Ben Grosser

Ben Grosser

Affiliate Professor

MFA, New Media, Illinois; MM, BM, Music Composition, Illinois

Research focus

Software culture, social media, AI platforms, computational surveillance, computer vision, data obfuscation.

Biography

Ben Grosser investigates how the designs of platform interfaces—from social media to AI chatbots—shape human behavior, desire, and culture. Through tactics such as software recomposition, interface reduction, and radical reimagination, his artworks expose software’s hidden politics and propose alternatives that restore user agency. Recent exhibitions include Centre Pompidou in Paris, Somerset House in London, ZKM in Karlsruhe, SXSW in Austin, and the Japan Media Arts Festival in Tokyo. Grosser’s projects have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, WiredThe Atlantic, The Guardian, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel. His artworks are regularly cited in books investigating the cultural effects of technology, including The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, The Metainterface, and Investigative Aesthetics. Grosser is Professor of New Media at the University of Illinois, and a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.