Hannah B Higgins

Hannah B. Higgins is Professor of Intermedia and Avant-Garde Art and Culture at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she also serves as Founding Director of the IDEAS BA program in the School of Art and Art History. Her scholarly work bridges historical avant-garde movements with contemporary digital art, emphasizing the humanistic value of multi-sensory experiences.

• Ph.D. in Art History, University of Chicago (1994)
• M.A. in Art History, University of Chicago (1989)
• B.A. in Art History, Oberlin College (1988)

Research Interests cover a broad spectrum of 20th-century avant-garde art, including Dadaism, Surrealism, Fluxus, Happenings, performance art, food art, and early computer art. Her work explores how intermedial practices and multi-modal sensory experiences challenge traditional art historical frameworks.

Article Trends reveal a consistent focus on the intersections between artistic experimentation and technological evolution, tracing the lineage from Fluxus' conceptual works to contemporary digital art practices. Her publications examine how grid structures, computational experiments, and transnational artistic networks have shaped modern visual culture.

Scientific Awards & Fellowships

• UIC University Scholar Award
• DAAD Fellowship
• Getty Research Institute Fellowship
• Philips Collection Fellowship
• Emily Harvey Foundation Fellowship

Professional Contributions include co-editing Mainframe Experimentalism with Douglas Kahn (2012), authoring monographs on Fluxus and grid structures, and serving as a key voice in debates about curatorial practice, sensory culture, and intermedia theory. She maintains strong connections with Fluxus through her role as co-executor of the Estate of Dick Higgins and Something Else Press.