Liat Segal (b. 1979) is a contemporary media artist who fuses art, science, and technology.

Artist Statement

In my works, I materialize, translate, and transform information into physical structures. I observe human processes and behaviors through technological and scientific prisms. The ways we consume and analyze information fascinate me. I question the effects the vast ephemeral data flow has on our self-identities, personal communication, memory, presence, choices, and intimacy. I explore the social and psychological changes that occur with the inflation of online private data; data that is continually supplied and collected by and on us.

Much of my way of thinking and my inspiration comes from my scientific and technological background. I studied computer science and biology with a focus on complex systems and machine learning,  and researched social, textual, and biological networks. I often see the world as collections of information, mathematical representations, or through biological models. Today this is reflected in my artwork.

Technology is my material, whether traditional and commonly used or state-of-the-art. I create with technologies, out of their original contexts, and give them new and intimate purposes which have nothing to do with usefulness or usability – in the sense we usually attach to these terms. The final artworks consist of several dimensions; a physical structure, motion, and mechanics, electronics, software, and data. The act of building the machines and activating them is significant to me. I feel that the technical choices I make affect the final artwork just as much as the touch of a painter affects a painting.

My artworks have performative aspects. I create the conditions and choreograph the behavior but I also leave space for randomness. This randomness is manifested in the starting point and data, in the human factor of activating the machine, and in the mechanical process itself, all affecting the process and the outcome. After creating the settings and activating the work, I become a spectator myself.