Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst

Biography

Holly Herndon is an American artist and composer based in Berlin who operates at the intersection of electronic and avant-garde music, forging a disruptive style shaped by her academic background in composition, including a PhD from Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. Her music, predominantly computer-based and often built around her own processed vocals, relies on custom instruments and vocal processes she develops using visual programming languages and neural networks, and has been released on influential labels including RVNG Intl. and 4AD. Mat Dryhurst is an artist and thinker whose medium-agnostic practice spans music, technology, philosophy, and activism; he has released work on labels such as PAN and Southern Records, developed the self-hosting publishing framework Saga, and serves on the board of the streaming collective Resonate. Working together, Herndon and Dryhurst have become leading figures exploring how artificial intelligence and machine learning are transforming creative authorship, famously arguing that AI will soon allow anyone to generate art and music using models trained on the work or likeness of existing creators. Their collaborative projects include Holly+, a tool allowing others to generate music using an AI model of Herndon's own voice, alongside works such as xhairymutantx, exhibited at the Whitney Biennial, and various blockchain-based series exploring machine learning, generative systems, and digital ownership. The duo has also collaborated with figures including writer Reza Negarestani, producer Jlin, and design studio Metahaven, consistently probing the boundary between human and machine creativity, consent, and the future of art in an age of informatic capitalism.