Michael Kopp is an Assistant Professor of Art at Bellarmine University. Prior to this, Michael was the Founding Director of The Social Practice Lab.
Michael interrogates the role of “artist as maker” to examine social power structures of images, image making, and image circulation. When is Art? How is power spatialized? How do photographs make visible the problems of the world? Through an anti-colonial lens, Michael explores critical questions about the camera as a tool, the functionality of photographs, and the social relations mediated by the processes of image making and image sharing.
Through his practice, Michael has engaged in formal partnerships with Norton Healthcare, The University of Louisville, Louisville Metro Government, and the Pacific Institute of Research & Evaluation. He has presented his research at The Ohio State University and Indiana University. Michael is published in the International Journal of Drug Policy (2022) and is a featured speaker published on the TED Talk Network (2024). Michael has exhibited internationally in Rome, Italy and Glasgow, Scotland. Supported by a grant from the Great Meadows Foundation, Michael recently completed a months long international artist in residence program in Puebla, Mexico with Arquetopia Foundation (2024).
Michael earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Digital Art and Interactive Media from Indiana University, and his Master of Fine Arts Degree from Bowling Green State University in 2018. Michael currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky.
