Tega Brain

Talk

In our current time of planetary crisis, how can we redefine engineering to work in relation with ecology, rather than against it? Computational models mobilise certain modes of knowledge, invoking possibilities of manipulation and control in the context of environmental enquiry. Moving away from such a view, now is the time to discover other possibilities for ecological thought. 

Tega Brain is an Australian-born artist and environmental engineer whose work examines issues of ecology, data systems and infrastructure. She has created wireless networks that respond to natural phenomena, systems for obfuscating fitness data, and an online smell-based dating service. Her work has been shown in the Vienna Biennale for Change, the Guangzhou Triennial, and in institutions like the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the New Museum, among others.

Tega is an Assistant Professor of Integrated Digital Media, New York University. She works with the Processing Foundation on the Learning to Teach conference series and p5js project. Her work has been widely discussed in the press including in the New York Times, Art in America, The Atlantic, and The Guardian. 

The invitation of Tega Brain is part of the International Visitors Programme of Het Nieuwe Instituut.