Heather Dewey-Hagborg

Interviews by Brainard Carey

Heather Dewey-Hargborg, American artist and bio-hacker most knowned for the project Stranger Visions. Ana Brígida for The New York Times

Dr. Heather Dewey-Hagborg is a transdisciplinary artist and educator who is interested in art as research and critical practice. Her controversial biopolitical art practice includes the project Stranger Visions in which she created portrait sculptures from analyses of genetic material (such as hair, cigarette butts, or chewed up gum) collected in public places.

Heather has shown work internationally at events and venues including the World Economic Forum, the Daejeon Biennale, and the Shenzhen Urbanism and Architecture Biennale, the Van Abbemuseum, Transmediale and PS1 MOMA. Her work is held in public collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Wellcome Collection, and the New York Historical Society, among others, and has been widely discussed in the media, from the New York Times and the BBC to Art Forum and Wired.

Heather has a PhD in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is a visiting assistant professor of Interactive Media at NYU Abu Dhabi, an artist fellow at AI Now, an Artist-in-Residence at the Exploratorium, and is an affiliate of Data & Society.

Hybrid (Trailer) from Heather Dewey-Hagborg on Vimeo.

Installation view, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Hybrid: an Interspecies Opera. Courtesy of the artist and Fridman Gallery.

Still from Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Hybrid: an Interspecies Opera. Courtesy of the artist and Fridman Gallery.