Irene Moon
| Irene Moon | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Katja Seltmann |
| Genres | Avant-garde, noise, electronica, DIY |
| Occupation(s) | Artist, entomologist, musician, lecturer |
| Instruments | Vocals, synthesizers, drum machine, samples |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Begonia Society, Surefire, Ignivomous, Carbon Records, APOP Records, Yod, Armageddon Record Shop, fusetron, tomentosa, RRRecords, Eclipse Records, Mimaroglu Music Sales, White Denim |
| Associated acts | Auk Theatre, Collection of the Late Howell Bend |
| Website | begoniasociety |
Irene Moon (born Katja Seltmann) is an American entomologist, performance artist, musician, playwright, actor, and filmmaker. She has published in the field of entomology as Katja Seltmann, but is best known for her alter-ego Irene Moon, under which name she has released a series of musical recordings, performance art-entomology lectures, insect/human hybrid dolls and Auk Theatre, a cycle of absurdist-horror plays that she writes and performs. She has also toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe in all of these capacities.
Moon was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. She began creating performances and films with the Melted Men, Deonna Mann and the Noisettes in Athens, Georgia during the late 1990s, and recorded her first album in 1996. She moved to Lexington, Kentucky in 2000 for Masters work in Entomology with a concentration in Insect Systematics and Evolution. While in Lexington, Moon developed Auk Theatre and began recording music under the name the Collection of the Late Howell Bend (credited for the soundtracks to Auk Theatre). Moon moved to Szeged, Hungary to study ecology. Here she received her PhD in ecology. Moon worked as a research associate in multiple subjects and she now works in the field of biodiversity informatics/entomology at The University of California Santa Barbara Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration. She previously worked at the American Museum of Natural History, now she works at UCSB and continues to create musical and performance art.
While Moon is most well known for her artistic performances, most of her performances are created specifically to perform or teach science. Moons uses the intersection between science and art to allow for communication about science and natural history through popular culture.
Moon performs "lectographies" in an attempt to educate people on the beauty of the insect world. In these "lectographies," Moon uses multiple forms of media such as film, song, dance, handouts, slides, PowerPoint presentations, preserved specimen, and any other form of media that Moon believes will be useful in teaching the audience about the world of insects.
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