Harris Kornstein

I wear a lot of hats (and also wigs).

By day, I’m an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public & Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona. I work primarily on contemporary technologies and digital cultures alongside queer/trans and disability studies. I’m particularly interested in critical approaches to AI, data, algorithms, and  media arts and activism, as well as topics related to public scholarship, cultural strategy, and critical pedagogies.  My current book project, supported by an NEH Fellowship, looks at what drag queens can teach us about how to creatively counter the harms of technologies. I also recently co-edited the anthology How to Be Disabled in a Pandemic (NYU Press, Feb 2025). I’ve published research an essays in a range of academic journals, books, and mainstream media outlets.

By night, I’m a drag queen, and have performed at venues ranging from San Francisco’s legendary Stud bar to SFMOMA, Stanford University, and Saturday Night Live.  I helped found the #MyNameIs campaign that fought Facebook’s so-called “real names” policy, and I serve on the board for Drag Story Hour. (I’ve also published two children’s books, with a third on the way).

In between, I also have a visual art practice. I have worked with photo, video, programming, performance, craft, installation, and tactical intervention—most often playing with technology to test its limits.  I am grateful to have received support from Eyebeam, the MAP Fund, and ONE Archives, among others. In 2019, I co-curated an exhibition on tech and failure for ApexArt. 

In past lives, I’ve professionally built websites (and sometimes still do), managed nonprofit strategic communications, developed curriculum, and taught photography, video production, and arts+crafts.  I have weaknesses for musical theater, coconut-based ice cream, and cats.

Feel free to refer to me by any pronoun.