phoenix /danm 210 /statement

Artist Statement

I am an expert computer programmer and multifaceted artist with a focus on interactive digital media. In 2003, I began shooting experimental films and programming custom video effects to create unique video and audio installations. I work in a multitude of media, light, sound, video, and databending. I am fascinated by synaesthetic experiences, creating installations where light and motion are transformed into sound, or that allow a participant to "sculpt" light with their hands. My work is both playful and meditative.

My recent work has been focused on our sense and experience of time and space. Working with timecubes and the concept of a palimpsest, I re-arrange, and re-image video and other media to transform the dimension of time, sometimes removing the dimension entirely.  

My current work is with augmented reality, the transformation of our experience of physical space through mediated virtual spaces.  In our world of increasing globalization, the shrinking of public space, and the individuation of experience, augmented reality has great potential to remap our public/private and global/local relationships in interesting and potentially profound ways.   Cell phones have instigated one of the more potent societal transformations, as we increasingly rely on them to remember facts about our daily lives and routines, and use them as a portal to experiences and communication outside and disconnected from our present physical reality.  How can these technologies be used to re-root an individual into the present, and into their local environment?  Augmented reality, with it's ability to create a virtual space that is inherently tied to a physical real world location, has created some strong possibilities for answering this question.

Computer code is the primary medium that I work in.  I understand intimately how data flows, and I use this knowledge to create intriguing and unique interactive experiences for participants and viewers.  I frequently build re-usable frameworks, so my work builds on itself over time.  One of the most fascinating aspects about my work is that small changes in the core of my code can often create wildly different experiences of the final outcome.  One of the strongest challenges for an artist who works in code is to demonstrate that the art is not just the finished product that a participant experiences, nor is it just the code that I create.  To a participant, the code is usually hidden or transparent, so their interpretation of meaning may not include that most important aspect of the experience.  But the code is intimately involved in the process of creating the final outcome, and in fact, the art could not exist without it.  So the challenge is to show, through this multiplicity of experience, the inherently collaborative process throughout the conception and creation, as well as the final act of displaying the piece.  My art cannot exist without the code, nor can it exist without willing collaborators.

I have collaborated with local and internationally renowned artists, and my work has been featured in concerts, theater, installations, and international dance productions.

I love to play at the edge of what is possible.