May Makki

May Makki is an independent curator and writer specializing in performance, moving-image, and sound-based practices. Focusing on new commissions and working closely with living artists, she is particularly invested in the infrastructural possibilities of exhibition-making and considering the communities, economies, and technologies that develop alongside works of art.

She is Co-Curator of the 2026 Diriyah Contemporary Biennale, where she commissioned public works by Agustina Woodgate and Yussef Agbo-Ola and stewarded major loans by artists including Petrit Halilaj, Nour Mobarak, Nancy Mounir, and Daniel Lind-Ramos.

From 2022 to 2025, she was part of the curatorial team of the Department of Media and Performance at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where she curated exhibitions and screenings such as Martin Beck: Last Night, An Evening with Haig Aivazian, and the collection display of works by Tala Madani.

Previously, she served in curatorial and research roles at Abrons Arts Center, the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, and MoMA PS1. She holds an MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and a BA from the University of Chicago.

may.makki@gmail.com

RISO BAR

Pollock Gallery at Southern Methodist University
Jan 25-Dec 15, 2020

The risograph is a printing technology defined by its relative simplicity and the possibilities it offers for experimentation. Invented in Japan in the 1980s, the risograph was imagined as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to photocopy machines. In subsequent decades, riso has transformed into a definitive creative tool in art, design and publishing circles, with a global network of artists, designers, publishers, studios and institutions. RISO BAR is a collaborative exhibition that engages with the risograph as a tool for learning and experimentation.

Over the course of the exhibition, a risograph machine will be available for public use. The machine forms the core of the exhibition: it is what we learn with, practice with, and make with. Visitors to create artworks and publications of their own. A series of programmed workshops led by riso producers from Texas and elsewhere will allow visitors to develop and expand both their skills and knowledge of riso history and practices.These workshops will be free and open to the public.

In collaboration with the SMU Hamon Arts Library the exhibition will include a curated library of riso books and zines from all over the world, as well as fresh juices from Recipe Oak Cliff playing off the ideas of the RISO BAR.

RISO BAR is a space of collective learning and skill-building, a launch pad that will develop into an extant riso press in Dallas after the show comes to an end.

RISO BAR is a collaborative initiative between Strange Powers Press, May Makki, Finn Jubak, Recipe Oak Cliff and the SMU Hamon Arts Library.

Press: