A Partial List of Women in New Media Arts and Design

Some Context About This Page

Below are some (woefully incomplete) lists of prominent women working in various modes of new-media arts, activism, and design. This page was drafted in Fall 2015 as a resource for our students to quickly familiarize themselves with the work of interesting creators; as a result, we readily admit that there is a very significant bias here in favor of (1) artists who happen to have media-rich websites (i.e. with lots of easily consumed documentation videos), and (2) who work computationally, i.e. by writing software—since computer programming for the arts was the specific topic of our class. Many very significant voices have undoubtedly been overlooked.

This page is not intended as an authoritative public resource (unlike, say, Wikipedia’s list of Women Artists or List of New Media Artists); this page is simply a list we provided to our students so that they could be better informed when writing their weekly “Looking Outwards” assignments, which we noticed with dismay had been skewing towards male artists. That said, any omissions are wholly unintentional, and suggestions are very welcome. Notices, corrections, etc. should be directed to golan at andrew.cmu.edu or @golan.

R. Lozano-Hemmer, who kindly contributed some of the names below, remarked: “It’s awkward to make a specific list extracted from the gender spectrum. Also many of the people listed here have nothing in common in terms of their practice, field, approach, etc. So this list is [perhaps most useful for the] purpose of helping avoid all-male panels, publications or shows in media art”. (Precisely: such as our students’ writing assignments.) In compiling this list, we feel it is important to acknowledge the understandable ambivalence some may feel: for while visibility can be good, being singled out and listed based on gender is also sometimes a complicated position to be in.

Thus—for making such abundantly awesome and inspiring work, but secondarily for (hopefully) tolerating its inclusion in this awkward compilation—we would like to thank the women who have unknowingly or willingly contributed their name to this effort to inform and educate. In the words of one anonymous correspondent:

In an ideal world, this list will continue to remain ‘partial’, incomplete and very soon obsolete as the names and practices that would normally be listed here multiply at a speed that cannot possibly be kept up with—there will no longer need to be a list as these individuals are sparkling so hard into the future that no one can miss them.

This page is dedicated to the public domain, under a CC-0 license; all copyrights are waived.

New Media Art, Activism, Games, Visuals

Addie Wagenknecht, cyberfeminist, tactical new-media artist
Allison Burtch, critical new-media practitioner and educator
Allison Parrish, innovator in generative poetry and Twitter bots
Amor Muñoz media activist
Amy Franceschini, civic futures hacker/designer
Andrea Crespo, installation artist
Andrea Polli, sound/interative media artist
Anne Morgan Spalter, writer and algorithmic image artist
Angela Washko, experimental game artist/designer/activist
Béatrice Lartigue, interactive artworks and interventions
Brooke Singer, multidisciplinary artist, and co-founder of the Preemptive Media group
Camille Utterback, interactive artworks and permanent public installations
Caroline Record, sound + new media installation/performance artist
Caroline Sinders, UX/UI artist-researcher concerned with design for consent
Chloe Varelidi, indie game designer/developer
Chris Sugrue, artist of poetic interactive new-media installations
Claudia Hart, computational fine artist, developer of interactive imagery
Emily Gobeille, creator of high-end interactive installations for children
Eva Mattes, net art and pranktivist
Eva Schindling, installations, sculpture and performance
Filipa Valente, creator of dynamic light architectures
Geraldine Juarez, artist/activist/critic
Heather Kelley, indie game developer and educator
Helen Thorington, longtime radio innovator and pioneer of net.art curation
Karolina Sobecka, artist/developer of interactive media installations
Kate Armstrong, writer/artist/curator
Kate Hollenbach, designer/developer at Oblong
Katherine Bennett, educator and new media artist
Lauren McCarthy, new media artist and creator/lead-developer of p5.js!
Lia, poetic generative artist and audiovisual app developer
Lillian Schwartz, among the first computer artists, active since mid-1960s
Lorna Barnshaw, virtual/glitch sculptor
Luisa Pereira, creator of interactive audiovisual systems and machines
Lynn Hershman-Leeson, pioneer of interactive narrative art, active since mid-1970s
Marina Zurkow, experimental artist and developer of interactive cartoons
Mary Flanagan, leading indie/experimental game developer
Mary Franck, developer of real-time audiovisual performance media
Milica Zec, VR filmmaker
Mimi Son, creator of interactive artworks with novel displays
Molly Wright Steenson, historian of new media arts and design
Molmol Kuo, artist-designer of images, kinetics and interactive sculptures
Natalie Jeremijenko, pioneer of critical making in diverse media
Nancy Burson, inventor of morphing, early pioneer of computational photography
Nova Jiang, interactive sculpture and installation
Olia Lialina, net art pioneer
Petra Cortright, net artist
Phoenix Perry, indie game developer and educator
Porpentine, game designer, net artist, poet
Roz Dimon, digital image artist
Sara Ludy, net artist
Shantell Martin, audiovisual drawing/performance artist
Sputniko!, performative technologist/futurist
Stacey Mulcahy, developer, tinkerer and educator, with attitude
Sylvia Grace Borda, net artist and researcher
Tabita Rezaire, net artist, anti-colonialist
Tara Sinn, experimental browser artist
Tega Brain, critical new media artist/provocateur
Teri Rueb, new-media sound artist
Tina Frank, interactive graphic designer
Toni Dove, pioneer of interactive cinema
Vera Molnar, among the first computer artists, active since mid-1960s
Vera-Maria Glahn, designer of high-end computational new media films and installations
Xárene Eskandar, writer, researcher, VJ/motiongraphic artist-developer
Yael Braha, large-scale dynamic display designer
Yael Kanarek, new media fine artist

Physical-Digital Design, Architecture, Fabrication, Wearables

Amanda Ghassei, innovative creator of tangible/computational media
Anouk Wipprecht, computational/speculative coutour designer
Ayah Bdeir, designer/entrepreneur, creator of LittleBits
Becky Stern, developer of experimental wearable projects at Adafruit
Caitlin Morris, expert in computational generative architectural form
Darsha Hewitt, electromechanics hacker, sound/installation artist
Hannah Perner-Wilson, high/low tech wearables and textiles hacker
Janet Echelman, creator of large-scale, temporary public architecture-scale sculptures
Jen Lewin, large-scale audiovisual installation, often with light
Jenny Sabin, architect using computational techniques to create experimental form
Jessica Rosenkrantz, leading creator of generative product designs inspired by nature
Kaho Abe, experimental game/interface developer
Kate Hartman, designer of computational wearables
Keri Elmsly, production director of new-media performances and installations
Kristin Neidlinger, augmented fashion designer
Lea Albaugh, augmented fashion designer and game developer
Leah Buechley, researcher of high/low tech hybrids, innovator in maker culture
Libs Elliott, computational quilt designer
Madeline Gannon, designer of interactive tools for digital fabrication
Maria Scileppi, artist-developer working in social media
Mary Huang & Jenna Fizel, generative, digitally fabricated coutoure
Meejin Yoon, large-scale interactive architecture projects
Micah Elizabeth Scott, brilliant circuit hacker and artist-engineer
Mouna Andraos & Melissa Mongiat, playful interactive public sculpture
Nataly Gattegno, co-director of Future Cities Lab, experimental architecture studio
Neri Oxman, leading research into generative digital fabrication
Rachel Wingfield, large-scale interactive architectures
Sara Hendren, design for differently abled people
Sophie Kahn, 3D scanning based glitch sculpture
Ziv Schneider, political activism using 3D scanning

Data Arts, Activism and Visualization

This list is adapted from one originally drafted by M. Stefaner.

Adrien Segal, Data sculptor, visualization product designer
Amanda Cox, Graphics editor at the New York Times
Alexis Lloyd, Creative Director of the R&D Lab at The New York Times
Angela Morelli, Freelance designer
Anita Lillie (@anitalillie), Data visualizer at LinkedIn (InMaps for instance)
Anna Powell-Smith (@darkgreener), Web developer who “tells stories with data”
Caroline Gottilard, Partner at Dataveyes
Catherine Plaisant, Associate Director of Research at HCIL, University of Maryland.
Fernanda B. Viégas, Co-Director of “Big Picture” data visualization group, Google
Georgia Lupi, designer and founder, Accurat
Hannah Fairfield (@hfairfield), Senior graphics editor at the New York Times
Harlo Holmes, digital rights activist/artist
Heather Dewey-Hagborg, bio-artist/activist
Ingrid Burrington (@lifewinning), Maps, jokes, activism and hacking
Jana Diesner, Asst. Professor at the iSchool, UIUC
Jen Christiansen, Director of information graphics at Scientific American
Jen Lowe (@datatelling), Data wrangler at the Open Knowledge Foundation
Jenny Odell, digital imagery artist-researcher
Julie Steele, Author and editor for O’Reilly Media
Kat Downs (@katdowns), Interactive project editor at Washington Post
Kate Crawford, principal researcher, Microsoft Research
Katy Börner, Prof. Indiana University, curator of Places & Spaces exhibit, scimaps.org
Kim Rees (@krees), Partner at Periscopic
Laura Kurgan, Director of the Spatial Information Design Lab, Columbia U.
Lisa Jevbratt, Professor, UC Santa Barbara
Lisa Strausfeld, Head of data visualization, Bloomberg
Lynn Cherny, Data analyst and design consultant
Mar Santamaria, School of Architecture of Barcelona (ETSAB)
Maral Pourkazemi, Independent designer, Visualized.IO co-founder
Mini Kim, Design Lead, Innovation Unit, UNICEF
Miriah Meyer, Professor, School of Computing, University of Utah
Nathalie Miebach, artist working sculpturally with data
Naomi B. Robbins (@nbrgraphs), Principal at NBR; author
Rachel Binx, NASA JPL visualization; Ex-Stamen; Co-Founder, Meshu
Sarah Slobin, Graphics editor at the Wall Street Journal
Sarah Williams, Civic Data Design Lab
Sheelagh Carpendale, Professor of CS at the University of Calgary
Stefanie Posavec (@stefpos), Freelance designer
Tamara Munzner, Professor of CS, University of British Columbia

Electronic and Computer Music

The list below of women working in electronic musics is extremely abbreviated. For more names, we highly recommend you check out female:pressure, an international network of over 1700 female artists from 66 countries in the wider fields of electronic music & arts, which is “a collective effort to demonstrate women and their use of technology in music and media production.”

Laurie Anderson, Composer
Natasha Barrett, Composer
Bebe Barron, Composer
Bjork, Composer
Wendy Carlos, Composer
Suzanne Ciani, Composer
Pauline Oliveros, Distinguished Research Professor of Music at RPI, and Artist-in-Residence at Mills College
Daphne Oram, Composer
Eliane Radigue, Composer
Kaija Saariaho, Composer
Laurie Spiegel, Composer
Frances White, Composer

Yet More Women in New Media Arts and Design

List-making is an inexhaustible task, and we’re deeply grateful to others online who discovered this page and have helped repair out blind-spots and fill in some gaps. The following names were kindly contributed by R. Lozano-Hemmer. He identifies numerous women who are especially influential pioneers in new media arts and criticism.

Adriana Salazar
Ami Yoshida
Barbara J. London
Beryl Graham
Beryl Korot
Candice Breitz
Carolina Cruz-Neira
Catherine Richards
Char Davies
Christa Sommerer
Christiane Paul
Diana McCarty
Emily Zimmerman
Erin Manning
Fiona Raby
France Cadet
Gabriella Coleman
Isin Onol
Jane Prophet
Janet Cardiff
Jasia Reichardt
Joan Jonas
Josephine Bosma
Julianne Pierce
Karla Jasso
Kathleen Forde
Kim Brickley
Maholo Uchida
Marcela Armas Lozano
Margarete Jahrmann
Mariana Rondon
Marta Minujin
Minerva Cuevas
Monica Bello
Monica Narula
Monika Fleischmann
Morehshin Allahyari
Nell Tenhaaf
Pipilotti Rist
Rocio Boliver
Sally Jane Norman
Sandy Stone
Sarah Cook
Shilpa Gupta
Skawennati Fragnito
Steina Vasulka
Tania Aedo Arankowsky
Tania Candiani
Valie Export
Varvara Guljajeva
Ximena Cuevas
Yae Akaiwa
Yukiko Shikata

Eunsu Kang kindly provided this additional list of Korean women working in media arts:

Haru Ji, Kyungmi Kim, Yoon Chung Han, Ha Na Lee, Mimi Son, Hyojung Seo, Jihyun Song, Jinsil Seo, Seungyon-Seny Lee, Taey Iohe, HyunJu Kim, Hye Yeon Nam, Inmi Lee, Jee OH, Eunsu Kang.

Racquel Herrera and P Glez Diaz kindly provided this additional list of Latina and Spanish-speaking women working in media arts:

Laura Baigorri, Gris Garcia, Antònia Folguera, Federica Matelli, Heidi J. Figueroa Sarriera, Steffi Klenz, Nuria Canal, Ana Otero, Alicia Kopf, Rachel Uwa, Remedios Zafra, Carmen Platero, P Glez Diaz, Susana Serrano, Elisabet Roselló, Eli Lloveras, Marisa Gómez, Vanina Hofman, Gemma San Cornelio, Irma Vilà, Susanna Tesconi, Monica Bello Joana Moll, Clara Boj, Alba Corral, Varvara Guljajeva, Raquel Renno, Michelle Teran, Blanca Pujals, Maria Castellanos Vicente.

A. Somlai-Fischer kindly suggested:

Bronac Ferran, writer, placemaker, organizer
Nina Czegledy, media artist, curator, writer
Machiko Kusahara, writer/curator
Evelina Domnitch, artist of exotic physics
Maja Kuzmanovic, director of a lab for speculative culture
Honor Harger, writer/curator interested in the art-science interface