Bio:

Sterling Crispin (born 1985) is a conceptual artist and software engineer who creates smart contracts, generative art, machine intelligence, and techno-sculpture. Crispin’s artwork oscillates between the computational beauty of nature, and our conflicting cultural narratives about the apocalypse. His work asks, “Are we going to merge our bodies with machines and become gods that live forever? Or will we face a global climate collapse and all go extinct?” Somehow, we are moving towards both of these conclusions at once.

Crispin’s artwork has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including ZKM Karlsruhe, The Mexican National Center for the Arts, The Seoul Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, The Deutsches Hygiene Museum Dresden, and the Venice Biennale. As well as published in The New York Times, Frieze, Wired, MIT Press, BOMB, Rhizome, ARTNews and Art in America.

For more info see CV / Resume

Solo Exhibitions

Future Tense - FALSE FLAG - New York NY - Jan 2020

N.A.N.O., B.I.O., I.N.F.O., C.O.G.N.O. - UNTITLED, ART - Miami FL - Dec 2017

Group Exhibitions

EMULATION, Selections from the Art Blocks 500 - Museum of Art and Light - Manhattan KS - Mar 2026

Poetics of Encryption - Kunsthal Charlottenborg - Copenhagen DK - Sep 2024

Poetics of Encryption - KW Institute for Contemporary Art - Berlin DE - Feb 2024

Planet B: Climate Change & the New Sublime - Palazzo Bollani - Venice IT - Sep 2022

The Byzantine Generals Problem - distant.gallery - Online Exhibition - Jul 2022

False Flag at Frieze NY - Frieze Viewing Room - New York NY - May 2020

Writing the History of the Future - ZKM Karlsruhe - Karlsruhe DE - Feb 2019

Seoul Mediacity Biennale - Seoul Museum of Art - Seoul KR - Sep 2018

Faces - Hygiene-Museum - Dresden DE - Aug 2017

Infosphere - Centro Nacional de las Artes - Mexico MX - May 2017

Surveillance - The New Gallery - Calgary CA - Oct 2015

GLOBALE: Infosphere - ZKM Karlsruhe - Karlsruhe DE - Sep 2015

Data Rush - Noorderlicht Photofestival - Groningen NL - Aug 2015

Now? Now! Biennial of The Americas - Museum of Contemporary Art Denver - Denver CO - Jul 2015

Tulipomania - Del Vas Projects X Daniele Balice - Paris FR - Jun 2015

CacheCache(Cache) - Gallerie L’île - Paris FR - Jun 2015

Faceless at Computers, Privacy & Data Protection Conference - De Marketen - Brussels BE - Jan 2015

Air Rights - Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning - Ann Arbor MI - Oct 2013

Sneakerotics - Edouard Malingue Gallery - Hong Kong CN - Aug 2013

Future-Myth - 319 Scholes Gallery - Brooklyn NY - Apr 2013

Visual Rhythm - Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art - Boulder CO - Jul 2012

Beyond the Bond - Studio Gallery - Berlin DE - Jul 2012

Dotcom - Centre D’Art Bastille - Grenoble FR - Apr 2012

Like Art Basel - Workshop Collective - Miami FL - Dec 2011

You Only Live Twice - Kunsthalle New - Chicago IL - Dec 2011

Format - Luminary Center for the Arts - Saint Louis MO - Sep 2011

Attending - Essential Existence Gallery - Leipzig DE - Sep 2011

Even Younger Than Jesus - Robischon Gallery - Denver CO - Nov 2010

Dump.fm – IRL - 319 Scholes Gallery - Brooklyn NY - Oct 2010

DrawRings 4 - Rhinoceropolis - Denver CO - Aug 2009

Down With the Sickness - Hinterland - Denver CO - Jul 2009

Select Press and Printed Publications

Jordan Pearson, “Is a Rogue AI Company Training Powerful AI on a Barge to Avoid U.S. Regulations?” VICE - Nov 2023

Jordan Pearson, “Neal Stephenson, Author Who Coined 'Metaverse,' Just Bought His First NFTs” VICE - May 2022

Domenico Quaranta, “Surfing with Satoshi: Art, Blockchain and NFTs” Published by Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana - Apr 2022

Brian Droitcour, “NFT as Joke” - Apr 2021

Kyle Chayka, “Artists Discover Ways to Use NFTs to Support Their Practice” ARTnews - Mar 2021

Jillian Steinhauher, “2 Art Gallery Shows to Explore From Home” The New York Times - May 2020

Devon Schiller, “On the Basis of Face: Biometric Art as Critical Practice, its History and Politics” Network Cultures - June 2020

Patricia de Vries & Willem Schinkel, “Algorithmic anxiety: Masks & camouflage in artistic imaginaries of facial recognition algorithms” - Big Data & Society - Jun 2019

Madeline Schwartzman, “See Yourself X: Human Futures Expanded” - Black Dog Press - 2019

Régine Debatty, “Does art have any relevance in the Age of AI?” We Make Money Not Art - Oct 2018

Janko Roettgers, “Apple Hires Developer of VR Painting App” Variety - Jul 2018

Kyle Chayka, “Bitcoin Is the New Birkin Bag” Garage by Vice - Feb 2018

Steve F Anderson, “Technologies of Vision: The War Between Data and Images” MIT Press - Oct 2017

Greg J. Smith, “Inside the Artist’s Headset – Sterling Crispin’s Cyber Paint” Creative Applications - Jul 2017

Adam Rothstein, “Inside the Artist’s Studio: Sterling Crispin” International Sculpture Center - Nov 2016

Julia Wolkoff, “The Biennial of the Americas Puts Colorado at the Center of the Map” Art in America - Jul 2015

“Tulipomania” at Del Vaz Projects (offsite) Contemporary Art Daily - Jun 2015

Kyle Chayka, “The Greatest Digital Artists of the 21st Century” Complex - May 2015

Ben Valentine, “Sterling Crispin - Data Masks and The Technological Other.” Bomb Magazine - Mar 2015

Jennifer Miller, “Creepy Data Masks Show the Monstrous Side of Facial Recognition” Fast Company - Nov 2014

Diletta Parlangeli, “Facebook ti vede così” Wired Magazine Italy - Nov 2014

Kyle Chayka, “This Is What Your Face Looks Like to Facebook” Matter, Medium.com - Nov 2014

Marina Galperina, “Artist’s Notebook: Sterling Crispin” Animal New York - Jun 2014

Michael Abrahamson, “Air Rights: an exhibit by Drone Research Lab” Archinect - Oct 2013

Kathleen Flood, “Sterling Crispin Weaves Virtual Algorithmic Landscapes” The Creators Project - Jan 2013

Dominikus Müller, “Ambient Natures” Frieze Magazine Berlin - Jun 2012

O Fluxo, “Circulating Forms of Reality” O Fluxo Issue #1 - Aug 2012

Kathleen Flood, “Wear Your Favorite Net Artists” The Creators Project - Feb 2012

Asli Serbest and Mona Mahall, “JunkJet no*5 Net-Heart Issue” igmade.edition - Feb 2012

Katja Novitskova, “Post Internet Survival Guide 2010” Revolver Publishing - Feb 2011

Brian Droitcour, “It’s Only Humanist” Rhizome at The New Museum - Aug 2011

Events and Pop-up Exhibitions

Dataspheres - ZKM Karlsruhe - Karlsruhe DE - Sep 2016

swap:NETZKULTUR - Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg - Halle DE - Apr 2015

Transductions 18 - Australian Centre for the Moving Image - Melbourne AU - Feb 2015

Virtual Gallery - Post-Screen Festival - Libson POR - Nov 2014

DVD Dead Drop #5 - Museum of the Moving Image - Astoria NY - Feb 2013

New York Art Book Fair - Museum of Modern Art PS1 - New York NY - Sept 2012

Bring Your Own Beamer MOCA LA - Museum of Contemporary Art Geffen - Los Angeles CA - May 2012

Ausjunk: Junk Jet net.heart show - Ausschank OST - Stuttgart DE - Apr 2012

Speed Show “Gifs 4 Life” - Fonenet - Galway IE - Apr 2012

USB Show - Point Emphemere - Paris FR - Apr 2012

It’s A Small, Small World - Family Business Gallery - New York NY - Apr 2012

Speed Show “Extra Credit” - Penn State Altoona - Altoona PA - Apr 2012

Vernissage I.R.L du Super Art Modern Museum - La Cantine Par Silicon Sentire - Paris FR - Jan 2012

Bring Your Own Beamer Miami - Mamushka’s Midtown - Miami FL - Dec 2011

Bring Your Own Beamer Amsterdam - W139 - Amsterdam NL - Sep 2011

Speed Show “Becoming, Not Being” - Internet-café Bordeaux - Berlin DE - Aug 2011

Blip Festival - Eyebeam Art & Technology Center - Manhattan NY - May 2011

Bring Your Own Beamer Denver - RedLine - Denver CO - May 2011

Art Rocks 2011 - The Bowery Hotel - Manhattan NY - May 2011

Lectures and Workshops

Weird Future - San Francisco Arts Quarterly - San Francisco CA - Jun 2015

Project X and X-TRA’s 1 Image 1 Minute - LA Art Book Fair - Los Angeles CA - Jan 2015

Art in The Age of The Singularity - Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Los Angeles CA - Oct 2014

Field Notes from Virtual Reality - Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program, University of California Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara CA - Oct 2014

localhost.us 02 - YouTube Space LA - Los Angeles CA - Jun 2014

Leonardo Art Science Rendezvous [LASER] - UCLA Art | Sci center, California NanoSystems Institute - Los Angeles CA - Mar 2014

Drones & Aerial Robotics Conference Hackathon - New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program [ITP] - New York NY - Oct 2013

Residencies

RedLine Artist in Residence Program - Denver, CO - 2008-2011

Public Collections

21c Museum Hotel, Louisville, KY - 2017

ZKM | Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, DE - 2015

ARTstor Digital Image Library, New York, NY - 2012

Rhizome ArtBase at the New Museum, New York, NY - 2011

Super Art Modern Museum - 2011

Souvenirs from Earth, Germany & France - 2009

Research

Data-Masks: Biometric Surveillance Masks Evolving in the Gaze of the Technological Other
A Master's Thesis addressing biometric surveillance technology, resulting in 3D printed face masks that were algorithmically evolved to satisfy facial recognition algorithms, titled "Data-masks".

CHARON: The Self and the Technological-Other
A Master's Thesis addressing technical considerations, and philosophical reflections on the use of autonomous robotic agents in art, society, and warfare. Specifically, this paper addresses the use of an autonomous quadrocopter in a CAVE-like immersive virtual reality environment with motion tracking capabilities. Also described are several approaches for preparing highly non-conformal generative geometries for rapid prototyping and 3D printing..

Open Drone Control - 2013
A technical paper describing an open source software platform for developing interactive artworks and research projects with aerial robotics.