a2ru@10: Heidi Boisvert Delivers Opening Invocation

Sep 9, 2022

In June, a2ru marked its ten-year anniversary with a three-day convening of university, philanthropic and non-profit leadership to engage in a multi-faceted discussion of the current state of the arts and arts integration in higher education, and to contribute to developing a2ru’s agenda for its next ten years. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing video and highlights from the event’s sessions.

Arts Integration Invocation: Heidi Boisvert

Heidi J. Boisvert, Assistant Professor of AI & the Arts at a2ru member institution the University of Florida and founder/creative director of futurePerfect Lab, delivered the opening arts integration invocation to kick off the first full day of presentations and discussions. In her short talk, Boisvert gave an overview of her interdisciplinary body of work which “harnesses the power of pop culture, emerging technologies and neuroscience to ignite social change.” Through her work, which recently includes mapping a “media genome,” she has “dedicated [her]self to transforming toxic narratives through playful and imaginative experiences with the single aim of building a more pluralistic and just society, one in which everyone not only belongs, but thrives.” She closes her talk by identifying major, field-wide challenges facing the work of interdisciplinary artist/scholars like herself.

Watch the Invocation:

About Heidi Boisvert:

Heidi Boisvert is an interdisciplinary artist, experience designer, creative technologist, and academic researcher who interrogates the neurobiological and socio-cultural effects of media and technology. Simply put, she studies the role of the body, the senses, and emotion in human perception and social change. Boisvert is currently mapping the world’s first media genome, while taking great care with its far-reaching ethical implications. She founded futurePerfect lab, a creative agency and think-tank that works with social justice organizations to design playful emerging media campaigns to transform the public imagination. She also co-founded XTH, a company creating novel modes of expression through biotechnology and the human body. Presently, she is working with David Byrne on Theater of the Mind, a new immersive theater piece. Boisvert is an Assistant Professor of AI & the Arts at the University of Florida. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Norman Lear Center, a research affiliate in the Open Documentary Lab at MIT and a member of NEW INC’s Creative Science track.