Tega Brain is an Australian artist and environmental engineer born when atmospheric CO₂ was below 350 ppm. Her practice examines ecology, data, automation, and infrastructure through dysfunctional devices and experimental systems, including digital networks driven by environmental phenomena, schemes for obfuscating personal data, and a wildly popular smell-based dating service. Framing her work as Eccentric Engineering, Brain critiques technological solutionism while exploring ecological and infrastructural alternatives.
Her work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian (Arts and Industries), the Whitney Museum of American Art, ZKM Karlsruhe, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Haus der elektronischen Künste. She has received awards, fellowships, and residencies from Ars Electronica, Eyebeam, Pioneer Works, Data & Society, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and was a 2023 Creative Capital Awardee for a body of work developing alternative carbon offsetting methodologies.
Brain is an Industry Associate Professor of Integrated Design and Media at New York University and serves on the board of the School for Poetic Computation. She holds a PhD from the Australian National University and a BE in Environmental Engineering from the University of New South Wales. She is based in New York and maintains an ongoing collaboration with artist Sam Lavigne.
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Her work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian (Arts and Industries), the Whitney Museum of American Art, ZKM Karlsruhe, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Haus der elektronischen Künste. She has received awards, fellowships, and residencies from Ars Electronica, Eyebeam, Pioneer Works, Data & Society, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and was a 2023 Creative Capital Awardee for a body of work developing alternative carbon offsetting methodologies.
Brain is an Industry Associate Professor of Integrated Design and Media at New York University and serves on the board of the School for Poetic Computation. She holds a PhD from the Australian National University and a BE in Environmental Engineering from the University of New South Wales. She is based in New York and maintains an ongoing collaboration with artist Sam Lavigne.
Short biography
Tega Brain is an Australian artist and environmental engineer, born when atmospheric CO₂ levels were below 350 ppm. Her work examines ecology, data, automation, and infrastructure. She is an Industry Associate Professor of Integrated Design and Media at New York University and her first book, Code as Creative Medium was published by MIT Press.Contact
Email: tega dot brain at gmail dot comMastodon
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