Karolina Karlic

Principal Investigator & Co-Director, Exhibitions and Programs

Karolina Karlic is an Associate Professor of Art at UC Santa Cruz and Art + Science Faculty Director at the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History. A visual artist working across photography and documentary practices, her work examines the intersections of labor, industry, globalization, and environmental change. She is the founding director of Unseen California, an artist-led research initiative that brings artists into the University of California Natural Reserve System for field-based research, teaching, public programming, and the creation of site-responsive work.

Karlic serves as Principal Investigator and Co-Director of UC CAAN, overseeing the network’s grant administration, institutional coordination, exhibitions, podcasts, and program development. She helps guide UC CAAN’s multicampus collaborations and exhibition initiatives, bringing her experience in environmental art, field-based research, and interdisciplinary art-and-science programming to the network. Through this work, Karlic supports opportunities for artists, researchers, students, and community partners to engage climate and ecological change through collaborative research, exhibitions, and public programs.