My practice stems from a fascination with systems and our inability to truly know them. Every day, each of us engages with myriad social, economic, and technological systems, but do we really understand them? So too for computers, which largely mediate our digitized, systemic world: can a single person truly comprehend the mechanics of these machines in their entirety? As I write code, do I understand the compiled binary? Do I know where my code exists in a computer chip? Do I know how the physics of silicon allows my code to be executed? In the complexity of modern computers, we have created systems that are theoretically fully comprehensible, but practically incomprehensible for a single person. In their complexity, computers and machines take on an unexpected life of their own. They can surprise us, intrigue us, and delight us. They can be our co-creators.
In my work, I use game engines, procedural tools, and interactivity to form a relationship with computers and machines. I approach my work experimentally: I design systems, structures, and networks with large possibility spaces, and I probe this possibility space for intriguing, emotional, or unexpected results. I surf the machine. This oscillation between technical design and experimental discovery creates an oscillation between my conscious and subconscious selves. Rapidly and subconsciously modulating the machine is a kind of technological automatism and forces me to ask myself: “Why was that permutation resonant?” By creating and exploring a system of sufficient complexity, the machine can teach us about ourselves.
There is also a comfort here: as a bulwark against the infinite regression of unknowability of our modern world, these systems provide an oasis of controlled unpredictability. Despite not grasping the full capacity of the systems that I create, I can at least understand the boundaries of the design space. For me, this provides a degree of relief and certainty in an increasingly uncertain world. I want my work to provide a safe haven and controlled environment from which we can look out and explore questions about the systems of our world.