I am currently working with the  High-Low Tech research group at the MIT Media Lab. In 2011 I received my Master of Fine Arts at Hunter College in New York . I joined this program in 2009 after completing my bachelors of fine arts in Digital Art at the University of Oregon in 2007. Formerly I worked as an adjunct professor for the Film and Media department at Hunter College where I taught new media theory and programing. I have also worked extensively in commercial interactive development and design. I use a wide variety of mediums and techniques in my projects, including, computing and programming, performance, animation and illustration.

As an artist, a researcher, and an educator, I make a conscious effort to balance a practical understanding of forms of new media with a broader attempt to understand the social and individual change that occurs as we become increasingly connected to and through technology. As a researcher, I focus on examining the effects of quantification and networked spaces on our self-perception and ways of thinking. As an artist, I try to leverage my experience in digital and interactive technologies in a way that pulls from my public-interventionist background. My goal is to produce work that highlights the relationships between the individual and new technology and challenges the disproportionate control of these forms of interaction. As an educator, my goal is to inform my students of emerging and significant aspects of new media culture and provide them with the tools and confidence to engage these spaces as active creators rather than as passive consumers. I make an effort to engage the public through digital technology in a way that not only encourages participation, but relays ideas that facilitate active and informed use of new media and new technology. I live and work in Brooklyn. I used to be online all the time, but I’m spending more time on my bike these days.

Why Hero Worship?

Moderation is in decline, and as it diminishes, our desires are manipulated. These desires are intimately linked to people who do not physically exist beyond the surface of their pictures. Within these pictures, they transcend their humanity and permanently install themselves in our minds. My goal is to analyze this new mythology and evaluate the images that support it. I am entertained and disturbed by our addiction to these surfaces and the relevance we continually find within them. The stories that emerge from the portrayal of these synthetic individuals fuel my work and allow me to question the synthesis of my own identity. I don’t reject the validity of popular culture, but I am not resigned to passive acceptance. I keep watching to see what happens next, waiting for opportunities to respond to, transform, and re-transmit the messages we are receiving.