March 4, 2021). Print and web.
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2020
“Office Hours is shifting the landscape for BIPOC creatives,” Architizer.
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2020
Michael Snyder, "Still Life With Fly Swatter, or Hourglass, or Lemons," (Interview) T: The New York Times Style Magazine
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2020
JJ Charlesworth, "All you can read," Art Review
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2020
Whitney Mallett, "Meet Esther Choi, Artist and Author of Subversive Cookbook 'Le Corbuffet'," PIN-UP
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2020
Chris Cohen, “10 Things We Learned from the Season’s Best Books,” Saveur (March 20, 2020) Web
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2020
Daniel Beatty Garcia, "Punishable: Esther Choi Eats Our Idols,"032c, Issue 37 (Winter 2019/20): 292–93. Print and web.
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2020
Kay Schadewald, “Le Corbuffet: (Koch-)Kunst und Kritik,” Architectural Design (Ger.) (Jan. 19, 2020). Web.
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2019
“AN rounds up our must-reads for this fall,” The Architect’s Newspaper (Nov. 15, 2019) Web
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2019
Margaux Krehl, “Art de vivre: << Le Corbuffet>>, le livre de recettes qui cuisine les stars de l’Art,” Vanity Fair (France) (Nov. 9, 2019) Web
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2019
Peter Smisek, Food for Thought,” Icon Magazine (Nov. 1, 2019) Web
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2019
Todd Plummer, “11 Fall Cookbooks for Every Type of Foodie.” Vogue (Oct. 16, 2019) Web
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2019
“41 of the Year’s Most Giftable Coffee-Table Books,” New York Magazine (Nov. 12, 2019) Web
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2019
LinYee Yuan, “Le Corbuffet is a riotous homage to the art and design of cooking” (Interview), MOLD Magazine (Oct. 5, 2019) Web
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2019
Kelly Caminero, “Edible Art: A Menu of Satire and Photography with a Culinary Twist” (Interview), The Daily Beast (Oct. 5, 2019) Web
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2019
Anne Quito, “Le Corbuffet: A new recipe book affectionately skewers culture snobs,” Quartzy (Oct. 4, 2019) Web
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2019
Alexandra Alexa, “This Conceptual Cookbook Riffs on Art, Design and Taste (Literally and Figuratively,” Core 77 (Oct. 2, 2019) Web
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2019
“A Conceptual Cookbook Makes Food Into Sculptures,” Artnet News (Aug. 23, 2019) Web
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2019
Angie Kordic, “An Art Cookbook Like No Other,” (Interview), Widewalls (Oct. 1, 2019) Web
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2019
Emma Orlow, “A Salad for Frida Kahlo and Other Artist-Inspired Recipes,” T: The New York Times Style Magazine (Sept. 20, 2019) Web.