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BC Biermann
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Brett Christopher (BC) Biermann is an American conceptual digital artist, academic, and public speaker based in Southern California. The main focus of his work centers on analog futurism, or the idea that the physical and digital worlds are becoming increasingly blurred and indistinguishable from one another. An early pioneer of large-scale public space augmented reality murals, Biermann's work investigates how emerging technologies can enable cities to become interactive spaces and engage citizens in meaningful civic discourse. Early life and education Born in a lower middle class suburb of St. Louis in 1973, Biermann attended public schools where he was considered a bright, but unmotivated student. In primary school, he developed an interest in technology, art, and gaming, which he continued to develop into his high school years. After receiving several Division III offers to play college hockey, Biermann decided to end his formal athletic career, play at the club level, and attend the University of Missouri - Columbia where he received a BA in English Literature in 1995. He went on to receive a master's degree from Maryville University - St. Louis (1997). In 2005, Biermann was accepted into the University of Amsterdam’s School of Cultural Analysis as a PhD student. Prof. dr. Mieke Bal supervised his thesis titled Travelling Philosophy: From Literature to Film (2007). Bal’s structuralist methodology deeply influenced the trajectory of both his academic and artistic work. Artistic work Biermann’s works are born out of his core interests in semiotics, public space, and the intersection of emerging technologies on the evolution of human consciousness and the formation of social constructs. As a result, his style tends to blend a polished digital veneer on top of the Southern California skateboard and surf subculture graphics that have been deep influences on his aesthetic known as analog futurism. First appearing as street-level sticker campaigns in St. Louis in the early 1980s, Biermann’s work evolved into web-based graphic design in the 1990s, and then eventually into interactive, augmented reality urban art from the early 2000’s to the present. Biermann, nicknamed “Heavy” by academic colleagues who thought he often waxed philosophically, formed a solo creative entity called The Heavy Projects and he proto-typed the first augmented reality mural (wheatpaste) in St. Louis (2008). In 2009, he began a fruitful collaboration with New York based artist and activist Jordan Seiler and they formed the influential collective Re+Public (2009-2016). Together, they created the AR AD Takeover in New York City, which used mobile augmented reality to digitally replace the large billboard advertisements in Times Square with curated street arts works by John Fekner, Ron English, and PosterBoy. Re+Public is credited with creating the first and largest public space and interactive augmented reality murals in the world: Austin at SXSW (2014 85'x35') and the Qualcomm campus (2015 184'x25') in San Diego. Re+Public also created interactive murals in Miami (Wynwood Walls), Austin (SXSW), St. Louis (Grand Center), and Perth (Form). Biermann and Seiler collaborated with other artists interested in the synthesis of physical work with augmented reality such as Jenny Holzer and MOMO. As a solo artist, Biermann has gone on to create works at the University of Geneva, San Francisco Design Week, the Moscow Arts Fest, Siggraph in Los Angeles, and the Carnegie Art Museum in Pittsburgh. In 2017, Chris Nunes took over Heavy Projects as CEO and Biermann remained as Founder and Creative Director. Selected works Starting with a series of paper titled "The Battle of Los Angeles," which examined the legal disparity between illegal billboards and graffiti in the city of Los Angeles, Biermann's academic research investigated the semiotics of public space and is one of the core drivers of his work as a digital artist. Generally giving talks in the digital arts and emerging technology spaces at such events as SXSW, Siggraph, AWE, CES, Art Basel, European Commission, and the Moscow Urban Forum, Biermann’s public speaking style is informal and often invites the audience to participate. Selected talks *Klebacha, B. (2019). BC Biermann - Thrival Interactive. * Bocharov, Ivan. (2018). BC Biermann, Heavy Projects: AI Must Have Imperfections - This is an Element of Case. Hi Tech. * Karlin, S. (2016). Rethinking Public Space: B.C. Biermann’s Augmented Reality Urban Art. Fast Company. * Schattner, A. (2015). Public Art in Digital Space (#ArtofY). Huffpost.com. * Moyer, E. (2014). iPad artists adbust with augmented reality. CNET. * Karlin, S. (2014). Augmented Reality for Public Spaces BC “Heavy” Biermann creates high-tech art projects with a civic mission. IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News. * Gluck, M. (2012). New Project Hopes to Turn Building Facades Into Virtual Murals You Can See on Your iPhone - LA Weekly. LA Weekly. Personal life Since 2008, BC has maintained a residence in Southern California where he is married with two children. He quit skateboarding in 2011 after injuring his knee at his favorite skatepark in Chino, California, but he is still an avid surfer with his home break at Huntington Beach pier. In 2015, BC was diagnosed with Upper Motor Neuron Syndrome and, as a result, in 2018, he started Heavy & Sons as a solo creative project and apprenticeship for his two young sons, which he hopes can carry on his creative and academic legacies. 
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