Jennifer Steinkamp is a Los Angeles based media and installation artist whose works with video and new media explore ideas about nature, architectural space, contemporary social issues, and the passage of time. By manipulating existing computer code, primarily using the 3-D animation software, Steinkamp transforms architectural spaces with light, dematerializing walls and filling the constructed environment with hyperreal and, simultaneously, clearly artificial mimicry of organic forms. Steinkamp is a professor emeritus of Design Media Arts at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Nature is Steinkamp’s signature subject in her artwork and has worked with digital media software since the late 1980s.

Botanic 3 is a digital video artwork of computer-generated plants and flowers that slowly move in space. The video was originally commissioned for the Stanford Medical Center and is part of a series made up of 15 videos total. In May of 2016, the Botanic video was displayed in Times Square in NYC every night at midnight as part of a project called Times Square, Midnight Moment.

Botanic 3 joined the McNay collection in 2019 with funds from the McNay Contemporary Collectors Forum.

Jennifer Steinkamp, Botanic 3, 2016. Video installation. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Museum purchase with funds from the McNay Contemporary Collectors Forum, 2019.58. © Jennifer Steinkamp.

Important Spotlight Dates

Submission Deadline

Reserve your participation at Spotlight by Friday, March 28, 2025 by 5 p.m.

Artwork Delivery

Delivery Day: Saturday, April 19, 2025 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. (or by appointment)

Optional Video Submission Deadline

Friday, April 25, 2025

Spotlight Exhibition Opens

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Spotlight Celebration

Elementary, Middle and High School Recognition Ceremonies

Sunday, May 18, 2025

12:30 – 1:30 PM | Elementary Schools:
Register

2 – 3 PM | Middle Schools
Register

3:30 – 4:30 PM | High Schools
Register

Teacher Resources

• Request a Tour
• View Botanic 3
• Spotlight: Jennifer Steinkamp Brainstorming Sheet
• FAQs Information Sheet with Important Dates
• Zoom information session
  • Presentation slides
  • Recording
• Resources related to Jennifer Steinkamp

Project Guidelines for Student Artwork

• Each participating teacher is allotted one space at 4’x4’×4’ for all artwork submitted.
  The gallery space is shared, and we hope to show as many student projects as possible. Small, individual, or collaborative projects are preferred. If you submit a large body of individual artworks, then all objects must fit within the allotted 4’x4’x4’ space.
• Digital artwork submissions are limited to a 4-minute duration maximum.
• We cannot accept any artworks with organic materials such as but not limited to:
  • Dried flowers
  • Sticks
  • Sand or soil
  • Scented materials

For more information on this program, email education@mcnayart.org.

Support for Spotlight is provided by the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation; Hearst Fund; and Texas Commission on the Arts.