Chair holder
© Michael Kretzschmar
Chair holder
NameProf. Dr. Orit Halpern
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Orit Halpern is a historian of science and a media studies scholar. Her work is on AI, design, politics, and the future of knowledge production. She is currently working on two projects. The first is a history of automating decision making and changing ideas of freedom; the second project examines extreme infrastructures and the history of experimentation at planetary scales in design, science, and engineering.
She completed her Ph.D. at Harvard. She has held numerous visiting scholar positions including at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, IKKM Weimar, and at Duke University.
She has also published widely in many venues including Critical Inquiry, Grey Room, and Journal of Visual Culture, and E-Flux. Her first book Beautiful Data: A History of Vision and Reason (Duke UP 2015) investigates histories of big data, design, and governmentality. Her newest book with Robert Mitchell (MIT Press January 2023) is titled the Smartness Mandate. The book is a genealogy of our current obsession with smart technologies and artificial intelligence. More information on her personal website: www.orithalpern.net
| 2022–Present |
Technische Universität Dresden |
| 2016–2022 |
Concordia University |
| 2007–2015 |
The New School University |
| 2006–2007 |
Duke University |
| 1999–2006 | Harvard University Ph.D. and M.A., History of Science |
| 1995–1997 | Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health M.P.H., Socio-medical Sciences |
| 1990–1994 | Dartmouth College B.A., History, cum laude |
Peer-Reviewed Books
Halpern, O., & Mitchell, R. (2023). The smartness mandate. MIT Press. ★ 2023 Michelle Kendrick Prize for Best Book of the Year, Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts
Halpern, O. (2015). Beautiful data: A history of vision and reason since 1945. Duke University Press.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Halpern, O., & Carboni, C. (2026). Generative bio-politics: On health and AI. Information Societies. (Accepted January 2026)
Halpern, O., & Brightwell, C. (2026). Longevity escape velocity: The Silicon Valley movement to end aging. Science as Culture. (Submitted January 2026)
Mitchell, R., Halpern, O., & Schmidgen, H. (2026). The planetary experiment: A history and theory of science at scale. Critical Inquiry, 52(2). https://doi.org/10.1086/738401
Halpern, O. (2025). The geo-politics of resilience: On the convergence of artificial intelligence, ecology, and corporate strategy. New Media and Society, 27(8), 4581-4605.
Halpern, O. (2025). Counter-practice and the image of thought. Dialogues in Digital Society, 1(2). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/29768640251335679
Oguz, Z., Whitington, J., Halpern, O., & Büsse, M. (2025). Reclamation and transition. Environment and Society.
Carboni, C., Brightwell, C., Halpern, O., Freyer, O., & Gilbert, S. (2025). Reconciling security and care in digital medicine. npj Digital Medicine, 8, Article 261.
Brightwell, C., Bruckner, S., Halpern, O., & Gilbert, S. (2024). Trust and inclusion in digital health: The need to transform consent. Digital Societies, DISO 3.
Halpern, O. (2023). Financializing intelligence: On the integration of machines and markets. E-flux Architecture, Special Issue: On Models.
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters
Halpern, O. (2026). Speculation. In K. Veel et al. (Eds.), Aesthetics of machine vision. MIT Press. (Forthcoming May 2026)
Halpern, O. (2026). In the garden of speculative delights. In Digital now. Canadian Center for Architecture/Sternberg Press. (Forthcoming March 2026)
Halpern, O. (2025). The financialisation of intelligence: Neoliberal thought and artificial intelligence. In H. Bajohr (Ed.), Thinking with AI: Machine learning the humanities (pp. 216–229). Open Press.
Halpern, O. (2025). Planetary infrastructure. In Handbuch Medientheorien im 21. Jahrhundert. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38128-8_1-1
Halpern, O. (2024). The resilient condition: On the emergence of adaptive management. In J. Neves & M. Steinberg (Eds.), in/Convenience. Institute for Networked Cultures.
Books in Progress
Deciding machines: A techno-political history of artificial intelligence. Monograph tracing genealogies of decision making, technology, and neo-liberalism in post-1970s economics, life sciences, and finance. (Expected completion: Summer 2026)
The planetary experiment. Monograph exploring the future of knowledge production in a time of polycrisis. (Expected completion: 2027)
| 2025 |
Montgomery Fellowship | Dartmouth College, USA |
| February 2025 |
Senior Research Fellow | Center of Excellence for Automated Decision Making, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2023 | Michelle Kendrick Book Prize |
Best Book of the Year, Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts |
|
2023–2027 |
Smartness and Wealth |
Volkswagen Stiftung. Lead PI with African Center for Cities Capetown, Concordia University, Jindal School of Arts Delhi, Leuphana University |
| 2023–2027 | HORIZONS: CYMEDSEC |
European Research Council Innovation Program. Cybersecurity in the Medical Sector. PI on 10-member team led by Stephen Gilbert, TU Medical School |
| 2023–2025 | BMBF/PATH: AI and Consent |
PI with lead PI Stephen Gilbert, TU Medical School |
| 2021-2023 | Mellon Fellowship, Digital Now Program |
Canadian Center for Architecture, Montréal |
| 2020–2027 | Hexagram, FQRSC |
Co-researcher, research-creation network |
| 2020-2023 | AUDACE, FQRSC Grant |
Reclaiming the Planet. Principal Investigator |
| 2020-2024 | Sinergia Grant |
Swiss National Science Foundation. Design and Geopolitics. PI with Claudia Mareis (IXDM) and Kenny Cupers (University of Basel) |
| 2024–ongoing | Schaufler Lab
Speaker, Graduate Training Group and Artistic-Residency Program. Focus: Data Worlds |
| 2020–ongoing | Against Catastrophe Director. Rethinking speculative design through critical race, post-colonial, and feminist science studies. www.againstcatastrophe.net |
| 2016–2022 | Speculative Life Research Cluster Founder and Director. Intersection of life sciences, architecture, design, and computational media. www.speculativelife.com |
| 2012–2017 | The Instruments Project / Aggregate Collaboration with Daniels School of Architecture, University of Toronto |
| 2013–2015 | Emergent Infrastructures Research Group Director. New School Provost Office |
| 2007–2014 | Visual Culture Lab Co-founder and Director. New School for Social Research |
2025
- Venice Biennial, GENS Public Program: Cybernetic Sustainabilities and the Future of Learning and Making (October–November)
- Klassik Stiftung Weimar: Planetary Uncanny, Keynote (December)
- Lancaster University: Speculative Machines and Us: Futures and Histories of AI, Keynote (July)
- Montgomery Fellow University Address, Dartmouth College: Financializing Intelligence (May)
- University of Sydney: Financializing Intelligence: AI, Economics, and Reactionary Politics (February)
- Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, Cambridge University: Planetary Design (January)
2024
- ICI Berlin: Planetary Design: Reclaiming Futures, Co-organizer and Keynote (October)
- ETH Zurich D-Arch: Sessions on Territory: Climate Anxiety and Mobilizing in Crisis (June)
- Columbia University Society of Fellows: The Smartness Mandate: Neo-liberalism, AI and Politics (April)
- Cambridge University Leverhulme Center for the Future of Intelligence: The Smartness Mandate (April)
- IFK Vienna: Resilient Futures: Histories of Ecology, Speculation, and Technology, Keynote (March)
2023
- Kunst Werke Berlin: Poetics of Encryption, Keynote: Epistemologies of Ignorance (October)
- Academy of Europe, Wrocław: Resilient Futures, Keynote (October)
- Human Entities Festival, Triennial of Architecture Lisbon: The Smartness Mandate, Keynote (May)
- Transmediale Festival, Berlin: An Engine Not A Camera, Lecture Performance (February)
Advisory Roles
| 2024–ongoing | Scientific Advisor, Geneva Science and Diplomacy Accelerator |
| 2020–2022 |
Member, World Economic Forum Frontier Risks Working Group |
|
2019–2020 |
Advisor, United Nations Department of Political Affairs, AI in Security and Humanitarian Aid Working Group |
| 2019–2023 | Advisory Board, Matters of Activity, German Excellence Research Cluster, Humboldt University |
| 2019–2021 | Advisory Board, Operational Images Research Group, Czech Science Foundation |
Editorial Boards
- International Research in Design (BIRD)
- Digital Culture and Society
Professional Memberships
- History of Science Society
- Society for the Social Studies of Science
- Society for Cinema and Media Studies
- Society for Literature, Science and the Arts
Reviewer
- Science in Context
- Technology and Culture
- Configurations
- Isis
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- European Research Council
- Duke University Press
- MIT Press
- University of Minnesota Press
Prof. Orit Halpern holds the Key Chair of Digital Cultures at the Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies and is the Speaker of the Disruption and Societal Change (TUDiSC) Concept Group. © TUD
The measure "Disruption and Societal Change” (TUDiSC) (formerly “Societal Impact of Disruptive Innovations” - SIDI) is part of the endeavor "Strengthening research areas with great potential" in the EXU focus PROFILE of TU Dresden. It is intended to contribute to achieving scientific excellence and international visibility in all five Research Priority Areas of TUD, especially in the Emerging Field “Societal Change”, and thus to develop the university as a whole to a high level.
The conceptual foundations of TUD's EXCELLENCE Research can be found at this link Exellence as a driving force