Jennifer Lyn Morone: Art, Data and the Corporate Self

Jennifer Lyn Morone
Known for	Data-as-labor, personal data monetization, corporate self as artwork
Fields	Art theory, critical design
Occupation	Artist, designer, theorist
Notable works	Jennifer Lyn Morone™ Inc
Era	21st century
Movement	Metamodern aesthetics
Themes	Data rights, identity, value of information

Jennifer Lyn Morone (b. 1979) is an American artist, activist and design researcher known for provocative projects at the intersection of art, technology and “surveillance capitalism.” In a début effort at London’s Royal College of Art in 2014, Morone literally incorporated herself in Delaware as Jennifer Lyn Morone™ Inc. – a self-made corporation designed to contrast how global tech companies harvest user data while individuals have no control over it. By treating her own identity as corporate property, she exposed the ironies of data ownership and coined the phrase “extreme capitalism” to describe her stunt This watershed project – she even offers to sell parts of herself like blood, bone marrow or personal data – exemplifies her inventive strategy of using art and legal ideas to critique today’s economy. More recently, Morone has co‐founded initiatives (such as the Data Union movement) that advocate paying people for their data, a notion often called “data-as-labor.” Her work has drawn on what some call metamodern aesthetics (a blend of earnest activism and ironic commentary) to explore how individuals might reclaim ownership of personal information.

Early Life and Education

Morone was born in New York City in 1979. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture (with a minor in art history) from the State University of New York at Purchase She also studied at the Pratt Institute in New York (details of her time there are not widely publicized) and later moved to Europe. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Morone spent about 16 years living and working in Europe In 2014 she completed a master’s degree in Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art in London It was there, appalled by events such as the Snowden revelations of 2013, that she developed her famous protest-art project. According to one account, she became dismayed by unchecked data surveillance and corporate personhood, and “designed a protest” by adopting the legal form of a corporation herself.

During her student years in London, Morone began researching data privacy and intellectual property. She saw that most big tech companies were Delaware‐registered C-corporations, which as legal “persons” enjoy vast rights to gather and profit from data She realized, in her words, that “it was arguably better to ‘be’ a corporation… than to be a human (natural person)” in terms of legal protections This insight – that corporate personhood gives companies privileges humans lack – inspired her decision to become an “incorporated person.” Morone’s goal was to expose how ordinary people are valuable in the data economy yet lack any meaningful control or compensation for their data.

Major Projects and Ideas

Self-Incorporation and “Extreme Capitalism”

Morone’s best-known project is Jennifer Lyn Morone™ Inc. (often shortened to JLM Inc.), launched in 2014 as her Master's thesis. In this performance-activism piece, she legally formed a corporation named after herself and took on the roles of founder, CEO and sole shareholder of that company The corporation’s business plan is to quantify and monetize Morone’s own personhood. In her words, JLM Inc. “derives value from three sources”

Biological and mental “services”: Everything about her – her genes, creativity, labour, sweat and tears – is treated as an asset. For example, she publicly offers to donate her blood plasma (for 50), bone marrow (5,100), or even her eggs ($170,000) as corporate products She also lists emotional attributes (compassion, kindness) as part of her potential “goods,” though without fixed prices
Future potential (shares): The company can sell shares in the future value of Morone’s work and presence (essentially betting on her career and productivity)
Personal data: Crucially, JLM Inc. claims the rights to all data Morone generates by being alive – her browsing history, location data, biometric data, social media posts, etc. The corporation’s plan is to collect, categorise and sell this data like any other commodity

In short, Morone’s body, mind and data are all treated as intellectual property of JLM Inc She even beta-tested an app called DOME (Database Of Me) on herself, intending it as a way for anyone to store and control their identity data “for you and only you”

Morone calls this stunt “extreme capitalism.” She explained: “If corporations can make money from my information – information that I generate just by being alive – then so can I.” The project was conceived as a provocation, to highlight the absurdity of today’s data economy. In promotional materials she bluntly states that JLM Inc. is intended to determine “the value of an individual” in our data-driven economy.

“Data as Labor” and Consumer Data Rights

Alongside the corporation project, Morone has been a pioneer of the data-as-labor movement. This idea treats personal data not merely as property, but as a form of labor that individuals produce and should be compensated for. Advocates argue that when companies extract and profit from users’ data (via social media, apps, etc.), this effectively exploits unpaid labor. Morone’s experiments dramatize this point. For example, her projects have been featured in discussions of “data slavery” – the notion that most people now live under a system where they give away their intimate information for free services As one press report notes, Morone laments that users “hand over intimate information to tech firms” but have no share in the profits.

Morone has also helped organize people around the idea of a data dividend. She is a co-founder of the Data Union (USA) movement, which seeks to empower consumers to demand payment or collective ownership of their data. The Data Union’s slogan is “Data Is Labor” – reflecting the belief that digital footprints should be recognized as productive work. In public talks (such as at the World Economic Forum), Morone has argued that technology firms profit hugely from people’s personal data, so individuals are owed some form of “data dividend” or monetary compensation In media coverage she is often quoted noting that “personal data are much more valuable than you think”

Other Projects and Mediums

Morone’s practice is highly multimedia and conceptual. In addition to corporate incorporation, she has created artworks, installations and writing on these themes. For example, her work has appeared in exhibitions (solo and group) under titles like “Algorithmic Rubbish: Daring to Defy Misfortune” (2015) and “Stick Insurance”. She has also produced videos and brochures explaining her ideas (one titled Reclaiming the Corporate-Owned Self is credited to collaborator Marc Garrett All of these combine fine art with design research. The project uses tools ranging from legal filings and business plans to data visualizations and performances. In all these works, the method is to subvert expectations: by treating a human being as corporate property, she reveals the opaque economics of the digital age.

Morone’s style has often been compared to the new metamodern aesthetic in culture and art. Metamodernism (a term coined in the 2000s) roughly describes art that oscillates between sincerity and irony, hope and cynicism – moving beyond postmodern detachment but not returning to naive modernist faith. Morone’s approach fits this pattern: she earnestly critiques real social issues (data privacy, inequality) while using playful, tongue-in-cheek strategies (selling her own biography and emotions) to make the critique. For instance, she seriously argues that people should share in the value of their data, but she frames it with provocative stunts that highlight the absurdity of the current system. In the words of one critic, her project “is an extreme form of capitalism which might ironically enable an individual to regain some ownership of and power over their own data.” – striking a balance of genuine concern and deliberate absurdity.

Artistic Method and Philosophy

Morone’s work is at once conceptual art and customized activism. Her method involves playing by the rules of the system in order to expose them. By using official channels (corporate registration, data agreements, financial markets), her art is a legal and economic experiment. For example, after incorporating, she treated her own online presence as a product: she refused to sign the usual Terms of Service that hand her personal information to tech companies, because she was determined that “what Morone does… is the intellectual property of the corporation.” This ritualistic refusal meant she had to disconnect from many common online services, underscoring how pervasive data harvesting has become.

Morone also distributes her ideas through talks, published writings and digital media. She has spoken at conferences (such as WEF and design summits) and been interviewed by major outlets. Her persona – simultaneously CEO, artist and “product” of her own corporation – is itself part of the message. As one journalist summarizes, “Artist Jennifer Lyn Morone wants to make a statement about what she calls the ‘stalker economy’ … so she is becoming an incorporated person.” In other words, the artist herself is a theatrical figure embodying larger forces.

Underlying her art is a clear ethical stance: she seeks social justice and redistribution in the digital age She is an advocate for change in the political and economic status quo – her work reflects a belief that individuals should have rights to the data they generate, and should be able to participate fairly in the wealth that data creates. Some of her newest work is said to explore “stories of post-work worlds” and how people might live differently under new economic systems.

Influences and Context

Morone’s ideas draw on debates in economics, politics and art. She has cited thinkers like Shoshana Zuboff (author of Surveillance Capitalism) and design theorists in formulating her critique of technology. The concept of “data as labor” connects with a broader movement that includes economists and legal scholars arguing for a data dividends or digital rights management Her association with the RadicalxChange Foundation (a think‐tank co-founded by economist Robin Hanson) has also placed her in the mix of innovators pushing ideas like quadratic voting and cooperative ownership of digital platforms. In practice, Morone’s projects could be seen as a hybrid of conceptual art and social science.

In art circles, her work ties into traditions of systemic and interactive art. The late critic Jack Burnham coined the term “systems aesthetics” to describe art that examines networks and relations (rather than just making objects). Morone’s own projects reflect this shift: as one commentator notes, instead of creating tangible art objects, her work exists in “the relations between people and… the components of their environment” Indeed, her use of corporate law and market mechanics as artistic material echoes Burnham’s idea that art should align with the means of production in a technological age. Curators sometimes describe her work alongside other artists (like James Bridle or Constant Dullaart) who explore algorithms and data in art.

More broadly, Morone’s practice emerges from the post-9/11 context of data surveillance. She has said that after the 2001 attacks, mass data collection of citizens became normalized, and she was troubled by the Snowden leaks revealing secretive monitoring. This historical moment pushed many thinkers (and artists) to question how the “human experience” is now defined by digital footprints. Morone took this context personally, moving beyond theoretical critique to create a living experiment.

Critiques and Reception

Morone’s work has received significant attention, but also some skepticism. On the one hand, media coverage has been extensive: she has been profiled by The Economist, Wired, The Guardian, BBC, and others These outlets often present her project as a witty yet serious indictment of big tech – for example characterizing ordinary Internet use as a form of “data slavery” Her performances (like selling aspects of her life) have also made her a talking point for discussions about privacy and autonomy.

On the other hand, some critics point out the limits of her approach. As a financial analysis notes, only a few buyers have actually taken her up on her offer to sell her personal data, and Morone herself calls the endeavor “really absurd” In other words, the project is largely performative rather than a viable business. Commentators also argue that focusing on individuals selling their data fails to change the underlying system. As one writer observes, framing personal data as something each person must sell simply perpetuates competition: “The data-as-property argument requires that people… sell their web and app activities, not… secure them.” In this view, solutions like data dividends or co-ops still leave the marketplace intact, rather than fundamentally altering how digital networks operate.

Even Morone acknowledges this tension. In interviews she admits her corporation project was meant to “highlight the futility in trying to solve the issue from the capitalist perspective”, since private ownership is a poor fit for the inherently shared nature of online life Her label of “extreme capitalism” is used self-reflexively – she knows her plan stretches capitalist logic to an absurd degree Some observers see this as intentional: the parody shows the contradictions of relying on market solutions for social problems.

Overall, critics tend to see Morone’s work as conceptual and satirical, rather than a blueprint for policy. It functions more like speculative art that asks us to imagine alternatives to surveillance capitalism, rather than enacting them directly. Still, supporters argue that even if her solutions are impractical, they raise public awareness and force discussion of data rights in ways that purely academic arguments do not.

Legacy and Influence

Although Morone is relatively early in her career, her ideas have already influenced how people think about data ethics. She helped popularize the notion that ordinary individuals generate economic value through their data – a key tenet behind calls for personal data rights and transparency laws. Her combination of art and activism has drawn younger audiences; many art students and tech activists cite her work as inspiration for creative protest. Workshops and talks on “data dignity” or “the value of a person” often invoke Morone’s projects as case studies.

Institutionally, her influence can be seen in growing interest from legislators and organizations. Some data privacy advocates argue for models like her “database of me” to give citizens control over personal information. While no government has endorsed self-incorporation of identity, regulators (such as the EU’s GDPR regime) reflect the same belief that individuals should have more say over their data. In the tech sphere, a few startups are attempting “data dividend” platforms (paying users for their attention or information) – an idea Morone and others have championed.

In art and design education, Jennifer Lyn Morone’s project is often taught as a case of design activism. It illustrates how design thinking can extend into legal domains and social critique. A generation of new media artists has taken note: fields like critical design and speculative futures frequently echo her strategy of using real-world institutions (like corporations or laws) as art materials.

It’s too soon to fully gauge her legacy, but Morone stands out as a figure who brought the phrase “data is labor” into public conversations. Academic books on digital culture now routinely cite her example of self-ownership of data as a vivid illustration. In art history, her project may be remembered as a striking instance of 21st-century systems art – a performance where the “system” is not just a computer network but corporate law and global economy.

Selected Exhibitions and Works

Solo Exhibitions: Jennifer Lyn Morone™ Inc. at Aksioma (Ljubljana, 2017) Algorithmic Rubbish – Daring to Defy Misfortune at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (2015)

Notable Group Shows: Globale: Infosphere at ZKM (Karlsruhe, 2015); Poetics and Politics of Data at House of Electronic Arts (Basel, 2015); Neoliberal Lulz at Carroll/Fletcher (London, 2016)

Projects: Jennifer Lyn Morone™ (corporate incorporation, 2014–present); Database of Me (DOME) app (2016–2017, in development); Data Union (co-founder, 2018–present).

Timeline

1979 – Born in New York City.
2001 – Receives BFA in sculpture from SUNY Purchase, NY. Moves to Europe after 9/11.
2014 – Completes MA at RCA, London. Registers Jennifer Lyn Morone™, Inc. in Delaware as an art project.
2015 – Solo exhibition Algorithmic Rubbish at SMBA, Amsterdam.
2016 – Featured in international media (Economist, Wired, BBC) for her incorporation project. Exhibits work at Basel and Karlsruhe.
2017 – Jennifer Lyn Morone™ Inc. presented at Aksioma (Ljubljana).
2018 – Helps launch Data Union (USA); speaks on data rights at World Economic Forum.
2020s – Continues art and advocacy, exploring post-work world scenarios and data governance.

Sources: Contemporary news articles, art center publications and interviews document Morone’s career. For example, The Economist covered her data-ownership project and dubbed it “Data Slavery” Art press and museum catalogues (e.g. Aksioma) outline her background and show listings Critical essays (e.g. in Brooklyn Rail) analyze her work in art-theory context All quoted material above is drawn from such sources.