the Institute of Sociometry
Heather Link-Bergman is a conceptual artist, printer and publisher whose practice includes various forms of printmaking as well as artist books, zines, collage, painting, photography, performance and interventions. In her conceptual investigations, she often deploys humor and co-opts methods from non-art disciplines including mass communications, market research, journalism, anthropology and social science. No topic is off limits, her conceptual explorations deal with, and blur the lines between, diverse issues including consumer and material culture, displacement, religion, spirituality and death.
Link-Bergman often collaborates with her partner in art and life, Peter Miles Bergman. She is a Partner of is PRESS, a publishing and design consultancy founded by Peter Miles Bergman and Heather Link-Bergman. is PRESS offers publishing, design, graphic arts, offset and letterpress and screen printing. Proceeds partially fund short-run artists' books, zines and catalog publishing service associated with The Institute of Sociometry, an international art and communications cooperative based in Denver.
When she is not in her studio or out in the field, Link-Bergman works full-time as an account director focusing on mission-driven marketing, behavior change and public policy. Other professional accomplishments include serving as the teaching artist for three semesters (2019-2020) for the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver’s teen program, POV (Point Of View).
Heather Link-Bergman was born in 1984 in Summit, New Jersey. She holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work is held in various collections including The Institute of Contemporary Art Baltimore, Baltimore, MD; The Chicago Public Library; The Joan M. Flasch Artist Books Collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; The Ron Burnett Library + Learning Commons, Emily Carr University, Vancouver; The University of Denver Special Collections, Denver; The Tutt Library, Colorado College Special Collections and Archives, Colorado Springs, CO and private collections. She lives and works in Denver
Listen to the Institute of Sociometry talk about their work
Escuche el comentario del Instituto de Sociometría en español
Peter Miles Bergman is a conceptual artist, printer, publisher and the founder and Special Agent in Charge of the Institute of Sociometry, an international art and communications cooperative based in Denver, Colorado. Bergman formed the group in 1995 after selecting the term “sociometry” -- which is “the quantitative analysis of individuals and their relationship to groups” -- from the dictionary. Or, in Bergman’s parlance “guerilla sociometry”, which does not conform to the rigors of math or science! Since its founding, the Institute has amassed over 700 special agents, several dozen of which still produce “incidence reports of sociometry” released at a quadrennial Sociometry Fair.
Bergman’s work is derived from the durational repetition of habits, patterns, and places and seeks to observe and unmask the random, humorous, and profound nature of the lived experience. Often satirical in its final form, Bergman’s work deploys personal narrative to pick at the corners of social and municipal systems of control.
Bergman often collaborates with his partner in art and life, Heather Link-Bergman. He is a Partner of is PRESS, a publishing and design consultancy founded by Peter Miles Bergman and Heather Link-Bergman. is PRESS offers publishing, design, graphic arts, offset and letterpress and screen printing. Proceeds partially fund short-run artists' books, zines and catalog publishing services associated with The Institute of Sociometry.
Peter Bergman was born in 1972 in East Lansing, Michigan. He holds a BA in Studio Art from University of California San Diego and an MFA in Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited nationally in New York; Baltimore; Chicago; Denver; Las Vegas; San Diego; San Francisco; and Los Angeles and Internationally in Milan Italy and San Paulo, Brazil. His is PRESS publications are held in various collections including The Institute of Contemporary Art Baltimore; The Chicago Public Library; The Joan M. Flasch Artist Books Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; DePaul University Special Collections and Archives, Chicago; The Ron Burnett Library + Learning Commons at Emily Carr University, Vancouver; The University of Denver Special Collections; The Tutt Library, Colorado College Special Collections and Archives, Colorado Springs, CO; University of Connecticut Special Collections, Hartford, CN, and private collections. Bergman is an Associate Professor of Art at Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Program Coordinator for Communication Design. He has taught and volunteered his time and talent widely in service to his community, sharing his wit and wisdom with teens and emerging artists. He served as the President of the Board of the Letterpress Depot and is an active member of Denver’s printmaking community. He lives and works in Denver.
WORK IN THE EXHIBITION:
Institute of Sociometry, “The Art of Menstruation by Thu Tran of Colorado Springs being placed in a Little Free Library at 495 S. Clarkson Street in Denver, Colorado.” LLiLL, 2018 - 2020. Neighborhood intervention. Courtesy the Institute of Sociometry.