https://tegabrain.com Tega Brain Thu, 18 Sep 2025 15:59:39 +0000 https://tegabrain.com en https://tegabrain.com/about Thu, 13 Apr 2017 23:34:29 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/about <img width="1086" height="1086" width_o="1086" height_o="1086" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/42c1d035629b2ffaaf196b981c488ec914210d5f82ae61cd06d7ccc8505e6c15/tega.jpg" data-mid="184356043" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/42c1d035629b2ffaaf196b981c488ec914210d5f82ae61cd06d7ccc8505e6c15/tega.jpg" /> 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 &amp; 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 biographyTega 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.&nbsp;ContactEmail: tega dot brain at gmail dot com Instagram Mastodon To hear occasional updates about shows, talks and new work subscribe to my studio newsletter here: <img width="2000" height="1334" width_o="2000" height_o="1334" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/535e74402a7d67d1d884c9683ab302903546273ea9bccd40952bea1306bea1c5/TegaBrain-2026-sm.png" data-mid="245283147" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/535e74402a7d67d1d884c9683ab302903546273ea9bccd40952bea1306bea1c5/TegaBrain-2026-sm.png" /> https://tegabrain.com/Exhibitions Sat, 24 Jun 2023 10:01:47 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/Exhibitions EXHIBITIONS /&nbsp;TALKS / PRESS EXHIBITIONS:&nbsp;Current and Upcoming Slop Evader CONTENT MACHINES – Jouissance Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam Mar 20 - May 9 Solar Protocol Here Comes the SunElektron, Cercle Cité LuxembourgFeb 6 - Apr 5 Solar Protocol AI and the Paradox of AgencyBildmuseet at Umeå UniversityMar 13 - Jan 17 Perfect Sleep Connected Earth Ars Electronica Center Linz, Austria RECENTHow to Get to Zero (Solo show with Sam Lavigne)Pioneer Works, BrooklynSept 12 - Dec 14OffsetMediaLive: Data Rich, Dirt Poor Bolder Museum of Contermpoary ArtSept 12 - January 11, 2026 Open Orbit, Being Radiotropic Esoteric Algorithms and Re-enchanted TechnologiesPanke Gallery, Berlin, Germany16 October – 08 November 2025 Asunder Emerging Exits&nbsp; Diogenes BunkerSeptember 12 - November 2, 2025 Solar ProtocolReciprocityUniSC Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia16 August—25 October 2025Synthetic MessengerScopitoneNantes, FranceSep 18 -28 2025 Soleil.s: Solar Biennale 2mudac - Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied ArtsLausanne, SwitzerlandMarch 21 - Sept 21, 2025 Planetarische BauernKunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle, GermanyMay, 23rd – Sept 4th, 2025 Solar Protocol Fixing FuturesMuseum Giersch der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, GermanyApr 5 - Aug 8, 2025 Artist Feature: Cold Call and Solar Protocol Ars ElectronicaLinz, Austria September 4-8, Nov 17th, 2024 Solar Protocol Tools for ChangeHeK, Basel, SwitzerlandAug 31 –Aug 17 2024Solar Protocol Alt NetsPanke Gallery, BerlinSept 6 - Oct 19 2024New Organs Surveillance: From Vision to DataThe Collection of Historical Scientific InstrumentsHarvard University, BostonSept 21 - Jun 23 2024 Asunderin There is No Planet B,Ars Electronica Museum, LinzSeptember 2021 - Present Synthetic Messengerin The Irreplaceable HumanLouisiana Museum of Modern ArtNov 23 2023 - Apr 1 2024 Perfect Sleepin Catalyst LabEuropean Patent Office, Munich5 October - 15 June 2024 Asunder Last Snow Sapporo International Festival of Art, JapanJanuary 20–February 25, 2024 2023Solar Protocol»Renaissance 3.0«ZKM | Center for Art and Media KarlsruheMarch 24 – February 25, 2024 Asunder Surreal FuturesMax Ernset Museum, BrühlAugust 27 - January 28, 2024 Get Well SoonBeard &amp; Weil GalleriesWheaton CollegeOctober 20–December 13, 2023.Synthetic Messenger Taoyuan Art x Technology Festival Taoyuan Arts Center, Taiwan September 22 - October 29 Unfit BitsUnreal Data: Mine, Yours, Ours, Filodrammatica Gallery, Rijeka, March 30 - April 28, 2023. Cold Call: Time TheftSTRP Festival, Eindhoven, Netherlands.12 April – 16 April, 20232022 Offset and Synthetic MessengerData Relations10 Dec 2022–19 Mar 2023Australian Center for Contemporary Art, Melbourne.Perfect SleepBeyond Borders and Binaries16 December 2022 - 19 March 2023MU, Eindhoven Netherlands.Being Radiotropicin the Earth Heat Cloud exhibitionat the Beijing BiennialDecember 9th 2022 – February 12th 2023Deep Swamp Earthbound – In Dialogue with Nature HeK, BaselOctober 25 - November 13, 2022Solar ProtocolAula Magna Silvio Trentin: Ca' FoscariUniversity of VeniceOctober 6 - 7, 2022, Synthetic Messengerin Distant Early WarningsGray Area Festival, San FransiscoSeptember 29 – October 30thAsunderEverything Will be FineOutside the Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin14 Sep - 4 Oct 2022New York ApartmentPerforming Documents: Modes of AssemblingCenter for Book Arts, New York CityJul 15–Sep 24, 2022Deep SwampEarthbound – In Dialogue with Nature Esch2022—European Capital of Culture, LuxembourgJune 4–August 14, 2022AsunderSeeing Stones and Spaces Beyond the ValleyBiennale WarszawaJune 3rd - July 17th, 2022 2021Coin Operated Wetlandin FUTURES,Smithsonian Museum, Washington DCLate 2021 – Summer 2022 Deep Swamp Ti Zero Exhibition Palazzo delle Esposizioni, RomeOctober 12, 2021 - February 27, 2022Asunder Biennale des Arts Numériques NémoLe CENTQUATRE, ParisOctober 1, 2021 &gt; January 2, 2022 Sleep Studyin Tempo,Sinclair-Haus, Bad HomburgSeptember 26th, 2021Asunderin Fotograf Festival,National Museum of Agriculture, PragueSept 2nd 2021 - October 17th, 2021 Solar Protocolin 3rd Asian Digital Arts Exhibition,Beijing Times Art Museum, BeijingJuly 23 - October, 2021AsunderYou and AI: Through the Algorithmic LensPedion tou Areos Park, Athens, Greece25 June - 18 July, 2021 Synthetic MessengerSTRP Festival, EindhovenJune 3-6, 2021New York Apartment Spatial AffairsThe Ludwig Museum &amp; ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe29th April – 27 June 2021Asunder Shaping the Invisible World – Digital Cartography as an Instrument of KnowledgeHouse of Electronic Arts (HEK), Basel03 March – 23 May 2021 2020Smell Dating Far Away and So CloseThe Gallatin Galleries, New YorkDecember 2, 2020 – January 20 2021Data CTRL CentreM17 Contemporary Art Center, Kiev30 October – 22 November 2020Unfit BitsWellness - Participate, Tend and BefriendKristianstads Konsthall, Sweden3rd Oct 2020 — 28th Feb 2021Sacrifice Zone AI Lab Journeys, Ars Electronica Festival, LinzSep 10, 7:40 am - 8:00 am, 2020Asunder How To Make a ParadiseFrankfurter Kunsverein, Germany27 Mar — 16 Aug 2020New York ApartmentArtportWhitney Museum of Art, New YorkLaunched March 6th, 2020.Asunder Survival of the FittestKunstpalais, Erlangen29 Feb - 24 May 2020 Deep SwampThe Question of IntelligenceAnna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery | Parsons School of DesignFebruary 07 - April 08, 2020The New OutsideNew York ApartmentUpStream Gallery1 - 17 May 2020, view online.AsunderThe Eternal Network28 Jan – 01 Mar 2020HKW, Berlin 2019New Organs Fun PalaceC2 Space, OCT-LOFT, ShenzhenDec. 9th 2019 - Mar. 2020Unfit Bits 24/7Somerset House, London31 Oct 2019 – 23 Feb 2020Being Radiotropic The Glassroom, San Fransisco838 Market St.Oct 16 to Nov 3, 2019AsunderVienna Biennale for ChangeMuseum of Applied Arts, ViennaMay 29 – October 6, 2019 Unfit BitsFuture of PrivacyAccenture The Dock, Dublin.June 8th - Sept 3rd, 2019Unfit BitsSystem FailureMinnesota Street ProjectMay 4–25, 2019The New OrgansIs the internet listening in on you?Contribute your story at neworgans.netCommissioned by MozillaBeing RadiotropicDevice Art TriennaleZagreb Museum of Contemporary Art, CroatiaDecember 18th - February 15th 2019Deep SwampThe 6th Guangzhou Triennial: As We May Think- FeedforwardGuangdong Museum of Art.December 21st - March 10 2019 2018Deep SwampAs We May Think- FeedforwardThe 6th Guangzhou TriennialGuangdong Museum of ArtDecember 21 - March 10, 2019Being RadiotropicNeon Digital Arts Festival Dundee Botanic Garden, Dundee6 – 11th Nov, 2018. Deep SwampMachines Are Not Alone, Device Art Triennial Chronus Art Center, Shanghai July 21 - October 21, 2018Sept 8th - Oct 15th, 2018. Keeping Time, Systematic, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart.July 22nd: Talk at Field Remediations workshop with Karolina Sobecka, Chronus Art Center.March 10 &amp; 17: Algorithmic Disobedience Workshop, Hunter College, NYC.April 11-13: MUTEK_IMG Conference, Montreal.March 7: Art, Activism and Algorithms: Aesthetic Interventions in Machine Bias at Hunter College (postponed).January 16 - March 4: Exhibition, Stream Capture, MCAD, Minnapolis.2nd February: Participant in Research Values Workshop and Panel, Transmediale Festival, Berlin.20th January: Organizing Learning to Teach, IDM NYU. Tickets on sale here.201715th December:Organizing Learning to Teach, Day for Night Festival, Houston. RSVP here.2nd December:Speaker at Art and Science: The Two Cultures Converging conference, The Helix Center, NYC.29th November: Talk, Design Research, Writing &amp; Criticism, SVA, NYC.26th October: The Quantified Self Davies Forum, University of San Fransisco.23rd October –15th November: Exhibition - The Glass Room London, with Tactical Tech.21st - 29th October: Smell Dating in Internet of Women Things (part of Manifestations Veemgebouw), Dutch Design Week.6th October: Making Natural Language, A Evening with the Enron Email Archive, the New Museum.September: The Good Life exhibited in First Look, New Art Online, the New Museum.24th September: Speaker for Adweek Art Panel, Whitney Museum.June 1st: Tega Brain in conversation with Alexander Scholz, Node Forum, Frankfurt.June 26th – July 2nd: Being Radiotropic exhibited at Node Forum, Frankfurt.April 28th: Friday Late, Victoria And Albert Museum, London.April 28-29th: Interrupt 4, Brown University, Providence, RI.March 9th - May 14th: Internet of Women Things, Tetem Gallery, Enschede, Netherlands.March 25th - July 16th: No Secrets, Eres Foundation, Munich.April 17th: Media and Thermodynamics, Media Studies Lecture Series, New School, NYC.March 26th: Ten Days on the Island, Glenorchy Public Art Park, Hobart.March 9th - April 9th: Working Promesse, Biennale Internationale Design, Saint-Etienne.September - January 8th: Smell Dating in The Life Fair, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Museumpark 25, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.January 23rd: New project exploring art forms funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Made in its defense.January 15th: Organizer of Learning to Teach Conference II, with Processing Foundation and School for Poetic Computation.2016November 30th: Learning to Teach: A Panel on Learning, ICP, NY.November 29th - December 16th: Unfit Bits and Smell Dating in the Glass Room, NYC.November 16-27th: Smell Dating, Doclab, International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam.November: The Good Life, launched on Rhizome front page.October - April '17: Futurs Non Conformes, a virtual exhibition by Jeu de Paume.October 28th: Speaker at ITP, NYU guest artist series.October 6th: Speaker at Weird Reality Art and Code, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh.October 1st: Lecture at After 9 Evenings: Object Field, A Symposium on Current and Historical Experiments in Art and Technology.September 24th: Speaker, Better World by Design conference, Brown University.September 17th-22nd: Unfit Bits exhibited at Sleep Center, NYC.August 15th-27th: Workshop at Code Subversions, School for Poetic Computation.July 25th - 29th: Workshop: Eccentric Interfaces, Environmental Interventions Workshop, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. Course materials.June 18th: Opening of Beasts of Alderley, a new public artwork commissioned by Brisbane City Council.June: Smell Dating Shanghai, hosted by Chronus Art Center. Sign up is here.6-9th June: Speaker at the Eyeo FestivalMay 4th: Speaker at Republica, Berlin.April 19th– May 13th: Exhibition: Geek Girls, The Block, Brisbane.April 15th: Speaker at Mistakes Were Made, NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication.12-24th March: Research residency at GASP, TasmaniaMarch 11th - May 9th: Exhibition: Unfit Bits in Nervous Systems, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.Feb 29th: Lecture at Hacker School, NYC.January 9th/10th: Co-organizing the Learning to Teach Conference at SFPC, with Taeyoon Choi.2015December 13th: Eccentric Engineering Panel, South Street Seaport, Eyebeam.December 5th: Speaker at Software for Artists, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn.19 November - 20 December: Exhibition: Inside/Out, Eyebeam Artist Showcase, South Street Seaport. Open Tues-Sun 12-7pm.October 24th: Speaker at Radical Networks, NYC.September 12th – November 7th: Exhibition: Design Thinking: Experimental Practice, Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane.September 29th: Speaker at Obfuscation Book Launch, NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication.April-September: Residency: Spring/summer at Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology, NYC.August 27th – October 10th: Exhibition: Future Nature, Object: Australian Design Centre, Sydney.September 19th: Speaker at Open Hardware Summit, Philadelphia.September 12th: Internet Yami-Ichi, NYCMay 25th - 31st: p5.js Contributers Conference, Studio for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon University.May 21st: Speaker at TEDx, Sydney.April 27th: Lecture at Magnet, NYU Poly / School of Engineering. ... https://tegabrain.com/Talks Sat, 24 Jun 2023 09:58:40 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/Talks EXHIBITIONS / TALKS / PRESS 2026 Planetary Media SymposimColumbia GSAPPApril 8th, 2026 Experiments in RefusalBeyond the Prompt Speaker Series Media Lab, Faculty of Arts University of Manitoba March 6th, 2026 Stop Making Sense RISD (Art and Computation) Speaker Series Rhode Island February 19, 2026 2025Urgent Inquiries&nbsp;with Ari Melenciano and Sam Lavigne Eyebeam at Secret Riso Club122 Central Avenue, Brooklyn November 11, 6 to 8:30 PM Broadcast Radio Hour at Second Sundays with Shannon Mattern&nbsp; Pioneer Works, Brooklyn Sep 14, 2025 sonar d Barcelona, Spain June 13, 2025 Keynote Annual Conference Metro NY Library CouncilJune 17, 2025 2024 Crit Night at Ace Hotel Brooklyn with PioneerWorks Monday, Sep 16, 2024 The Means of Automation Responsibility in postnatural environments Critical Media Lab, Basel Academy of Art and Design July 5th, 2024 Inauthentic Behavior R &amp; D Salon - No More Likes Museum of Modern Art, New York April 30, 2024 2023 Tega Brain: On Automation and Environment Dutch Digital Design Day Amsterdam, Netherlands June 24th, 2023 Getting to Net Zero Republica Berlin, Germany June 6th, 2023 A Question of Agency Creative Days Vienna Vienna, Austria May 31st, 2023 2022Artists Talk: Tega Brain and Emilija ŠkarnulytėThe Photographers Gallery 3 Nov 2022 The Environment is Not a SystemThe Conference, Malmo August, 2022 Artist Talk: Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne Sonar-D Lisboa, Portugal April 2022 2021 Working with Logic of the World Itself Living Cities Forum, MPavillion, Melbourne, 2021. 2019Ways to Predict the Future, Sonar Festival,&nbsp;Barcelona, 2019. 2017 The Making of Natural Language: An Evening with the Enron Email Archive The New Museum, New York, 2017. The Entropy of a System&nbsp; Data &amp; Society, New York City 2017. 2016 Free Your Fitness from Yourself, re:publica ConferenceBerlin, 2016. Eccentric Engineering The Eyeo Festival, Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, 2016. 2015Eccentric Enginnering: Thoughts for the Anthropocene TedX, The Sydney Opera House Sydney, 2015. Network with Others, Radical Networks Conference NYC, 2015. https://tegabrain.com/Press Sat, 24 Jun 2023 10:02:04 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/Press EXHIBITIONS / TALKS / PRESS&nbsp; &nbsp; Press A new browser hack lets you blast away 3 years of AI slop,&nbsp;Shannon Carroll, Quarz, Dec. 3, 2025.Art Gallery Shows to See in November, Jillian Steinhauer, New York Times,&nbsp;Nov. 27, 2025.'Slop Evader' Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022, Janus Rose, 404 Media, Nov 26, 2025. &nbsp;&nbsp;These artists want your help distracting fossil fuel executives,&nbsp;Louis Bury, The Art Newspaper, October 14, 2025.Go to Red Hook to Heckle Some Oil and Gas Execs, Hell Gate, September 16, 2025. Essential AI Artworks, Alex Greenberger, ARTnews,&nbsp;August 20, 2024. Peter Weibel’s “Renaissance 3.0”: The freedom of art is its unscientific nature, Time.news, April 3, 2023.Eco-Crime Pays: New Scheme Lets You Trade ‘Industrial Sabotage’ for Carbon Credits, Lauren Leffer, Gizmodo, February 15, 2023.Deep Swamp reviewed in T Zero: A Roman view on art, science and society, We Make Money Not Art, March 4, 2022.Solar Protocol network explores the potential of a solar-powered internet,&nbsp; Rima Sabina Aouf, Dezeen, 27 September 2022 Smithsonian exhibition ‘Futures' explores ‘mind-expanding possibilities’, Eva Hagberg, Wallpaper*, November 26, 2021.Futures comes alive in Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building, Peggy McGlone, Washington Post, October 6th 2021.createCanvas Season 2: Interview with Tega Brain and Golan Levin, Processing Foundation,&nbsp;Jun 1, 2021Sam Lavigne and Tega Brain: New York Apartment, Brooklyn Rail, June 2020.New York Apartment is reviewed in The New Yorker, 2020.Get Well Soon is listed in ArtNews in their list of Defining Artworks of 2020.Critics Pick, Artforum, April, 2020.'Artport' from the Whitney Museum. Interview with my collaborator Sam Lavigne, speaking about New York Apartment on NPR, All Of It, April 2020.Museums Are Finding New Ways to Connect with Art Lovers Online during Quarantine, Artsy, Apr 19, 2020.An Art Exhibit You Can Visit Without Leaving Your Couch, Slate Magazine, April 02, 2020.24/7: A Wake-Up Call for Our Non-Stop World review – in search of lost time, The Guardian, 10 Nov 2019.Hack the Planet: Tega Brain on Leaks, Glitches, and Preposterous Futures, Logic Magazine, Issue 9, Dec 7th, 2019.Data Science Friction. On the AI-based eco-management system Asunder (2019) by Tega Brain, Julian Oliver and Bengt Sjölén. Sivanesan, Sumugan, Springerin, 2019.Smell Dating Creates the World’s First “Mail Odor” Dating Service to Help Singles Sniff Out a Hot Date, Dating News, March 5, 2019“Review: Being Radiotropic”, Neon Digital Arts,&nbsp;8 November 2018.Artificial Intelligence, Like a Robot, Enhances Museum Experiences, Jane L. Levere, New York Times, October 15th, 2018.Le projet New Organs veut terrasser le capitalisme de la surveillance, Thibault Prévost, Vice France, Sept 4th, 2018.Digital ads are starting to feel psychic, Oscar Schwartz, The Outline, July 13th, 2018.This is your brain on Wi-Fi , Straith Schreder, Internet Citizen, Mozilla, January 22, 2018.An Exhaustive List Of Art Projects Threatened By The Proposed NEA Cuts, Katherine Brooks, Huffington Post, January 25, 2017.As Trump Threatens the NEA, an Artist Compiles All the Projects It Funded Last Year, Claire Voon, Hyperallergic, January 27, 2017.Experience Enron's Everyday Evil with a 500,000+ Email Experiment, Azura Wannmann, Creators Project, January 4, 2017.Finding Inspiration for Art in the Betrayal of Privacy, Jenna Wortham, The New York Times, December 27, 2016.A Tech Collective Sets Up a Sleek Boutique — to Help Visitors Elude Big Data., Jay Cassano, Hyperallergic, December 2016.These Brooklyn artists are exploring the dark side of Big Data, April Joyner, Technical.ly Brooklyn, December 2016.Corporate Malfeasance as Service – The Enron Email Simulator, Greg J. Smith, Creative Applications, November 2016.What Enron’s emails tell us about artificial intelligence, Tyler Woods, Technical.ly Brooklyn, November 2016.I'd Swipe Right on Yr Metadata, Liat Berdugo, Transart Triennale, 2016.Fit for the Future: The 2016 Eyeo Festival, Desi Gonzalez, Art in America, June 2016.Eccentric Wi-Fi Routers Put the "Fun" in Functional Art, Beckett Mufson, Creators Project, June 2016.The nose knows: Can you find love with smell dating? Jessica Martin, ABC Online, May 27, 2016.Confessions of a Data Broker and other tales of a quantified society, Régine Debatty, We Make Money Not Art, April 28th, 2016.Love in the Singles, Mandy Oaklander, Time Magazine, April, 2016.Here’s What Happened When I Agreed To Try ‘Smell Dating’, Noah Michelson, Huffington Post, April 26th, 2016.Smell dating: sniffing out potential lovers (and their sweaty T-shirts), Amber Jamieson, The Guardian USA. April 27, 2016.Love is in the armpit at New York's Smell Dating, Barbara Goldberg and Angela Moore, Reuters, March 24, 2016.This Dating Site Matches You Based On Your B.O., Katie Notopoulos, BuzzFeed News, February 16, 2016.How to Fake Your Workout, Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, September 28, 2015.Unfitbits: How To Trick Your Fitbit Into Thinking You're Working Out But You're Not, Kif Leswing, International Business Times, 2015.Strange Weather: alien flowers in the Arctic, raindrop that floats in mid-air and jellyfish snacks for all, Regine DeBatty, We Make Money Not Art, 2014.Art activism, Nathan Li, Green Lifestyle Magazine, 2014.Meet Tega Brain, environmental engineer and artist, Xavier Mayes, Learning and Teaching Sustainability,Office for Learning and Teaching, 2013.If a system fails in a forest, is anybody listening?, Urszula Dawkins, Realtime Arts, June 2013.Le Temps, Interview on Talking Through Your Arts, Angela Stretch and Chris Virtue, 2SER Radio, March 2, 2013.Engineering an Artistic Streak, Rashell Habib, The Telegraph, March 17.Youngsters &amp; The City Wilderness Trail, Andrew Frost, The ArtLife, Sept 6, 2012.Slow Cycle, The Evolution of Coin Operated Wetland, Megan Garrett-Jones, Runway, Issue 21, January 2012.A Stock Exchange, Amelia Stein, Runway, Issue 9, July, 2011.The Ordinary Collective, Bridie Connell, Das SuperPaper, Issue 14, 2010.Tooling the Art of Electronics, Somaya Langlay, Realtime Arts, Issue 95, 2010.Audio.Tega Brain &amp; Sam Lavigne: Eccentric Engineering, Culture and Technology Podcast,&nbsp;27. April 2024Nuance, with Tega Brain, The Data Fix Podcast with Dr. Mél Hogan,&nbsp;July 24, 2023Tega Brain. The Digital Ecoscape, ZEITGEIST19 Curated Podcast, Jun 13, 2023Tega Brain &amp; Sam Lavigne Launch of 'Offset' - ACCA Podcast,&nbsp;May 2023 Ep 10: Agent Tega Brain - Engineering Art for Ecological Needs, AI Agents, 24 Apr 2021&nbsp; Biologically Speaking, Perfume on the Radio Podcast,&nbsp;May 27, 2021 The Fairest of Them All, Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything, November 2016Witness the Fitness, Joel Werner, ABC Radio, Radio National Health Report, December 2016What Is Smell Dating, And Does It Work? Huffington Post, Love and Sex Podcast, 2016Television Stop and Smell the Roses, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, May 2016.Finding Love at first Whiff, Reuters, 2016.Dating by Smell, AJ+, Al Jazeera, April 2016. https://tegabrain.com/artwork Tue, 04 Jul 2023 22:14:42 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/artwork ARTWORK / WRITING / CURATORIAL https://tegabrain.com/editions Sun, 25 Jun 2023 11:45:42 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/editions Artwork / Writing / Curatorial / Editions https://tegabrain.com/words Sun, 06 Jan 2019 16:21:53 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/words ARTWORK / WRITING / CURATORIAL Books Golan Levin and Tega Brain. (2021). Code as Creative Medium, MIT Press. <img width="5000" height="3323" width_o="5000" height_o="3323" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eb660f885b6c7d1ea8a31c39b78cdac3ac1460bbfc5d76adb7cbb345bd0bbf8c/IMG_0738_o.jpg" data-mid="184272589" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eb660f885b6c7d1ea8a31c39b78cdac3ac1460bbfc5d76adb7cbb345bd0bbf8c/IMG_0738_o.jpg" /> Essays, Articles and Chapters Brain T. and Lavigne, S. (2024) ‘All that is Air Melts into Air’ in Eflux Architecture.&nbsp; Brain T. (2024) ‘Fluxes and Flows’ in Swamps and the New Imagination, On the Future of Cohabitation in Art, Architecture, and Philosophy. Sternberg Press. Brain, T., Nathanson, A., &amp; Piantella B. (2022) ‘Solar Protocol: Exploring Energy-Centered Design’ in Workshop on Computing within Limits. Brain, T. and Lavine, S. (2021) The Battle to Control the Carbon Media Cycle, Ding Magazine. Piantella, B., Nathanson, A., Brain, T., &amp; Ohshiro, K. (2020, April). Solar-Powered Server: Designing for a More Energy Positive Internet. In Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-4).Nooney, L. and Brain T. (2019) 'A ‘speculative pasts’ pedagogy: where speculative design meets historical thinking' published in Digital Creativity. This paper was written in response to the class, History of Computing: How the Computer Became Personal.Brain, T. (2019). New Phenologies published in UnBag Magazine. Brain, T. (2018). 'The Environment is not a System' published in APRJA.Brain, T. and Lavigne S. (2016) Simulating Enron, Rhizome Blog. Brain, T. (2015) At Home in the Universe, Tega Brain interviews Margaret Wertheim. Guernica Magazine. Brain T. (2012). 'Making Architecture Public' in Expanded architecture : avant-garde film + expanded cinema + architecture. Broken Dimanche Press, Berlin, Germany.&nbsp; &nbsp; https://tegabrain.com/curatorial Wed, 05 Jul 2023 21:13:41 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/curatorial ARTWORK / WRITING / CURATORIAL Sun Thinking April 22, 2023 Online at solarprotocol.net. With the hybrid&nbsp;launch event at LARPA, Brooklyn. Curatorial Team: Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson, Benedetta Piantella and Kate Silzer<img width="2874" height="1800" width_o="2874" height_o="1800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/06bb73365833a36313a028d1b7e47b7a2e2602caf8d0613aec1092c49e359d15/Screen-Shot-2023-08-15-at-11.02.11-AM.png" data-mid="187996467" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/06bb73365833a36313a028d1b7e47b7a2e2602caf8d0613aec1092c49e359d15/Screen-Shot-2023-08-15-at-11.02.11-AM.png" /><img width="4032" height="3024" width_o="4032" height_o="3024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5bef4307725e870c70928bb11c845dde28d06853a77764f63693c8437295ab54/IMG_1682.JPEG" data-mid="187996544" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5bef4307725e870c70928bb11c845dde28d06853a77764f63693c8437295ab54/IMG_1682.JPEG" /> <img width="4032" height="3024" width_o="4032" height_o="3024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/58c7f1c8f2331da7ad046796df59df2ab21df9b7f6bcf901d2097ead8606c2a4/IMG_1684-2.JPEG" data-mid="187996543" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/58c7f1c8f2331da7ad046796df59df2ab21df9b7f6bcf901d2097ead8606c2a4/IMG_1684-2.JPEG" /> Poetic Computation: Seven Years of SFPCJanuary 12 - 23, 2020 Westbeth Gallery, New York City Curatorial TeamTega Brain, Alex Miller, Brian Solon, Lauren Gardner and Taeyoon Choi.This exhibition celebrated seven years of work at the School for Poetic Computation (SFPC). Founded in 2013, and located in Westbeth Artists Housing, SFPC is an artist-run school, residency and research community, exploring the intersection of code, design, hardware and theory — focusing especially on artistic intervention. Its mission is to support and nurture a diverse community of artists and critical thinkers to shape more creative, humane and poetic forms of computation. In the past few years, the school has prioritized inclusion of women, QTPOC, and the disability community, offering a range of free public programs. With classes and events focusing on environmental justice, disability and accessibility, intersectionalities, and racial bias in algorithms, the teachers have expanded the conventional understanding of computation.&nbsp;<img width="1024" height="768" width_o="1024" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/61e346f3a236b4af56f7df788c04b2741adac81dd5017311d51cd436943af27c/westbeth.jpeg" data-mid="184273518" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/61e346f3a236b4af56f7df788c04b2741adac81dd5017311d51cd436943af27c/westbeth.jpeg" /> <img width="2247" height="1500" width_o="2247" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e9d7876174e02477c6d8ec988712dd5d60cf3f552f9a7417eb84886712333f7f/20_01_22_SFPC_0004.jpg" data-mid="187995664" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e9d7876174e02477c6d8ec988712dd5d60cf3f552f9a7417eb84886712333f7f/20_01_22_SFPC_0004.jpg" /> <img width="2247" height="1500" width_o="2247" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8431144bcb7145a5aee8a2508a881f22185f4566ba8e2f5fe436eb61a5eecc38/20_01_22_SFPC_0006.jpg" data-mid="187995811" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8431144bcb7145a5aee8a2508a881f22185f4566ba8e2f5fe436eb61a5eecc38/20_01_22_SFPC_0006.jpg" /> <img width="768" height="1024" width_o="768" height_o="1024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8e0c53fa7edee175611d97f36834d3ee67db8b5eaf82f4ea3e6b8a586d9c1114/sfpc1.jpeg" data-mid="184273515" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/8e0c53fa7edee175611d97f36834d3ee67db8b5eaf82f4ea3e6b8a586d9c1114/sfpc1.jpeg" /> <img width="2248" height="1500" width_o="2248" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/38434fa5af768f56c26240dd9c7ec11641b953cac3f941015c482689daecbeeb/20_01_22_SFPC_0159.jpg" data-mid="187995828" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/38434fa5af768f56c26240dd9c7ec11641b953cac3f941015c482689daecbeeb/20_01_22_SFPC_0159.jpg" /><img width="2248" height="1500" width_o="2248" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8b2fa8dc81535026f74714c5892ed9cac226e2e33ad73c8ae7447e0af2c23557/20_01_22_SFPC_0238.jpg" data-mid="187995743" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8b2fa8dc81535026f74714c5892ed9cac226e2e33ad73c8ae7447e0af2c23557/20_01_22_SFPC_0238.jpg" /> <img width="2248" height="1500" width_o="2248" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f3a97460ebb7848ef4f72437ff371c74f3d5b909ea838ed8697581aacd7cc454/20_01_22_SFPC_0095.jpg" data-mid="187996013" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f3a97460ebb7848ef4f72437ff371c74f3d5b909ea838ed8697581aacd7cc454/20_01_22_SFPC_0095.jpg" /> Exhibition photography by Kyle Knodell. https://tegabrain.com/Eccentric-Engineering Mon, 10 Jul 2023 18:40:58 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/Eccentric-Engineering Eccentric Engineering - PhD Project This practice-led research project unfolds through the development and making of four artworks: Deep Swamp (2018), Asunder (2019), Synthetic Messenger (2021), and Solar Protocol (2021-2022). Each work plays out through the operation of a technological system that attempts (or proposes, in the case of Asunder) ways to manage or influence its ecology. Each involves the design of an automated process that relies on a mode of perception, a technique of analysis for decision making and then a way of proposing or confederating some sort of program of action. Through each of these processes of perception, cognition and action, these works explore some of the ways that data-driven computational techniques like AI are shaping and reshaping both ecological thought and the ways of responding to the current ecological crises.Through the dialogue between these artworks and the exegesis, I articulate a model for an interdisciplinary art practice called eccentric engineering. Eccentric engineering draws on methods from systems art, social practice, critical engineering and ontological design to offer critiques of the technological status quo but also, importantly, generate new possibilities, imaginaries and approaches for designing systems that act in concert with their environments and which serve ecosystemic rather than exclusively human agendas. <img width="2222" height="1440" width_o="2222" height_o="1440" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b87874bec78a9b85c4c1d6bd17fc07ee6dec821bc09881e9e695356fc33212e1/Screen-Shot-2023-07-10-at-2.45.06-PM.png" data-mid="184681302" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b87874bec78a9b85c4c1d6bd17fc07ee6dec821bc09881e9e695356fc33212e1/Screen-Shot-2023-07-10-at-2.45.06-PM.png" /> Prompts and commitments for eccentric engineering. Thesis Abstract Cultivating new infrastructural and ecological imaginaries is a crucial part of addressing the climate crisis. How might we envisage ways to design and engineer our way out of the mess we are in? Where is there space to prototype new social and technological relations that depart from both the privatised techno-solutionism of Silicon Valley and the anti-technological stance of twentieth century environmentalism? This practice-led research focuses on how automated systems and AI are reshaping ecological thought, and articulates a model for practice called eccentric engineering which provides space for this much-needed thinking and experimentation. It unfolds through four artworks that each realise an automated, computational system for environmental management, and it explores how environmental knowledge is produced and applied through systems, models, media and protocols. From this dialogue between practice and theory, I show how the question of how we know our environments informs how we think we can, or should, act within them. I also draw on non-anthropocentric theories of agency from Indigenous cosmologies of North America and Australia, new materialism, and the work of artists engaged with AI and automated systems to argue that automation is the coordination and confederation of human and non-human agencies. As such, automation is not an exclusively human intervention but equally emerges in the absence of human intent. It is a fundamental characteristic of a liveable biosphere. From these discussions of computation, ecological thinking, and the ways artists and designers orchestrate new coalitions of agencies, this thesis concludes by defining the practice of eccentric engineering. Eccentric engineering combines methods from systems art, social practice, critical engineering and ontological design to critique the technological status quo. Importantly, it generates new possibilities, imaginaries and approaches for designing systems that act in concert with their environments and serve ecosystemic, rather than exclusively human, agendas. https://tegabrain.com/How-to-Get-to-Zero-exhibition Thu, 18 Sep 2025 15:59:39 +0000 Tega Brain https://tegabrain.com/How-to-Get-to-Zero-exhibition How to Get to Zero (2025) Two-person exhibition with Sam Lavigne, Pioneer Works Sep 13 - Dec 14, 2025 <img width="2400" height="1350" width_o="2400" height_o="1350" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/789318b6e51ae325a17d1fa91061cc34f8306e32491ea56701b015bcc4195162/scales2.png" data-mid="238393805" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/789318b6e51ae325a17d1fa91061cc34f8306e32491ea56701b015bcc4195162/scales2.png" /> How To Get To Zero is the largest survey show of Tega Brain and Sam Lavigne's solo and collaborative practices to date, presenting work that examines the present limits and future possibilities of political agency during our time of climate crisis. Over the past ten years, the artists have worked at the forefront of social critique and participatory art, examining subjects ranging from economic corruption to police surveillance, and from data manipulation to the commodification of everyday life. By repurposing the technologies used to perpetuate these conditions, Brain and Lavigne highlight the underlying conceptual and political frameworks that so often reinforce an unjust and repressive status quo. Read more here. <img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d2607d668a5ad55cca988ccd5c29dc06d83de525ea4d92ccde2d268522059085/250911_PW_032.jpg" data-mid="238393390" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d2607d668a5ad55cca988ccd5c29dc06d83de525ea4d92ccde2d268522059085/250911_PW_032.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f69494e78d057cfd701111ea368fbeb03b8e53acffef80b9efcf9607261c0c89/250911_PW_002.jpg" data-mid="238393377" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f69494e78d057cfd701111ea368fbeb03b8e53acffef80b9efcf9607261c0c89/250911_PW_002.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a86227f5e653808609f93b31b814e7d01c1d8882db7ba84033e53e9085b18615/250911_PW_014.jpg" data-mid="238393703" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a86227f5e653808609f93b31b814e7d01c1d8882db7ba84033e53e9085b18615/250911_PW_014.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/40a41d36380456763f61a59c5cee5e3fc487bffa3db7bc505a2d905d8a07c430/250911_PW_015.jpg" data-mid="238393713" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/40a41d36380456763f61a59c5cee5e3fc487bffa3db7bc505a2d905d8a07c430/250911_PW_015.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/65b1083ad2dba891b51be635566f770047f6ecc74936b7330ee37697e3d782aa/250911_PW_019.jpg" data-mid="238393379" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/65b1083ad2dba891b51be635566f770047f6ecc74936b7330ee37697e3d782aa/250911_PW_019.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/21c2c4a7f83b3b751ef9dffe30eac843767c269a35ebde144c8e2bb407067cb5/250911_PW_024.jpg" data-mid="238393707" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/21c2c4a7f83b3b751ef9dffe30eac843767c269a35ebde144c8e2bb407067cb5/250911_PW_024.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5da523d42bc5060bbd91815ea1a586464fa9929eed916c591afa0fa93d3f87df/250911_PW_025.jpg" data-mid="238393380" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5da523d42bc5060bbd91815ea1a586464fa9929eed916c591afa0fa93d3f87df/250911_PW_025.jpg" /><img width="2250" height="3000" width_o="2250" height_o="3000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b4372defe959a01b2b2497e906d84aa18d3258840f2ae58971a4cc6d9c0b65c3/250911_PW_036.jpg" data-mid="238393392" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b4372defe959a01b2b2497e906d84aa18d3258840f2ae58971a4cc6d9c0b65c3/250911_PW_036.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5f625fc732bca3e114d36b901310c88e87b6baba6e3b41338851b8d55126d070/250911_PW_039.jpg" data-mid="238393393" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5f625fc732bca3e114d36b901310c88e87b6baba6e3b41338851b8d55126d070/250911_PW_039.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2250" width_o="3000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5181282f1e1be6cf3bc76cd33d1df7f0cfa610f30b334284b18e13207967b3bb/250911_PW_045.jpg" data-mid="238393394" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5181282f1e1be6cf3bc76cd33d1df7f0cfa610f30b334284b18e13207967b3bb/250911_PW_045.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="1800" width_o="3024" height_o="1800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/17b4ed2fc46e018daa520efda21c3a63268e05f4b34606f543e3e49331adaea6/solar-protocol.png" data-mid="238394555" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/17b4ed2fc46e018daa520efda21c3a63268e05f4b34606f543e3e49331adaea6/solar-protocol.png" />