Awarded a National Endowment for the Arts “Our Town Grant.”
Link: Reclamation Meridian
A chronological document taken from the perspective of the land, flora and fauna that are witness to the reclamation process of its post-natural landscape over several years based on fourteen acres of land in rural Marion County, Kansas that is located within that last vestiges of the tallgrass prairie, considered to be the most threatened ecosystem in North America due to habitat fragmentation and loss, invasive plant species, and soil erosion. Situated within the film’s background is the record of the land project’s community engagement programming that bridged the diverse perspectives and abilities of farmers, ranchers, conservationists, educators, and artists that collaboratively worked together to not only reclaim a native ecosystem while fostering a personal sense of responsibility and stewardship, but also embarked on community reclamation as well. Relationships and networks were cultivated between the underserved communities of the county with regional organizations including The Land Institute, Kansas Geological Survey, Humanities Kansas, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kansas Forestry Service, and Healthy Streams for Kansas Initiative through the project’s countywide programming.
The film has been presented at Emily & Todd Voth Artspace (Finding Ground, juried exhibition) and Charlotte Street Foundation (InSITE, juried solo exhibition) with live musical performance composed by Susan Mayo. It is currently in final post-production ahead of international festival distribution.
Link: Flint Hills Counterpoint
This project has received significant support from regional and national funders, including: New York Foundation for the Arts – Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Grant; Mid-America Arts Alliance – Interchange Fellowship; Natural Resources Conservation Service; Kansas Forest Service; Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism
(Image: On-site installation at the Flint Hills Counterpoint Land Restoration Project [link] by Shin-hee Chin)
Flint Hills Counterpoint is a socially engaged, interdisciplinary initiative I have co-led over the past five years in Marion County, Kansas. Rooted in ecological restoration and community collaboration, the project weaves together documentary work, public programming, and storytelling grounded in lived experience and local knowledge.
The initiative is anchored by three core components: Reclamation Meridian, a documentary film; Marion County, Kansas Audio Tour Book; and Community-Based Public Programming (link).
Flint Hills Counterpoint has hosted more than 40 events, including field tours, workshops, exhibitions, and live performances. These programs foster inclusive dialogue across artistic, ecological, and academic disciplines. Highlights include “Geology Through Building Materials” with Rex Buchanan (Director Emeritus, Kansas Geological Survey) and an “Edible Plant & Wildflower Tour” led by Aubrey Streit Krug and David Van Tassel of The Land Institute.
Key project partnerships include: The Land Institute; Kansas Geological Survey; Center for Great Plains Studies; Healthy Streams for Kansas Initiative; Nature Conservancy Kansas; Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS); Tabor College; Peabody/Burns High School
Flint Hills Counterpoint reflects my ongoing commitment to socially engaged creative practice—bridging disciplines and building relationships that generate cultural, ecological, and educational impact through long-term collaboration.
Awarded a grant from Humanities Kansas.
Link: Marion County, Kansas Audio Tour Book
This immersive, county-wide audio project presents a layered map of the region’s memory, ecology, folklore, and cultural heritage. Over three years, more than 50 interviews with community members, historians, geologists, scientists, artists, farmers, and conservation experts were conducted—driving hundreds of miles across Marion County to record their stories. The resulting experience invites listeners to engage with the stories embedded into the landscape.
Awarded a grant from the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission.
Link: The Silphium Plot
A short documentary film developed within the larger project of Flint Hills Counterpoint, chronicles the planting of a native silphium research plot in partnership with The Land Institute and local high school students. With original music by Susan Mayo, the film highlights the intersection of sustainable agriculture and community learning.
Silphium, a perennial plant of the sunflower family and native to the Great Plains, is being researched at the Salina Land Institute as a sustainable agricultural species due to being drought tolerant as well as preventing soil erosion. It has the potential to be as productive as commercial oilseed sunflower though it is more sustainable since it mimics natural ecosystems.
Phainesthai is a visual and listening experience exploring the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve that is located at the geographical center of the United States and is considered one of the most scarce and endangered ecosystems in the world. The film is an experiential non-verbal documentary addressing how geological and ecological memory can engage individual experience by the embodiment of place with human understanding and aspirations. Shot in collaboration with time-lapse photographer Luke McKinney.
Made with the support of the Tallgrass Artist Residency and in partnership with the Kansas Creative Arts Commission, Center for Living Education & the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
Awards: Merit Award, The Impact Docs Awards (2020, Los Angeles, CA); Best Experimental Film, ARFF International (2019, Amsterdam, Netherlands); Award for Photography, Visions of the Flint Hills (2019, Buttonwood Art Space, Kansas City, MO)
Exhibitions: Motion Pictures International Film Festival (2020, Calgary, Alberta); Dumbo Film Festival (2019, Brooklyn, NY); World of Film International Festival (2019, Glasgow, Scotland); Tallgrass Film Festival (2022, Wichita, KS); Lineage and Impact at Haw Contemporary Stockyards (2019, Kansas City, MO), Flora (2019, Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, KS), Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art (2018, Manhattan, KS), Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (2018, Strong City, KS) & The Bank Art Space (2018, Matfeild Green, KS); Charlotte Street Foundation, solo exhibition (2020, Kansas City, MO)
Press: Cover Image & Article “Cyan Meeks: Phainesthai Visual Art Review,” KC Studio Magazine, Kansas City, MO“; Lineage and Impact,” KC Studio Magazine, Kansas City, MO (2019)
Awarded the 2024 Cultural Producer Grant, Charlotte Street Foundation.
The Union Library, co-founded by Cyan Meeks and Stephen Cruz in 2017, is a low-budget, grassroots, artist-run underground space dedicated to offering affordable artist workspace, exhibition space, performance venue, independent filmmaking location, arts community building events, sound recording studio, and arts programming to serve our local underserved artist community who would not have access to these creative opportunities and experiences otherwise. Acting as a host for both individual artists and artist collectives from diverse groups to materialize their various disciplines (visual art, film, dance, performance art, immersive happenings, theater, sonic art, creative skill sharing, community building events), provides artists and performers the space and resources needed to obtain their goals and to build their individual followings while contributing to the cohesion of our local creative communities. Additionally, we have served nationally known artists who would not have exhibited or performed in Kansas City without access to this alternative space.
LINK: Marion County, KS Student Podcast Project
As a visiting artist at Tabor College, Cyan Meeks partnered with Digital Storytelling students to produce audiovisual documentaries centered on the people, places, histories, and sustainable practices of Marion County, Kansas. This initiative was part of the larger Flint Hills Counterpoint project, which fosters collaboration between artists and community members. In partnership with course instructor Derek Hamm, Meeks guided students in audio recording, field recording, and interview techniques, while introducing storytelling concepts such as narrative arcs, pacing, and point of view. Projects explored diverse farming practices, shifting perspectives on hunting, and the realities of shrinking rural communities—including one focused on a now-ghost town. At the heart of the course was the importance of listening, relationship-building, and telling place-based stories that reflect the complexity and resilience of rural life.
50” x 36.5”, Archival Print
Exhibition: Casting Shadows, (2017, Artspace, KC, MO)
A photographic collage produced during the conceptualizing stage of the collaborative project Downstream with artist Karen McCoy (https://www.karen-mccoy.com). initiated by a shared response to the first-hand experience of the overwhelming effects of the current international waste crisis. The objective of the project was to conjure this same emotive reaction in viewers as the artists experienced. In the preliminary stage, both artists conversed by exchanging sketches and images that depicted a feeling rather than delineating an aesthetic, illustrating a physical object or a technical approach. The debris field within an image by Alan R. Moller in meteorologist H. Michael Mogil’s book Tornados made an impression on McCoy who took a quick snapshot of the page while installing her exhibition at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas and sent it to Meeks who in response made this digital photographic collage.
This short documentary captures a rare livestream performance by the band Roman Numerals at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—a time when musicians were unable to perform for live audiences. Broadcast from Union Library, a grassroots, artist-run space in Kansas City, the event served both as an act of creative resilience and a fundraiser supporting musicians and healthcare needs during lockdown. All sound production was handled in-house by Union Library, delivering a rich, immersive audio experience that belies its low-budget, DIY setting. The film documents not only the band’s dynamic performance but also the essential role of alternative spaces in sustaining artistic expression and community during a time of isolation.
Broadcast: MTV United States, MTV Asia & MTV Africa
Press: “Unlikely Love Story in New Video Feed My Brain,” (2018, MXDWN Entertainment Magazine, LA, CA) & “Radar State, Radkey, Milkdrop- The Best Local Music Videos,” (2018, The Pitch, Kansas City, MO)
Development of a project-based internship that brought together local Kansas City college students and refugees to collaboratively create a series of short videos to familiarize incoming refugees with using public transit, opening bank accounts, renting an apartment, and preparing for job interviews.
Screenings: Narrow Margins (Artspace, Kansas City, MO), Photo Forum (Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO) & Elctromediascope (Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO)
Under the pseudonym Cinemaphonic, Cyan Meeks produced a live video projection performance for Charlotte Street Foundation’s exhibition of collaborative time-based media works incorporating live music sets and video projections with sound artists Gemini Revolution.
Exhibition: Illum-a-phonic, Charlotte Street Foundation
Broadcast: MTV United States & Apple Music
Press: “Radkey Leap Into Comic Book for Stunning ‘Romance Dawn’ Video” (2013, Spin Magazine, International) & “Radkey’s Super Stylish Video ‘Romance Dawn’ Video” (2013, NME Magazine, International)
Cyan Meeks: Founder & Curator, 2005-09, Mercy Seat Gallery, 210 East 16th Street, KC, MO 64108
Image: David Ford, Your Fear, from I Like this Country, 2008 (Immersive presidential election night performance, 11/4/2008):
http://www.pitch.com/FastPitch/archives/2008/11/05/dispatch-from-election-night-david-fords-i-love-this-country-exhibit-at-mercy-seat
Curated 50 solo/ group art exhibitions over the course of 5 years with live music events in the Mercy Seat Alley. Artists included: David Ford, Luke Rocha, SIKE, GEAR, Molly Murphy and Renée Cinderhouse. Musical guests included: Hearts of Darkness, Rich Boys, Siddhartha, The Good Foot, Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys, The Haunted Creepies, and Joe Good.
Excerpt from a performance duration of (01:22:36)
Exhibition: Planetarium, The Dirt Gallery
Cinemaphonic is a multi-media audiovisual performance group who has performed in over seventy exhibitions and events to audiences throughout the Midwest since 2012 whose tag line is "A sonic voyage through the screen of the mind." It is an audiovisual odyssey that taps into the subconscious of Generation Media by communicating through sourced cultural relics of cinematic moments and auditory artifacts to induce specific emotive responses. It is an exploration of re-contextualizing visual and auditory nostalgia into something that speaks of cultural values, sometimes profound, at times facetious- even beautiful.
[Exhibition: The Union, Kansas City, MO]
Cinemaphonic Members:
Visuals/ Installation/ Auditory Ambience: Cyan Meeks
Sonic Mischief: Stephen Cruz
Sourced Cultural Relics: Sid & Nancy (1986) Alex Cox; Dead Presidents (1995) Albert Hughes
Exhibition: Dante Fascell Visitors Center Gallery, Key Biscayne National Park
Grant and residency awarded by Key Biscayne National Park and the National Park Service.
Cinemaphonic is a visual/aural performance group who produced a live video projection performance for the exhibition of experimental and boundary pushing sound artists.
Exhibition: Outer Reaches, The Record Bar
Visuals/ Installation/ Auditory Ambience: Cyan Meeks & Stephen Cruz
Visiting Artist & Advisor for students who produced the “Douglass-Sumner Audio Heritage Project,” (Sumner Academy, Kansas City, KS)
Cinemaphonic is a multi-media audiovisual performance group who has performed in over seventy exhibitions and events to audiences throughout the Midwest since 2012 whose tag line is "A sonic voyage through the screen of the mind." It is an audiovisual odyssey that taps into the subconscious of Generation Media by communicating through sourced cultural relics of cinematic moments and auditory artifacts to induce specific emotive responses. It is an exploration of re-contextualizing visual and auditory nostalgia into something that speaks of cultural values, sometimes profound, at times facetious- even beautiful.
Exhibition: The Crystal Method, Riot Room, Kansas City, MO
Cinemaphonic Members:
Visuals/ Installation/ Auditory Ambience: Cyan Meeks
Sonic Mischief: Stephen Cruz
Sourced Cultural Relics: Wild Style (1983) Charlie Ahearn; For the Love of Zero (1927) Robert Florey
Broadcast: MTV Asia, MTV France, MTV America Latina, MTV Nederland, MTV Brasil & MTV United States
National Broadcast: Independent Short Films Series, IFC (Independent Film Channel)
Awards & Exhibitions: Bandits Mages Video Festival (Bourges, France); New York Underground Film Festival (New York City, NY); Chicago Underground Film Festival (Chicago, IL); First Place Experimental Video, South Beach Film Festival (Miami, FL)
National Broadcast: IFC (Independent Film Channel, USA)
First place award, Best Music Video (Spinner.com, Global)
Aural/Visual Set Design for Revolver, an underground aural/visual culinary experience performed four times a year with chef Wes Gartner of Voltaire.
Image: "Welcome Visitors," video installation detail produced for Revolver's Brazil (Terry Gilliam) inspired environmental culinary experience.
Cinemaphonic is a multi-media audiovisual performance group who has performed in over seventy exhibitions and events to audiences throughout the Midwest since 2012 whose tag line is "A sonic voyage through the screen of the mind." It is an audiovisual odyssey that taps into the subconscious of Generation Media by communicating through sourced cultural relics of cinematic moments and auditory artifacts to induce specific emotive responses. It is an exploration of re-contextualizing visual and auditory nostalgia into something that speaks of cultural values, sometimes profound, at times facetious- even beautiful.
Exhibition: The Riot Room, Kansas City, MO
Cinemaphonic Members:
Visuals/ Installation/ Auditory Ambience: Cyan Meeks
Sonic Mischief: Stephen Cruz
Sourced Cultural Relics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) Sergio Leone; Apocalypse Now (1979) Francis Ford Coppola
Exhibitions: New Directors/ New Films (MoMA, New York City, NY) & Sundance Film Festival (Park City, UT)
Cinemaphonic is a multi-media audiovisual performance group who has performed in over seventy exhibitions and events to audiences throughout the Midwest since 2012 whose tag line is "A sonic voyage through the screen of the mind." It is an audiovisual odyssey that taps into the subconscious of Generation Media by communicating through sourced cultural relics of cinematic moments and auditory artifacts to induce specific emotive responses. It is an exploration of re-contextualizing visual and auditory nostalgia into something that speaks of cultural values, sometimes profound, at times facetious- even beautiful.
Exhibition: The Record Bar, Kansas City, MO
Cinemaphonic Members:
Visuals/ Installation/ Auditory Ambience: Cyan Meeks
Sonic Mischief: Stephen Cruz
Sourced Cultural Relics: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick; Karate Kid (1984) John G. Avildsen
Cinemaphonic is a multi-media audiovisual performance group who has performed in over seventy exhibitions and events to audiences throughout the Midwest since 2012 whose tag line is "A sonic voyage through the screen of the mind." It is an audiovisual odyssey that taps into the subconscious of Generation Media by communicating through sourced cultural relics of cinematic moments and auditory artifacts to induce specific emotive responses. It is an exploration of re-contextualizing visual and auditory nostalgia into something that speaks of cultural values, sometimes profound, at times facetious- even beautiful.
Exhibition: The Mini Bar, Kansas City, MO
Cinemaphonic Members:
Visuals/ Installation/ Auditory Ambience: Cyan Meeks
Sonic Mischief: Stephen Cruz
Sourced Cultural Relics: Looney Tunes (1952) Tex Avery; Flashdance (1983) Adrian Lyne