Benjamin De Kosnik is a multidisciplinary artist and engineer. He uses art to illuminate and demystify control systems in technology and media. He creates custom software, hardware, and networked systems that document human behavior on the internet, and uses that data to generate visual artifacts. He generates openly accessible archives, works on paper, single and multi-channel video art, electronic media installations, performances, and talks. He has exhibited at Hong Kong Open Printshop in Hong Kong, Gallery West Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, RootDivision in San Francisco, ProArts in Oakland, and the San Luis Obispo Art Museum in California, and has been in residence at Constant Association for Arts and Media in Brussels and the Barbican Centre London. He is in the public collection of The Garage Archive Moscow, New Holland Island (St. Petersburg, Russia), HDK (Gothenberg, Sweden), Hong Kong Open Printshop, and Freehome (Berlin, Germany). He is a former member of the PARSE (Platform for Artistic Research Sweden) working group in Gothenburg, Sweden, and a current member of the media-arts collective Media Metadata Research Lab (MMRL). He lives and works in San Francisco, California.
CV (pdf)
Education
2016 MFA, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California.
1995 BA Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
Invited Talks
2022
UKR-RUS Leak Analysis, HOT FOCI 2022, Free and Open Communications on the Internet, USENIX
2021
Media Metadata Research Lab,
Total Screen, Montreal, Canada (with Abigail De Kosnik, Veronica Jackson, Matthew Jamison, and Jaclyn Zhou).
2019
Piracy Metrics as Indicators of Global Audiences for Women- and Minority-Centered Media Content,
Piracy and Beyond, Moscow, Russia (with Abigail De Kosnik)
2018
Peer Phenomena as Nam June Paik’s Video Common Market, Decentralized Web Summit, San Francisco, California
2017
Active Resistance: Hacking and Piracy, Dialogues and Practices, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California
Alpha-60 Bittorrent Cartography, Distribution Matters: Media Circulation in Civic Life and Popular Culture, International Communications Association, San Diego, California (with Abigail De Kosnik and Jingyi Li).
Alpha-60 Bittorrent Cartography, On the dynamics and vocabularies of co-option, care and the subaltern, Venice Research Pavilion, Venice, Italy. (with Abigail De Kosnik).
Parameterization, Transmarcations: X Is Not for Destination, Constant Association for Art and Media, Brussels, Belgium.
2016
Writing Art in Digital Space, International Conference on Artistic Research,
The Hague, Netherlands.
The Machine is Learning Aesthetics, Digital Craftmanship Workshop,
Designing Interactive Systems Conference, ACM SIGCHI, Brisbane, Australia.
Cultural Data-Practice, Making Sense of Cultural Data, University of California Berkeley
2015
Art Machine Learning, The Body Electric Panel, AICAD Symposium,
San Francisco, California.
180 Shift: At the Crossroads of Tech and Identity, Techonomy, Half Moon Bay, California.
2014
Artists Talks, The Disquiet. Pro Arts, Oakland, California.
Select Group Exhibitions
2016
CCA MFA Exhibition: Part 4, Perry Family Events Center. San Francisco, California.
Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California.
CCA MFA Exhibition, San Francisco, California.
2015
Bay Area Digitalists, Root Division, San Francisco, California.
2014
The Disquiet, Bay Area Currents 2014, ProArts, Oakland, California.
HKGAF 2014, Hong Kong Open Printshop Graphic Arts Fiesta, Hong Kong
2013
Award Winners Exposition, Tokyo Screen Print Biennial, Tokyo, Japan.
2012
Traces, Marks, Fragments, Central Coast Printmakers. San Louis Obispo, California.
2011
Tokyo Screen Print Biennial, Special Jury Prize 4. Tokyo, Japan.
Residencies and Workshops
2022 Large Format Laser Emboss/Deboss Workshop. Crown Point Press, San Francisco, California.
2021 The Art & Law Program, Fellow, New York
2020 It’s Up To Us (with Mel Chin), Alternative Art School
2018 PARSE Research Faculty X, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
2017 Virtual Reality + Performance. Pit Theatre, The Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom.
2013 Advanced Etching Workshop. Crown Point Press, San Francisco, California.
2010 Photogravure and Etching Workshops. Crown Point Press, San Francisco, California.
1992 Anti-Trust. DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas.
Bibliography
2019 Philip, Kavita. MIT Press 2019, The Internet Is A Leaky Pipe Made of Imperial Rubble,
Your Computer Is On Fire!
2015 Santos, Dorthy R. Bay Area Digitalists Catalog. Root Division, San Francisco, California.
2012 Weltner, Anna. Deep Cuts, NewTimes. San Luis Obispo, California. 2, Volume 26, Issue 28.
Public Collections
Freehome, Berlin, Germany
Hong Kong Open Printshop, Hong Kong
New Holland Island, St. Petersburg, Russia
Garage Archive Collection, Moscow, Russia
HDK, Gothenburg, Sweden
Printed Matter, NY, USA