Michelle Farang Shofet is an artist, designer, and educator. She is Co-Founding Director of Nocturnal Medicine, a nonprofit studio for climate consciousness and cultural transformation. The collective weaves together nightlife, the healing arts, and design to reconnect us with our world and help us meet the environmental challenges of today.
Amongst their body of work, Nocturnal Medicine has created sanctuaries for ecological grief, climate-aware seasonal rites, chapels for extinction, and raves for public healing. Their work has been celebrated in The New York Times and CityLab as bringing a cutting-edge, soul-centered approach to addressing the psycho-emotional impacts of climate crisis. They have designed and produced immersive social experiences across diverse platforms, including in nightlife (Nowadays, Gospel), cultural institutions (Lincoln Center, Performance Space NY), and universities across the country (MIT, UVA, Yale). Nocturnal Medicine has presented their work at a range of institutions including at The New Museum and The Brooklyn Museum.
Shofet earned her Bachelors in Art History and City Planning from UC Berkeley while composing and performing music along the west coast. She went on to earn her Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University, and later worked as a landscape designer at internationally-renowned firm Snohetta. She has been a fellow of Humanity in Action, conducting grant-funded research on memory, place, and identity across Poland. She currently teaches climate-informed design at Parsons, and a design studio on collective awe and divine communication at Columbia GSAPP.
Michelle has woven expertly through DIY and institutional creative scenes in her work to tune into and express the intricacies of the human soul. Throughout, she has explored and expressed her personal relationship with the divine—through communion with nature, raving, and exploration of the psyche. She brings all of this to bear in her work with Nocturnal Medicine, plumbing her own depths to serve as a powerful guide for others.