Heather Dewey-Hagborg is a multimedia artist and educator who explores how art and science interact to inform and define what is artificial and what is natural. In this exhibition, Dewey-Hagborg will show sculptural portraits that she has constructed from the genetic material unwittingly left behind by strangers in public spaces. Through an emerging scientific process called forensic phenotyping, Dewey-Hagborg asks us to consider and scrutinize the real possibility of a culture of biological surveillance and genetic determinism. These portraits offer a striking representation of identity, while confronting the viewer with the knowledge of their artifice, demonstrating the conflict of critique and celebration that excites and motivates Dewey-Hagborg to continue her work at the intersection of art and science.
Heather Dewey-Hagborg earned her BA in from Bennington College, and her Masters degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. She is currently based in Chicago, where she a PhD student in Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and and Assistant Professor of Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Exhibition
September 6 - October 26, 2014
