Quran Karriem

Biography

Quran Karriem is a media theorist, electronic musician and installation artist concerned with the intertwined histories and futures of automation, race and cultural production. He came to Syracuse University in 2025 from a postdoctoral fellowship at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, where his research program addressed political economy and racial stratification at the intersection of digital automation, creative labor and audience reception. Recent essays include “Algorithmic Images and Recursive Epidermalization” (MIT Press, 2025) and “Machine Learning and Deep Remixability” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025).  

Karriem’s creative output encompasses live experimental electronic music, physical and digital interface design, expanded cinema, media installation art, and sound design for theatre and dance. Past projects and performances include “synthball” (2017), a custom-built, play-based wireless audio/video controller for participatory performance interactions that won an innovation and entrepreneurship award from Duke University; “a machine for grieving” (2017), a work of audiovisual systems art that memorializes those killed in fatal encounters with U.S. police; and “soundz in the back of my head” (2020), a multimedia performance work incorporating gestural sound controllers worn by dancers that was recognized for “Best Composition/Sound Design” by the Bessies (New York Dance and Performance Awards). He has presented work at national and international venues such as Lobe Studio in Vancouver, the School voor Nieuwe Dansontwikkeling (SNDO) in Amsterdam, Gibney Dance in Manhattan and Akademie Der Künste in Berlin.

Prior to pursuing doctoral and postdoctoral research, Karriem worked as a software designer/developer, product manager and executive in the media and software services industry. He built and advised on advanced data analytics and machine learning projects in music technology, where he worked on curation and classification systems for talent identification, and in education technology, where he worked in automated essay scoring and mobile/web application development. Karriem holds a Ph.D. from the program in Computational Media, Arts, & Cultures (CMAC) from Duke University, a master of fine arts in sound design from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and a bachelor of music in composition from the University of Georgia. 

Education

• Ph.D., Duke University
• M.F.A., Savannah College of Art and Design 
• B.Mus., University of Georgia