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, and is the
current director of the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological
Restoration at the University of California, Santa Barbara.However,
she 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. Since 2015, she co-hosts the weekly science and
music radio program Unknown Territories, on KCSB 91.9 FM in Santa
Barbara.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.
performance artist, musician, playwright, actor, and filmmaker. She
has published in the field of entomology as Katja Seltmann, and is the
current director of the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological
Restoration at the University of California, Santa Barbara.However,
she 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. Since 2015, she co-hosts the weekly science and
music radio program Unknown Territories, on KCSB 91.9 FM in Santa
Barbara.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.
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