Our 2019 Hans Hofmann Resident artist Rachel Rossin, a New York–based visual artist working in the media of virtual reality, sculpture, and painting, hosted a Recursive Life Drawing Class in the Hawthorne Barn. This approach focuses on drawing the body as it feels, not as it looks. The workshop began with an informal overview of deep learning and recursive neural networks. Participants brought their own drawing materials, and Rossin set a timer for each "pose," reading prompts and giving directions.
Rachel Rossin’s primary area of interest is the infrastructure of technology and its impact on contemporary consciousness. A programmer and researcher, Rossin's most recent works employ neural networks and artificial intelligence to examine human datasets. Her work has been shown at numerous galleries and museums around the world and at the Sundance Film Festival. Rossin was the recipient of a Fellowship in Virtual Reality Research and Development from the New Museum’s incubator. She is a subject in National Geographic's Genius series on Contemporary Artists.