Libby Heaney is a British artist and lecturer who holds a PhD in Quantum Information Science from the University of Leeds and an MA in Art and Science from Central Saint Martins in London. She has exhibited widely in galleries and institutions in the UK and internationally, including solo exhibitions at Holden Gallery, Manchester (2021); Goethe-Institut, London (2019); Emmanuel Church, Loughborough (2021) as part of Radar, Loughborough University’s contemporary art programme and at Non-Space Gallery, Aarhus (2017) as part of their EU Capital of Culture programming. Group shows include RMIT Gallery, Melbourne (2021); Art-AI Festival, Leicester (2021); MUTEK, Montreal (2021); Etopia Center for Art & Technology, Zaragoza (2021); arebyte Gallery, London (online 2020); LUX with Hervisions (online 2020); Tate Modern, London (2016, 2019); ICA, London (2019); V&A, London (2018); Barbican, London (2019); Somerset House, London (2019); Sheffield Documentary Festival (2018); Science Gallery, Dublin (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021); Sonar+D, Barcelona with the British Council (2017); Ars Electronica, Linz (2017); CogX, London (2018) and Telefonica Fundacion, Lima with the British Council (2017).
As well as quantum computing, Heaney’s practice also incorporates AI and VR technology, using each of these tools critically to investigate how and who they empower and disempower. Often Heaney’s work subverts the usual uses of these technologies, forcing them to work against themselves to expose their drawbacks and dangers. Inspired by Surrealism and Dadaism, Heaney’s work often incorporates humour and nonsense to investigate subjectivity, truth and perceptions of reality, as well as our seductive relationships with new technologies.