kyle barnes is an artist-researcher-designer trying to live well on a damaged planet. he uses computing and community as creative mediums, seeding ritual gatherings which facilitate practices including ecological mourning, radical attention, and more-than-human collaboration. currently, he’s working on:
- teaching a class called becoming creature (with olivia tai)
- facilitating fugitive study on the streets of nyc (with the strother school of radical attention)
- hosting monthly gatherings to honor the full moon
- selling kimchi and cornbread at farmers markets to raise funds for palestine (with kimcho)
- benchmarking geospatial foundation models (with clay)
- reforming democracy, bit by bit (with the electoral innovation lab)
- gathering a collective of ecologically-minded artists (chimeras) in brooklyn (with olivia tai)
- writing a newsletter for living well and keeping up with friends
if you have a project that we can collaborate on, please reach out! kyletuhr@gmail.com
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i believe that life is a constant process of exploration, finding our way in the world. emphasis on the our; we do this all together. i experiment with configurations of coming together -- physically and digitally -- and finding precious moments. mostly, i spend my time trying to live well on a damaged planet. if you'd like to get in touch, you can email me at kyletuhr@gmail.com
representable is a community mapping platform to fight gerrymandering. as co-founder and executive director, i raised funds, grew the team and network, and ultimately engaged thousands in over 20 states to map their communities and advocate for fairer districts that represent community voices.
i am working on documenting my art. it's still in progress. more soon!
right now, i'm mostly working on ecologically inspired minimal calligraphic drawings, painting strange symbols of a future society, creaturely movement practices, and altars that honor nonhumans
Schmidt Planetary Technology Lab, an interdisciplinary innovation lab bringing the latest in planetary sensing technology to the social sector (2024)
AI + TEAs, a prototype tool using AI to generate techno-economic analyses for biomanufacturing processes, (2024)
Schmidt Planetary Technology Lab, an interdisciplinary innovation lab bringing the latest in planetary sensing technology to the social sector (2024)
Schmidt Sciences Climate Insitute, a ~$400M philanthropic initiative to fund innovations in climate science (2023-)
no tech for apartheid, a zine, essay, and card deck advocating for refusing labor from big tech
invisiborders, wearable tech for engaging with invisible borders + HCI paper
maya keren music, a simple website for improvisational musician maya keren
just tech, a course on ethical design, an initiative matching cs students with local nonprofits, a discussion group (2020-21)
special education resources, a customized service aggregation site, created within a design thinking lab (2017-19)
patan, nepal, a set of software and design products distributed and used by over 100,000 people annually, based out of kathmandu (2018)
i regularly host happenings designed to explore what it means to live well on a damaged planet. some said gatherings are put on as 1/2 of tomorrow soup. some examples below:
becoming creature, a class of philosophical and embodied explorations of our creature worlds (2024)
egg tour, a tour of egg-related places in new york city [coming soon!]
chimeras, an emergent collective of ecologically-curious artists in brooklyn (2024-)
a be-in, to organize community after the 2024 election (2024)
sidewalk studies, situationist-inspired fugitive study on the streets of new york city (2024-)
Beetles,an interspecies gathering exploring the social, cultural, scientific, and aesthetic impacts of beetles (2023)
interregna, a ritual gathering and climate memorial, as part of the Con/Crit/Tec residency in São Paulo (2023)
moon parties,a regular gathering to honor each full moon (2020-)
in found soil, in order to bloom,a climate memorial and experimental gathering exploring soil and growth (2022)
ambient walks,situationist inspired walks organized to attune one's senses to the natural world (2022-23)
experimental gatherings group,an unnamed, fluid exploration of ways to be together in the world (2021-22)
guerilla garlic,planting garlic in public space (2022)