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Garnet Hertz (born 1973) is a Canadian artist, designer and academic. Hertz is formerly Canada Research Chair in Design and Media Art and is known for his electronic artworks and for his research in the areas of '' critical making'' and
DIY culture "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, wikt:modification, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals ...
.


Art and Design Work

Hertz is known for robotic artworks that are a synthesis of living insects and electronic machinery. His ''Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot'' (2007) uses a giant Madagascan cockroach to control a robot that moves through the gallery space. In his 2001 work ''Fly with Implanted Web Server'', viewers of a specific URL browsed web pages served from inside a biological organism. Several of his works involve the repurposing of obsolete media technologies. His work ''OutRun'' turned an arcade video game cabinet into a street-driveable vehicle. As the vehicle is driven, it converts the a camera view of the real street into an 8-bit video screen view that the driver uses to navigate.


Publications

Hertz's publishing works are generally focused on alternative electronic culture in design and art, and include a 10-booklet
zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...
series titled ''Critical Making'', a booklet titled ''Disobedient Electronics'', and a
media archaeology Media archaeology or media archeology is a field that attempts to understand new and emerging media through close examination of the past, and especially through critical scrutiny of dominant progressivist narratives of popular commercial media s ...
book titled ''A Collection of Many Problems''. With
Jussi Parikka Jussi Ville Tuomas Parikka (born 1976 in Anjalankoski) is a Finnish new media theorist and Professor iDigital Aesthetics and Culture at Aarhus University Denmark. He is also (visiting) Professor in Technological Culture & Aesthetics at Winchester S ...
, Hertz co-authored a paper entitled "Zombie Media:
Circuit Bending Circuit bending is the creative customization of the circuits within electronic devices such as children's toys and digital synthesizers to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators. Circuit bending is manipulating a circuit ...
Media Archaeology into an Art Method," which was nominated for the 2011
Transmediale Transmediale, stylised as transmediale, is an annual festival for art and digital culture in Berlin, usually held over three to five days at the end of January and the beginning of February. transmediale takes the form of a conference (sometime ...
Vilem Flusser
media theory Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but it mos ...
award. Hertz has also published in the field of
human computer interaction Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligen ...
, including winning the best paper award with co-authors Silvia Lindtner and
Paul Dourish Paul Dourish (born 1966) is a computer scientist best known for his work and research at the intersection of computer science and social science. Born in Scotland, he holds the Steckler Endowed Chair of Information and Computer Science at the ...
at the ACM Conference for Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI 2014. He is also author of the academic monograph titled ''Art + DIY Electronics'' by
MIT Press The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Ac ...
in the Leonardo series in 2023. The project is described by curator Tina Rivers Ryan as follows: "In this groundbreaking study, Hertz argues that the DIY
electronic art Electronic art is a form of art that makes use of electronic media. More broadly, it refers to technology and/or electronic media. It is related to information art, new media art, video art, digital art, interactive art, internet art, and electr ...
ists who 'kludge' their own technologies constitute an important artistic countercultural practice that is an urgent response to the escalating failures of our technological infrastructures."


Academic career

Hertz is formerly the
Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...
in Design + Media Arts at
Emily Carr University of Art and Design The Emily Carr University of Art and Design (stylized as Emily Carr University of Art + Design and abbreviated as ECU) is a public university of art school, art and design located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1925 as the Van ...
. Hertz was previously
Research Scientist A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature ...
and
Artist in Residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...
in the Department of
Informatics Informatics is the study of computational systems. According to the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Europe Council and Informatics Europe, informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which the centra ...
at the
University of California Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
and was also Faculty in the Media Design Program at the
Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...
. He has also worked at the University of Regina. In 2024, Hertz taught a university course at Emily Carr University titled "How To Appreciate
Graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...
". The course featured several guests, including Smokey D, a well-respected Vancouver graffiti artist.


Awards

In 2003, Hertz won a Canada-U.S.
Fulbright Award The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
to pursue graduate studies at the University of California Irvine in an interdisciplinary program in art, computer science and engineering. In 2008, Hertz won the Oscar Signorini prize for
robotic art Robotic art is any artwork that employs some form of robotic or automated technology. There are many branches of robotic art, one of which is robotic installation art, a type of installation art that is programmed to respond to viewer interactions ...
. In 2013, Hertz was awarded a Canada Research Chair as Canada Research Chair in Design and Media Arts. In 2014, Hertz and his co-authors were awarded the CHI Best Paper Award. In 2019, Hertz was awarded a second term as Canada Research Chair as Canada Research Chair in Design and Media Arts.


References


External links

* Garnet Hertz
Personal home page, conceptlab.com

Garnet Hertz - MIT Press Author Page

Garnet Hertz - Canada Research Chair Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hertz, Garnet 1973 births Living people Canada Research Chairs Artists from Saskatoon Artists from Vancouver Artists from Saskatchewan Canadian digital artists Canadian multimedia artists Canadian designers Canadian roboticists Canadian new media artists 21st-century Canadian artists 21st-century Canadian male artists Media studies writers Robotic art University of Saskatchewan alumni University of California, Irvine alumni University of California, Irvine people ArtCenter College of Design faculty Academic staff of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design ArtCenter College of Design people Academic staff of the University of Regina