Studio: esther@estherchoi.net
Photographic Commissions: Visual Culture
Academic profile: The Cooper Union
Esther M. Choi is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York City, whose work spans across photography, video, and publishing projects. With a background in photography and architectural history/theory, her artistic projects and writing explore the impact of image making and world-making technologies on our understanding of nature. Much of Choi's artistic work involves examining the historical and philosophical assumptions that have shaped genres such as landscape and still life. She is presently focusing on a new body of work that examines the relationship between photography and petroleum-based plastics.
In 2019, Choi published Le Corbuffet (Prestel), a conceptual art project in the form of a cookbook that explored ideas about cultural consumption by subverting the commercial conventions of food photography. The book was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Photography in 2020.
Choi's commissioned still life photography has been featured in publications such as T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Dazed and Confused, Le Monde, AnOther Magazine, AnOther Man, Elle Decor, Vice, and The New York Times Magazine. Her images for T Magazine were nominated for an ASME National Magazine Award in 2024.
Choi is the creator of several socially engaged projects that aim to increase the representation of minoritized artists and designers. These include Office Hours (2020–), a free knowledge-sharing series by and for BIPOC creative practitioners worldwide, and Public Service (2023-), a web series about catalyzing change in the culture industries and beyond.
Choi's writing has been published in Harvard Design Magazine, Perspecta, The Journal of Architectural Education, Artforum, e-flux, DEEM, PIN-UP, and Art Papers, as well as edited volumes and exhibition catalogs. She co-edited (with Marrikka Trotter) Architecture at the Edge of Everything Else (MIT Press, 2010) and Architecture Is All Over (Columbia Books, 2017).
Choi holds a joint Ph.D. in Architectural History and Interdisciplinary Humanities from Princeton University, an MDes in Architectural History/ Theory from Harvard University, an MFA in Photography from Concordia University, and a BFA in Photography from Toronto Metropolitan University. In 2022, she was a Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Art. She served as an Assistant Professor of Photography and Criticism and Curatorial Practice at OCAD University from 2008–16 and has been an Adjunct Associate Professor at The Cooper Union since 2016.
Choi's work has been recognized and supported by various organizations, including the Ford Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada, Richard Rogers Fellowship, MillerKnoll Foundation, The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Princeton University, Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the Society of Architectural Historians.
- Education
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2019
Ph.D., History and Theory of Architecture, Princeton University
• Recipient of the David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award, Society of Architectural Historians (2020) -
2008
MDes (AP), History and Theory of Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
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2007
MFA, Photography/ Studio Arts, Concordia University
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2001
BFA, Photography, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Recent Writing
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2024
"The Unsustainable Sublime," Perspecta, Issue 56 (May 2024, Forthcoming). Print.
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2023
“A World At One With Itself,” Harvard Design Magazine, Issue 51. Guest edited by Sean Canty, Zeina Koreitem, John May. Print.
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2022
"Keywords," PIN-UP Magazine (Summer 2022). Print.
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2022
"Life, In Theory: The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies," in Radical Pedagogies, eds. Beatriz Colomina, Ignacio G. Galán, Evangelos Kotsioris, Anna-Maria Meister (Cambridge: MIT Press).
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2021
“New Forms of Articulation: Sumayya Vally in conversation with Esther Choi,” Deem Journal. (2021).
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2021
"The Interpretation", Solicited: proposals, E-flux Architecture and ArkDes, Print and Web.
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2019
“Sustainability’s Image Problem.” Library Stack for the Oslo Architecture Triennale.
- Books
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2019
Le Corbuffet: Art and Design Classics (Prestel 2019).
• Nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Photography (2020). -
2017
Architecture Is All Over, coeditor (Columbia U; with Marrikka Trotter)
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2010
Architecture At the Edge of Everything Else, co-editor (MIT Press; with Marrikka Trotter,)
- Selected Bibliography
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2022
Gabrielle Chua, "Five Artists Who Are Also Masters in the Kitchen," Tatler Asia. (June 2022). Web.
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2021
Jess Myers, "Esther Choi Is Building a Global Community to Nurture the Next Generation of Designers," Dwell Magazine (Sept./ Oct. 2021): 44–45. Print and web.
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2021
Leilah Stone, "Low Ego, High Impact," Metropolis Magazine (July/ August 2021). Print and web.
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2021
Wanda Lau, "Esther Choi: Courage Is a Muscle," Architect Magazine, June 21, 2021.
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2021
Jack Balderamma Morley, "The second season of Office Hours promises more opportunities for young BIPOC designers." The Architect's Newspaper. (March 4, 2021). Print and web.
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2020
“Office Hours is shifting the landscape for BIPOC creatives,” Architizer.
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2020
Michael Snyder, "Still Life With Fly Swatter, or Hourglass, or Lemons," (Interview) T: The New York Times Style Magazine
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2020
JJ Charlesworth, "All you can read," Art Review
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2020
Whitney Mallett, "Meet Esther Choi, Artist and Author of Subversive Cookbook 'Le Corbuffet'," PIN-UP
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2020
Chris Cohen, “10 Things We Learned from the Season’s Best Books,” Saveur (March 20, 2020) Web
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2020
Daniel Beatty Garcia, "Punishable: Esther Choi Eats Our Idols,"032c, Issue 37 (Winter 2019/20): 292–93. Print and web.
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2020
Kay Schadewald, “Le Corbuffet: (Koch-)Kunst und Kritik,” Architectural Design (Ger.) (Jan. 19, 2020). Web.
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2019
“AN rounds up our must-reads for this fall,” The Architect’s Newspaper (Nov. 15, 2019) Web
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2019
Margaux Krehl, “Art de vivre: << Le Corbuffet>>, le livre de recettes qui cuisine les stars de l’Art,” Vanity Fair (France) (Nov. 9, 2019) Web
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2019
Peter Smisek, Food for Thought,” Icon Magazine (Nov. 1, 2019) Web
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2019
Todd Plummer, “11 Fall Cookbooks for Every Type of Foodie.” Vogue (Oct. 16, 2019) Web
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2019
“41 of the Year’s Most Giftable Coffee-Table Books,” New York Magazine (Nov. 12, 2019) Web
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2019
LinYee Yuan, “Le Corbuffet is a riotous homage to the art and design of cooking” (Interview), MOLD Magazine (Oct. 5, 2019) Web
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2019
Kelly Caminero, “Edible Art: A Menu of Satire and Photography with a Culinary Twist” (Interview), The Daily Beast (Oct. 5, 2019) Web
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2019
Anne Quito, “Le Corbuffet: A new recipe book affectionately skewers culture snobs,” Quartzy (Oct. 4, 2019) Web
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2019
Alexandra Alexa, “This Conceptual Cookbook Riffs on Art, Design and Taste (Literally and Figuratively,” Core 77 (Oct. 2, 2019) Web
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2019
“A Conceptual Cookbook Makes Food Into Sculptures,” Artnet News (Aug. 23, 2019) Web
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2019
Angie Kordic, “An Art Cookbook Like No Other,” (Interview), Widewalls (Oct. 1, 2019) Web
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2019
Emma Orlow, “A Salad for Frida Kahlo and Other Artist-Inspired Recipes,” T: The New York Times Style Magazine (Sept. 20, 2019) Web.