Nye Thompson is an artist turned software designer turned artist. She is known for her experimental software architectures exploring network-embedded power dynamics and machinic visions of the world.
After completing a Fine Art degree at YBA-era Goldsmiths, Thompson took a sideways step to immerse herself in the newly-created World Wide Web. She spent the next two decades designing software, focused on the human-machine interface and big data analytics. Returning to artistic practice with an MA in 2013, she subsequently quit her corporate software career to become an artist. Thompson is based in the UK and operates between London and mid-Wales.
In 2016 her first solo show Backdoored.io explored the global phenomenon of self-surveillance, through the systematic collection of screenshots taken through compromised botnet-fodder security cameras. It was described by C4 News as “too shocking to broadcast” – became global clickbait and triggered an international government complaint. Since then, Thompson has exhibited around the UK, and internationally, including Tate Modern, The Barbican, The Lowry, The V&A, ZKM Karlsruhe, Ars Electronica and The Louvre. Her work has been featured on BBC, C4, CNN, the Guardian and Wired. She has been called “the new Big Brother” (Vogue) and “a contemporary Jacques Cousteau” (Bob & Roberta Smith). In 2021, Thompson and UBERMORGEN were recipients of the Lumen Prize Gold Award for their short film UNINVITED- a horror film for machine networks and human-machine organism. Thompson’s work is included in the V&A Museum National Collection and international and UK private collections.