Krebs Humanities Scholars

The Krebs Humanities Scholar Program has generously supported me and my research assistant, Derick Perdana, as we undertake historical research for my next novel, Let Me Talk to Harpo Marx, scheduled for publication by Regal House in 2027. The novel, the third in a historical trilogy set in the 1920s, takes us to old Hollywood. The plot involves the early film industry, so Derick and I have been looking into the economic and labor structure of the studio system, the rivalries between film distribution companies, and the technological and economic issues related to the development of film sound. We have also been delving into biographical details about certain Hollywood personalities of the era—but to say too much more would be to spoil the plot!

Lago/Volcano is Bielak’s collaborative multimedia art project that uses Lake Michigan and the volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl to explore the ways we anticipate and respond to environmental instability by attuning to natural bodies. Through video, drawings, and poems, Lago/Volcano will highlight the ways urbanity can habituate us to the extraordinary geologic bodies in our midst, how we can remain attentive to their presence, and how tuning into them can help us anticipate and respond to environmental instability. The project will include drawings at the scale of the landscape, prints, and visual poems based on research in the fields of geology, climatology, and botany. Senior SOAN major and Studio Art minor Angelica Hryb is working closely with Bielak on this cross-disciplinary research, the findings of which have ranged from imagery of molecular structures of plant life in Lake Michigan, to data on Popocatépetl’s ash distribution. Bielak recently applied this research in a production trip to Mexico City, the Paso de Cortés (the mountain pass between the volcanos Popocatépetl and  Iztaccihuatl) and Zacualpan de Amilpas, Morelos, on the other side of  Popocatépetl.

Computer vision has now progressed to the point of reliable visual analysis for artistic objects, offering insight into form and context with reasonable accuracy under expert guidance. This project uses AI to analyze images in the Krebs collection, compare the output with our own analyses derived from connoisseurship practices, and evaluate any promising research leads. Our goals are twofold: first, we aim to better understand the collection to enhance our records as we catalog the artworks; second, we seek to illustrate the current strengths and weaknesses of computer vision for art history. By studying lesser-known objects through both expert and computer lenses, we explore the efficacy of publicly available AI programs for real-life museological work as we contemplate the role of AI in humanities research for the present and future.

What would it have been like to attend a pageant on the streets of Renaissance London: to hear speeches written by some of the best playwrights through the commotion of the crowd, to see floats designed by leading architects amidst fireworks, cannon shots, and water-shows? This project aims to provide such an immersive experience, beginning work on digitally modeling Thomas Middleton's pageant "The Triumphs of Health and Prosperity" on October 29, 1626. The ultimate goal will be for users to experience the pageant across 5 different locations across the city although, to make things more manageable, we will limit ourselves to the first location (at St. Michael's de la Querne and the "Little Conduit"). Students would help me begin this project by doing a deep dive into the material conditions and historical locations of this first pageant (that is, the "Fragrant Garden" of Health), and will begin developing the key scenes (including, but not limited to: the historical location; the pageant cart designs; the performance of the speeches; clothing and costumes). Taking the "Virtual Saint Paul's Cross" as our guide and using AI to streamline our research process, this group will get our bearings with digital modeling technology as we seek to recreate the historic experience of attending Middleton's civic spectacle. Ultimately, this project will provide invaluable data for scholars of the early theater, who have long emphasized the multisensory and diverse experiences of the early modern playhouse that are often left out of the exclusive analyses of texts; moreover, it would be a resource for emerging scholarship on the mayoral shows (and might thus be included in anthologies and future publications).

This project explores how AI-generated digital art can enrich the thematic essence of multilingual poetry in Collage Magazine. As a publication that celebrates the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Lake Forest College community, Collage provides a creative platform for students to express themselves in languages other than English. Through extensive testing of over a dozen AI art generators, the project identified the most effective tools for visually interpreting poetry, refining prompts to capture the poem’s emotional depth. The selected AI-generated images serve as the thematic artwork for the 2025 edition of Collage Magazine, reflecting the core themes of Identity, Love, and Memory. These illustrations add a dynamic visual and interpretive layer to this year’s publication, enhancing the reader’s engagement with the poetic expressions within.