Artist and computer scientist Jonathan Harris will speak as part of Pratt Institute’s Department of Digital Arts Lecture Series at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, in Lecture Hall E2 in the ARC Building, Lower Level on Pratt’s Brooklyn Campus. Harris’s lecture will be free and open to the public; however, seating is limited.
Harris makes projects that reimagine how humans relate to technology and to each other. His projects combine elements of computer science, anthropology, visual art, and storytelling, and range from building the world’s largest time capsule to documenting an Alaskan Eskimo whale hunt on the Arctic Ocean. He is the co-creator of We Feel Fine, a website that continuously measures the emotional temperature of the human world through large-scale blog analysis.
Harris’s work has been called “a fascinating combination of art, science, culture, and current affairs” by USA Today, “astonishing and brilliant” by New York magazine and “stunningly gorgeous” by The Washington Post.
Harris has been recognized with a 2005 Fabrica fellowship and three Webby Awards. He was named a 2008 New Visual Artist by Print magazine and a 2009 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. His work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and has appeared on CNN, NPR, and the BBC. He has given talks at Google and the TED Conference and was also co-designer of the Vermont state quarter. He is a graduate of Princeton University.