Dr. Lev Manovich
manovich (dot) lev (at) gmail (dot) com
Introduction
Lev Manovich is a Presidential Professor of Computer Science at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, where he directs the Cultural Analytics Lab. His interdisciplinary work bridges AI, digital art, art history, media theory, and data science, reshaping how we understand digital culture and its impact on society. As both a theorist and practicing digital artist, he brings a unique perspective to the analysis and creation of digital media.
Manovich's latest book is Artificial Aesthetics: Generative AI, Art and Visual Media (2024), available as free download.
Career Overview
Lev Manovich is an artist, writer, and one of the most influential theorists of digital art and culture in the world. After studying painting, architecture, and filmmaking, Manovich began using computers to create digital art in 1984. He has played a key role in creating a number four new research fields: new media and digital culture (1991-), software studies (2001-), cultural analytics (2005–), and AI aesthetics (2017-). Manovich is the author of 195 articles reprinted over 800 times in 37 languages and 17 books, including Artificial Aesthetics, Cultural Analytics, Instagram and Contemporary Image, Software Takes Command, and The Language of New Media, which has been called "the most provocative and comprehensive media history since Marshall McLuhan." His digital art projects have been exhibited in 14 solo and 122 international group exhibitions at many prestigious institutions, such as the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the Centre Pompidou, and the Shanghai Biennale.
Impact and Recognition
-- Most cited scholar worldwide in digital art, digital culture, cultural analytics, and one of the most cited in media theory and digital humanities (Google Scholar: 44,030 citations, h-index: 60)
-- Ranked #2 in "25 People Shaping the Future of Design" (2013) (ahead of Jonathan Ive and Zaha Hadid)
-- Listed among "50 Most Interesting People Building the Future" (2014) as the only humanities scholar alongside CEOs of Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla and artists such as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift
-- Published 17 books and 195 original articles translated into 37 languages and reprinted over 850 times
-- 94,000 followers across six social media platforms
academia.edu
Instagram
LinkedIn
Facebook
X / twitter
Medium
Key Research Contributions
Manovich played the key role in establishing four new research fields:
-- Digital Culture and New Media Studies (1991-): Developed the first comprehensive analysis of digital culture, linking it to histories of art, cinema, photography, design, and other media
-- Software Studies (2001-): Pioneered the academic study of software as a key force shaping contemporary society
-- Cultural Analytics (2007-): Pioneered the methods for exploring massive cultural visual datasets in humanities and media studies
-- AI Aesthetics (2017-): Investigating the impact of artificial intelligence on cultural production
Artistic Work and Exhibitions
manovich.art - recent generative artworks 2022-
selected earlier art projects 1994-2017
Full bio
Dr. Lev Manovich is a Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the founder and director of the Cultural Analytics Lab. He is recognized as one of the most influential thinkers in the world in the fields of digital art, digital culture, media theory and digital humanities.
In 2013 Manovich appeared in list of 25 People Shaping the Future of Design. He was ranked as number 2, ahead of Jonathan Ive and Zaha Hadid. In 2014 he was included in 50 Most Interesting People Building the Future - appearing as the only humanities scholar in this list that included CEOs of Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla and famous artists such as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
Manovich played a pivotal role in establishing four new research fields: digital culture and new media studies (1991-), software studies (2001-), cultural analytics (2007-), and AI aesthetics (2017-). He was the first scholar to theoretically examine fundamental components of digital culture, including interfaces, databases, augmented reality, and synthetic realism. Manovich also pioneered the study of computer graphics, computer vision, data visualization, and big cultural data within the humanities, being the first to publish academic work on these subjects.
Manovich is the author of 17 books including Artificial Aesthetics (2024), Cultural Analytics (2020), AI Aesthetics (2018), Theories of Software Culture (2017), Instagram and Contemporary Image (2017), Software Takes Command (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), Black Box - White Cube (Merve Verlag Berlin, 2005), Soft Cinema (The MIT Press, 2005), The Language of New Media (The MIT Press, 2001), as well as 195 articles that have been reprinted over 800 times in 37 languages. He is also one of the editors of Quantitative Methods in Humanities and Social Science book series (Springer).
The Language of New Media is translated into 14 languages and is used a textbook in many thousands of courses around the world. According to the reviewers, this book offers "the first rigorous and far-reaching theorization of the subject"; "it places [new media] within the most suggestive and broad-ranging media history since Marshall McLuhan."
Manovich was born in Moscow where he studied fine arts, architecture, and computer programming. He moved to New York in 1981, receiving an M.A. in Visual Science and Cognitive Psychology (NYU, 1988) and a Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester (1993). Manovich has been working with computer media as an artist, computer animator, and designer since 1984, and has been teaching digital art since 1992.
His digital art projects were shown in 122 group and 14 personal exhibitions worldwide. The lab’s projects were commissioned by MoMA, New Public Library, and Google. "Selfiecity" won Golden Award in Best Visualization Project category in the global competition in 2014; "On Broadway" received Silver Award in the same category in 2015. The venues that showed his work include New York Public Library (NYPL), Google's Zeitgeist 2014, Shanghai Art and Architecture Biennale, Chelsea Art Museum (New York), ZKM (Karlsruhe, Germany), The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, US), KIASMA (Helsinki, Finland), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), ICA (London, UK), and Graphic Design Museum (Breda, The Netherlands).
In 2007 Manovich founded Software Studies Initiative (renamed Cultural Analytics Lab in 2016.) The lab pioneered computational analysis and visualization of massive cultural visual datasets in the humanities. The lab's collaborators included the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, Getty Research Institute, Austrian Film Museum, Netherlands Institute for Sound and Image, and other institutions that are interested in using its methods and software with their media collections. Since 2012 and 2016, Manovich directed a number of projects that present an analysis of 16 million Instagram images shared worldwide in 17 cities.
He received grants and fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, US National Science Foundation, US National Endowment for the Arts (NEH), Twitter, and many other agencies.
Between 1996 and 2012, Manovich was a Professor in Visual Arts Department at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where he taught classes in digital art, new media theory, and digital humanities. In addition, Manovich was a visiting professor at California Institute of the Arts, The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Amsterdam, Stockholm University, University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Hong Kong Art Center, University of Siegen, Gothenburg School of Art, Goldsmiths College at the University of London, De Montfort University in Leicester, the University of New South Wales in Sydney, The University of Tyumen, Tel Aviv University, Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Shanghai. Between 2009 and 2017, he was a faculty member at European Graduate School (EGS). He was also the core faculty member at The Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture, and Design, Moscow (2016-2019) and a visiting faculty in School of Cultural Studies and Philosophy, Higher School of Economics (HSE, Moscow, 2020 - 2022).