Mat Rappaport
Treatments
Born from the deeply personal journey of accompanying their partner through cancer treatment, treatments offers a poignant exploration set against the repetitive landscape of clinical environments. This art project delves into the ritualistic and often sterile spaces of medical care, juxtaposing them with art that serves as both a salve and a distraction from the profound gravity of the experience. Featuring a series of subtly manipulated photographs, a two-channel video installation, and an artist book, it highlights the stark yet hopeful interplay between healthcare settings and the art that inhabits them.
The video work was created using generative AI to “hallucinate” the architectural spaces captured in the photographs and thereby create a coherence and continuity to the time and space represented by these images.
The video work was created using generative AI to “hallucinate” the architectural spaces captured in the photographs and thereby create a coherence and continuity to the time and space represented by these images.
Mat Rappaport is the Donald W. Klein Professor of the Practice of Film and Media Studies at Tufts University, and an artist, filmmaker, curator, and educator whose work spans documentary film, mobile video, performance, and photography. His projects investigate how habitation, perception, and power are entangled with built environments and institutional spaces.
His current documentary, touristic intents, explores the transformation of Prora—a three-mile-long Nazi-era resort in Germany—into a modern vacation destination. The film critically examines how architecture with authoritarian roots is repurposed for contemporary commercial use, raising questions about historical memory and spatial legacy.
In contrast, Rappaport's recent installation project treatments turns a deeply personal lens on medical environments. Developed from his experience accompanying his partner through cancer care, treatments includes manipulated photographs, a two-channel video installation, and an artist book. The project interrogates the clinical visual landscape and the role of art within healthcare spaces. Notably, the video installation employs generative AI to "hallucinate" architectural continuities between disparate treatment environments—highlighting the surreal emotional terrain of illness and caregiving.
Rappaport’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at museums, galleries, festivals, and in public space. Recent highlights include the 500th Anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Ann Arbor Film Festival (2017, 2018), and performances with the Range Mobile Lab at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Block Museum at Northwestern University. His photographic work is included in the Midwest Photographers Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and the Protest Art Collection at the Newberry Library.
Rappaport’s projects have been supported by fellowships from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston, the Howard Foundation, the Mary L. Nohl Fund, the Montgomery County Ohio Cultural District, and the Center for 21st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
His current documentary, touristic intents, explores the transformation of Prora—a three-mile-long Nazi-era resort in Germany—into a modern vacation destination. The film critically examines how architecture with authoritarian roots is repurposed for contemporary commercial use, raising questions about historical memory and spatial legacy.
In contrast, Rappaport's recent installation project treatments turns a deeply personal lens on medical environments. Developed from his experience accompanying his partner through cancer care, treatments includes manipulated photographs, a two-channel video installation, and an artist book. The project interrogates the clinical visual landscape and the role of art within healthcare spaces. Notably, the video installation employs generative AI to "hallucinate" architectural continuities between disparate treatment environments—highlighting the surreal emotional terrain of illness and caregiving.
Rappaport’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at museums, galleries, festivals, and in public space. Recent highlights include the 500th Anniversary of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Ann Arbor Film Festival (2017, 2018), and performances with the Range Mobile Lab at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Block Museum at Northwestern University. His photographic work is included in the Midwest Photographers Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and the Protest Art Collection at the Newberry Library.
Rappaport’s projects have been supported by fellowships from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston, the Howard Foundation, the Mary L. Nohl Fund, the Montgomery County Ohio Cultural District, and the Center for 21st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.