Elise Schierbeek
b. 1995
Elise Schierbeek is a writer, film programmer, and media archivist in Chicago. Day to day, Elise works as the Digital Collection and Media Manager at Video Data Bank, overseeing digital access, media production, and all things web. For many formative years, she worked in archives and distribution at Kartemquin Films and the Flaxman Library 16mm Film Study Collection. Elise has served as a programmer of Onion City Experimental Film Festival 2025, as a juror for the Milwaukee Film Festival, ExTV’s ExFest, and Kartemquin’s Hulu Accelerator Program, and as a producer of Peripheries Experimental Film & Video Festival 2024. Elise is a regular contributor to Cine-File, co-runs the itinerant film curatorial project Employees Only, and volunteers as a mentorship advisor for the Association of Moving Image Archivists. Elise is currently undertaking an MA in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and holds a BFA in Film, Video, New Media and Animation from the same.
Elise Schierbeek is a writer, film programmer, and media archivist in Chicago. Day to day, Elise works as the Digital Collection and Media Manager at Video Data Bank, overseeing digital access, media production, and all things web. For many formative years, she worked in archives and distribution at Kartemquin Films and the Flaxman Library 16mm Film Study Collection. Elise has served as a programmer of Onion City Experimental Film Festival 2025, as a juror for the Milwaukee Film Festival, ExTV’s ExFest, and Kartemquin’s Hulu Accelerator Program, and as a producer of Peripheries Experimental Film & Video Festival 2024. Elise is a regular contributor to Cine-File, co-runs the itinerant film curatorial project Employees Only, and volunteers as a mentorship advisor for the Association of Moving Image Archivists. Elise is currently undertaking an MA in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and holds a BFA in Film, Video, New Media and Animation from the same.
︎ @carbon.lake
︎ elise.schierbeek@gmail.com
Master of Arts - Visual and Critical Studies, 2026, SAIC, Chicago
Bachelor of Fine Arts - Studio, 2019, SAIC, Chicago
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Comfort Film Programmer Fellowship, 2024, Chicago
Association of Moving Image Archivists Mentorship, 2022
Summer Educational Institute, 2022, Visual Resources Association
Burren Studio Residency SAIC, 2019, Burren College of Art, Ireland
2022 Kid Pix Art Show–Media Archeology Lab @ New Art City–Online
2020 Direct Sunlight–LVL3 Gallery–Wicker Park
2019 SAIC BFA Show–Sullivan Galleries–Chicago
2019 SITE Curated: A Poem Left Untitled–SITE Galleries Sharp–Chicago
2019 ON / Being Read–LVL3 Gallery Wicker Park
2019 Flat Earth Film Festival–Herðubreið Theater Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2018 Queer Online Spaces–VCR–Chicago
2018 Flat Earth Film Festival–Herðubreið Theater–Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2017 Film Essay Showcase–The Observatory–Chicago
2017 Staging the Film Essay–ACRE TV Broadcast–Chicago, IL
2016 ArtBash Alternative Space–Leroy Neiman Center–Chicago, IL
2015 Blick Fall 12 x 12 Show–Blick Art Materials–Chicago, IL
2015 Art by America: A National Review of 2-D Contemporary Art Juried Exhibition–Arts on Elston Gallery–Chicago
2015 West Michigan Regional Art Show–King Gallery–Lowell, MI
2014 ArtPrize–The B.O.B.–Grand Rapids, MI
2013 West Michigan Drawing & Printmaking–King Gallery–Lowell, MI
2013 Congressional Art Show–Cannon Tunnel–Washington, D.C. Grand Prize Michigan 3rd District
︎ elise.schierbeek@gmail.com
EDUCATION
Master of Arts - Visual and Critical Studies, 2026, SAIC, Chicago
Bachelor of Fine Arts - Studio, 2019, SAIC, Chicago
––––––––––
Comfort Film Programmer Fellowship, 2024, Chicago
Association of Moving Image Archivists Mentorship, 2022
Summer Educational Institute, 2022, Visual Resources Association
Burren Studio Residency SAIC, 2019, Burren College of Art, Ireland
EXHIBITION
2022 Kid Pix Art Show–Media Archeology Lab @ New Art City–Online
2020 Direct Sunlight–LVL3 Gallery–Wicker Park
2019 SAIC BFA Show–Sullivan Galleries–Chicago
2019 SITE Curated: A Poem Left Untitled–SITE Galleries Sharp–Chicago
2019 ON / Being Read–LVL3 Gallery Wicker Park
2019 Flat Earth Film Festival–Herðubreið Theater Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2018 Queer Online Spaces–VCR–Chicago
2018 Flat Earth Film Festival–Herðubreið Theater–Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2017 Film Essay Showcase–The Observatory–Chicago
2017 Staging the Film Essay–ACRE TV Broadcast–Chicago, IL
2016 ArtBash Alternative Space–Leroy Neiman Center–Chicago, IL
2015 Blick Fall 12 x 12 Show–Blick Art Materials–Chicago, IL
2015 Art by America: A National Review of 2-D Contemporary Art Juried Exhibition–Arts on Elston Gallery–Chicago
2015 West Michigan Regional Art Show–King Gallery–Lowell, MI
2014 ArtPrize–The B.O.B.–Grand Rapids, MI
2013 West Michigan Drawing & Printmaking–King Gallery–Lowell, MI
2013 Congressional Art Show–Cannon Tunnel–Washington, D.C. Grand Prize Michigan 3rd District
PROFESSIONAL
2022 - Present Digital Collection and Media Manager - Video Data Bank (SAIC)
2021 - 2022 Archive & Distribution Associate - Kartemquin Films
2019 - 2020 Archive Associate - Kartemquin Films
2019 Archive Assistant - Kartemquin Films
2018 - 2019 Box Office Assistant - Gene Siskel Film Center
2018 Manuscript Assistant - SAIC Liberal Arts Science Faculty
2017 - 2019 Media Collections Assistant - John M. Flaxman Library Special Collections, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2017 - 2019 Stock footage cataloger - A/V Geeks
CURATORIAL
2025 Employees Only, Grin and Bear It: Cinema of the Dark Clown.
Co-curated with Tone Glow, May 2025. Elastic Arts.
2025 Employees Only, Ben Russell: Against Time, April 2025. FACETS.
2025 Onion City Experimental Film Festival, April 2025. Chicago Filmmakers.
2024 Employees Only, SPECIES BEING, Dec 2024. Sweet Void Cinema.
2024 Peripheries Experimental Film & Video Festival, Sept 2024. Sweet Void Cinema.
2024 Comfort Film - Miranda July and Shana Moulton, April 2024. Comfort Station.
2023 Doldrums: On the Uncanny Domestic, April 2023. VDB TV.
Committees and Juries:
2025 Creative Capital Award Reviewer
2025 Nashville Film Festival Shorts Program Juror
2025 APA / AMIA Generative AI Interest Group
Subcommittee Member - AI Upscaling
2024 SAIC ExTV ExFest Juror
2024 Reeling Film Festival Screening Committee
2024-2025 Association of Moving Image Archivists Mentorship Advisor
2023-2024 Onion City Film Fest Screening Committee
2022 Milwaukee Film Festival Shorts Program Juror
2022 Kartemquin / Hulu Accelerator Green Light Committee
PUBLICATION
2025 The Tick, The Tell, The [ ]. SAIC MAVCS Canon Publication, April 2025. Editor and contributor. “We Live in a Society (of the Psyop), or, Critique Goes Joker Mode.”
2025 Tone Glow 174: Daniel Blumberg, Feb 2025. An interview with composer Daniel Blumberg about recording improvised music, how microphones became an integral part of his practice, and making the score for Brady Corbet's 'The Brutalist' (2024)
2024 CINE-FILE capsules
HIGH SCHOOL / UZI’S PARTY / ROUNDABOUT FT. LIGHT CONE / EYEWORKS / BLOODSISTERS / STATES OF PLACE / BRIEF SPACE OF A TIME / SEEKING MAVIS BEACON / MY FIRST FILM / GOLUB / MS.45 + COFFY / TEO HERNÁNDEZ
2023 “Camera #1, Kartemquin Films” by Elise Schierbeek and Tim Horsburgh. Tales From the Vaults: Film Technology over the Years and across Continents. International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and The International Research Partnership on Cinema Technology (TECHNÉS). June 2023.
2023 “Doldrums: On the Uncanny Domestic“ by Elise Schierbeek. VDB TV, Video Data Bank. April 2023.
2022 “Reconstructing Copyright Law: An Interview with Jack Lerner and Gordon Quinn” by Elise Schierbeek. Kartemquin Films Camera One Blog.
2020 “Kartemquin’s Archive in Good Hands” by Peter Monaghan, interview with Elise Schierbeek. Moving Image Archive News.
2019 “Diachronous Markers, Violent Surfaces” by Diamond Woods, Elise Schierbeek, Lucas Reif, Zhanna Ter-Zakaryan. Unseen and Anthropocene: Unearthing Chicago as Second-Nature. Minding Nature Journal Winter 2019, Vol. 12 No.1. Chicago, IL.
2018 “Bodies of Water,” ON / Being Read. On Journal, Issue 02. Ed. Gabrielle Welsh. Published by Shelf Shelf, Chicago, IL.
PANELS
2024 Building Professional Mentorship in the Field. Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) Conference. Panelist.
2024 Kartemquin Films: Documentaries for Democracy - ‘Be the Change: Kartemquin Films Builds the Future.’ Panelist.
2023 Guerilla Television - Media Burn and Kartemquin Films. Midwest Archives Conference. Presenters: Elise Schierbeek and Dan Erdman.
2021 The Portable Revolution: The 1970s Guerilla Television Movement. Presenter in Media Burn Archive Screening and Discussion.
2021 Living Archives: A Roadmap for Donation of Documentary Production Collections. Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) Conference. Panelists: Elise Schierbeek (Chair), Carolyn Faber, Nadia Ghasedi, Andy Uhrich.