Jonathan Jennings Harris (born August 27, 1979 in Burlington, Vermont[1][2]) is an American artist and computer scientist, known for his work with data visualization, interactive documentary, and ritual.[3]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Jonathan_Harris.jpg/250px-Jonathan_Harris.jpg)
Work
editHarris is the co-creator (with Sep Kamvar) of We Feel Fine, a search engine for human emotions.[4][5] The project was named by AIGA one of the most influential design works of the last century, and later became a book (We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion) published by Scribner in 2009.[6][7]
In 2006, Harris was commissioned by Yahoo! to create the Yahoo! Time Capsule, which sought to record a digital fingerprint of the world at that time.[8][9] In 2007, he spent two weeks living with an Iñupiat Eskimo family during their traditional spring whale hunt in Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly Barrow), producing the interactive documentary, The Whale Hunt.[10][11][12] In 2008, he and Kamvar were commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art to create the interactive installation, I Want You To Want Me, visualizing thousands of online dating profiles as colorful balloons.[13][14] The project was installed at the museum on Valentine's Day 2008.[15]
In 2011, Harris released Cowbird, a free digital storytelling platform with the mission of creating a "public library of human experience."[16][17][18] The project was active until 2017, when it was closed due to "growing awareness" of "attention economies and screen addiction."[19][20]
From 2015–2021, Harris worked on a series of personal rituals at High Acres Farm, his family's ancestral land in Shelburne, Vermont—ultimately producing a set of 21 short films, released in 2022 as In Fragments.[21][22][23]
Education
editHarris attended St. Bernard's School in New York City and Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. He received his BA in computer science from Princeton University, where he studied with Brian Kernighan and Emmet Gowin.[24][25] He also received a fellowship at the Fabrica Research Center in Italy.[26][27]
Honors
editHarris was named a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum in 2009.[28][29] His projects have been widely exhibited around the world, and are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.[30][31][32] In 2017, he was the Guest of Honor at the IDFA Film Festival in Amsterdam, where he offered a Master Talk summarizing his life and work.[33][34]
References
edit- ^ Jonathan Harris: Inner Landscapes Archived December 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2013-11-25
- ^ "Jonathan Jennings Harris". In Fragments. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "About". Jonathan Jennings Harris. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "We Feel Fine / mission". wefeelfine.org. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ Popova, Maria (December 3, 2009). "We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion". The Marginalian. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "We Feel Fine | AIGA 100 Years of Design". March 29, 2016. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ Kamvar, Sep; Harris, Jonathan (December 1, 2009). We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4391-1683-8.
- ^ "Reflections on the Time Capsule - Yahoo". October 10, 2014. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ Schofield, Jack (October 19, 2006). "The time capsule, after 10 x 10". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "The Whale Hunt / by Jonathan Harris / Statement". thewhalehunt.org. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "The Whale Hunt: New work from Jonathan Harris | TED Blog". December 10, 2007. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ Wallace, Jacqueline (2011). "Digitizing North: A Critical Discussion of Jonathan Harris's The Whale Hunt". Design and Culture. 3 (3): 355–373. doi:10.2752/175470811X13071166525379. S2CID 192146201.
- ^ Lee, Jennifer 8 (December 20, 2007). "Turn-Ons Include Museums and Gmail. Turn-Offs Are Liars". The New York Times, City Room. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Popova, Maria (November 3, 2008). "Geek Mondays: Dating Data Art". The Marginalian. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "I Want You To Want Me / by Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar / Statement". iwantyoutowantme.org. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ Preston, Jennifer (February 19, 2012). "Pull Up a Mouse and Stay a While". The New York Times, Media Decoder Blog. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ Griffiths, Daniel Nye. "Cowbird: Facebook Stories' Launch Recalls An Artistic Storytelling Project". Forbes. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ McCracken, Harry (September 15, 2012). "Check out Cowbird on TIME's 50 Best Websites list". Time Magazine. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ Cowbird. "Cowbird". Cowbird. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "A Witness to Life". In Fragments. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "In Fragments – An exploration of Life Art". In Fragments. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "High Acres Farm — Arts". High Acres Farm. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "From roaring fire and molten glass an artist creates a healing ritual | Aeon Videos". Aeon. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "Pioneer Works, Jonathan Harris". Jonathan Harris. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "Jonathan Jennings Harris". In Fragments. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "b l o g . F A B R I C A: Interview with Jonathan Harris, Artist, ex-Fabricante". November 9, 2009. Archived from the original on November 9, 2009. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "Jonathan Harris on The Great Discontent (TGD)". The Great Discontent (TGD). July 15, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "Jonathan Harris". World Economic Forum. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "Jonathan Harris". Big Think. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "News". Jonathan Jennings Harris. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "Jonathan Harris". Museum of Modern Art.
- ^ "Works | Jonathan Harris | People | The MFAH Collections". emuseum.mfah.org. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ "IDFA Institute | Digital art pioneer Jonathan Harris to compile Top 10". IDFA. September 21, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
- ^ IDFA 2017 | Master Talk: Jonathan Harris, retrieved December 21, 2023