Heather Dewey-Hagborg

Heather Dewey-Hagborg (born June 4, 1982, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an information artist and bio-hacker.

Education

Dr. Dewey-Hagborg is an information and bio artist whose works explore the intersection between art and science. As a student in the Information Arts program at Bennington College, she participated in computer science classes, which laid the groundwork for the science-based artwork she would later envision using algorithms, electronics, and computer programming. in 2007. It was here she curated a robotic performance art show called Robots on the March! in March 2005, and exhibited a piece called Lighter than Air: an experiment in constructing an autonomous flying robot.

As a final project at NYU, Dewey-Hagborg explored the question "Can computers be creative?" in an exhibit she called Spurious Memories. She developed an autonomous face categorizing and generating software program which recognized facial components, made comparisons and adjustments, and produced unique representations of the human face through mass exposure to facial images. Dewey-Hagborg continued her education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and graduated with a PhD in Electronic Arts in 2016.

As an educator her areas of interest include art and technology, multimedia, digital photography, research-based art and programming, and computer science. an adjunct professor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, an adjunct professor at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and taught art and technology studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Projects Totem

Dewey-Hagborg's Totem (2010) was a site-specific multimedia sculpture characterizing her earlier work. Totem, an idol, was designed to explore the implications of language and artificial intelligence using machine learning technology. Exploiting audio surveillance techniques to eavesdrop on and record conversations at the installation site, Dewey-Hagborg wrote algorithms to then isolate word sequences and grammatical structures into commonly used units. Influenced by Hebbian theory, she programmed the sculpture's computer to generate speech based on the most frequently occurring language structures in any given recording period. Over time, the least frequently elicited words or units would fade or be dropped from the sculpture's spoken vocabulary. The remaining units, stored in the sculpture's memory, were then spoken at random intervals.

Martha Schwendener, of The New York Times, wrote that Totem showed promise, but, because of audio difficulties and its fragmented, randomly generated speech, the piece "failed to connect human speech, meaning, and technology in a profound fashion."

Stranger Visions

Stranger Visions (2012–2013) is a science-based, artistic exploration using DNA as a starting point for lifelike, computer generated 3D portraits.

She began this project questioning how much information could be understood about a person using genetic detritus left behind by strangers in New York City.

Stranger Visions portrait "Sample 2" based on the DNA sample from a cigarette butt collected on Myrtle Avenue in New York City, N.Y. Collection site for DNA Samples; Corner of Wilson Avenue and Stanhope Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York.

She began the process of extracting DNA from the samples she collected. The extraction involves treating a hair sample, for example, with a gel that dissolves the hair, and a primer specifically developed to help locate characteristics like eye color or gender along the genome. She might repeat this process up to 40 times,

Once the DNA strands are extracted from the samples, she then amplifies, or copies, specific regions of the genome, using a technique called Polymerase Chain Reaction, or PCR, a process advanced by Kary Mullis, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1993). Sample collected for Stranger Visions on Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

The genetic blueprint She reworked the program to generate faces instead of just recognizing facial features.

Critics of Dewey-Hagborg's Stranger Visions question whether or not the work crosses ethical and legal boundaries. They make a distinction between an artist's right to express societal concerns through artwork and the act of collecting personal, genetic information without informed consent. One scientist and one gallery, according to Dewey-Hagborg, turned down her proposal fearing the project would "cause a fright" among people. A public version of the genetic profiling code is available on GitHub.

In 2013, Dewey-Hagborg was contacted by an assistant medical examiner in Delaware,

Collaboration with Chelsea Manning In the summer of 2017 Dewey-Hagborg's collaborative exhibition with transgender activist Chelsea E. Manning A Becoming Resemblance opened at Fridman Gallery in New York City, curated by Roddy Schrock. For the exhibition, Dewey-Hagborg created 3D printed portraits of Manning, based on cheek swabs and hair clippings that Manning sent her while incarcerated for leaking classified information to WikiLeaks. Dewey-Hagborg created Probably Chelsea, 30 portraits based on Manning's maternal DNA, their variances in skin color and features presents the malleability of DNA data, and Radical Love, two portraits out of many that Manning selected because they best conveyed her appearance at the time of her gender transition within maximum security prison, which did not allow photography. Probably Chelsea has since traveled to numerous institutions for exhibition, including Transmediale 2018: Face Value, January–April 2018 in Berlin, MU Art Space, Genomic Intimacy, May–July 2018 in Eindhoven, Netherlands and Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Hyperprometheus, October–December, 2018.

Probably Chelsea is in the permanent museum collection of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California. Radical Love is on view in the permanent collections of the New York Historical Society and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Xeno in Vivo Dewey-Hagborg's Xeno in Vivo (2024) was a live multimedia opera performance. Xeno in Vivo premiered at the Exploratorium in San Francisco on March 7 and 8, 2024. The opera delves into the topic of xenotransplantation, the transplantation of living cells, tissues, or organs from one species to another. It examines whether CRISPR gene editing is a radical new technology or merely an extension of the ancient Western practice of selective breeding. Along with audio and video media featuring laboratories of scientists and non-human animals, Dewey-Hagborg narrates the multimedia performance, recounting conversations she had with scientists about the ethical implications of xenotransplantation. The live production integrates projections, sculpture, and live beating heart cells on stage with four opera singers, accompanied by original music composed by Bethany Barrett.

Additional exhibitions and events Dewey-Hagborg's work has been exhibited at The Monitor Digital Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico, the UTS Gallery in Sydney, Australia, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Jaaga Art and Technology Center in Bangalore, India, the Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria. Cyber In Securities, Pepco Edison Place Gallery, Washington, D.C. Unlanguage (with Adriana Varella), computer interactive installation, the Poland Mediations Bienniale, Zamek Castle, Poland. Jaaga Dhvani, sound art, Bangalore, India

Selected grants and awards 2008 Artist's Residency and Grant, Sculpture Space, Utica, New York. 2012 Residency at Eyebeam 2012 Artist's Residency and Jerome Foundation Grant, Clocktower Gallery, Manhattan, N.Y. 2013 VIDA 15.0 Art and Artificial Life International Awards, special mention 2016 Creative Capital Award 2019 New Technology Art Award, "Probably Chelsea", Zebrastraat Ghent, Belgium.

Gallery