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M.F.A Thesis Work:

Ø+}{3r\x/0r1|)

Otherworld  noun

oth·​er·​world | \ ˈə-t͟hər-ˌwərld

Definition:

A world or existence beyond earthly reality.

 

 

As a collection of experiments, Ø+}{3r\x/0r1|) transgresses the intersection between the technological and the biological, between science and magic, as a scrying mirror against which to view the ever-increasingly objective mode of thought that dominates modern society. Liminal spaces, places formed when two things meet—at a crossroads, you stand at both roads, and yet neither; the same can be said of thought: what space exists between the real and imagined, and where/why is the dividing line? Something exists outside of the binary, and by accepting that, we can begin to recognize subjectivity and embodied experience as a valid and meaningful source of knowledge—that things which cannot be measured, tagged, or defined are not without value. Modern science denounces the mystical with one hand while it couches itself in ceremony, another sort of mysticism, with the other. We must demystify and remystify science and the virtual, allowing new ways to coexist with technology to emerge—particularly when it comes to embodiment, spirituality, and biological experience in this hyperconnected, sublime world.

 

“It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.”

― Donna J. Haraway, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene

Expanded Descriptions

Radiance

8.5 x 11 Hardcover Artist Book

Virtual photography created within the video games Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4.

AI bomb imagery created using the software Playform to form original amalgamations based on initial Harold Edgerton imagery inputs.

Biological elements from co-creation with slime mold (Physarum polycephalum).

The slime mold was then released into a woodland area.

 

 

 

REGEN

10x7 Lenticular Cover Artist Book

A meditation regarding the cyclical nature of death and regeneration experienced by the player, but also the characters, the simulated beings made from lines of code that make up these virtual existences within a game. 

Each small lenticular card features a last-said-line, a scrap of dying dialogue, pulled from a game world and recontextualized.

The images in the book itself are a combination of surveillance, virtual, and real-world photography. An image is fed into a Sound-to-Image processing software to generate a sound file, and then the sound file is fed back through.

A soundscape was constructed using the original generated sounds, and then was layered with the constant beating of Preseli Bluestones, which originally formed the inner circle of Stonehenge, said to possess a primordial restorative, regenerative vibration.

 

 

Why Must the Witch Always Die

9x7 A Three-Part Artist Book Series

Images were created through virtual photography.

Ecstatic dance was rotoscoped using video capture from the following games: Far Cry 5, Bioshock Infinite, and Life is Strange: Before the Storm.

 

 

  Transcendence

Technic ^ Magic

8.5x11 Artist Book

Images for the villanelles were created by means of virtual photography and experimentation with the AI software Artbreeder.

Artbreeder aims to be a new type of creative tool that empowers users’ creativity by making it easier to collaborate and explore. Originally GANbreeder, it started as an experiment in using AI breeding and collaboration as methods of exploring high-complexity spaces.

Text excerpts from Technic and Magic: The Reconstruction of Reality by Federico Campagna.

 

 

Flowers for Anima

Series of 8x10 Giclee Prints

AI Generated sunless lumen prints.

A GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) AI program was used to learn and amalgamate dozens of flower images virtually photographed from within video game worlds.

This resulted in the creation of sunless “sun prints” of flowers that don’t exist.

Then microbes lovingly cultured from my hands and feet were layered into the work.

 

an·i·ma

noun

1.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

(in Jungian psychology) the feminine part of a man's personality.

2.

HISTORICAL•PHILOSOPHY

the soul, especially the irrational part of the soul as distinguished from the rational mind.

 

 

Social Syntax Diptychs

16x9 Lenticular Prints.

Dipytch images were made through virtual photography within the virtual online multiplayer world of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Juxtaposition of interacting with the landscape and being acted upon by other players.

Humans possess the surprising ability to identify aberrant behavior in others and take action against it. The effect is similar to how a native speaker of a language can identify when something doesn’t sound quite right—when the syntax is wrong. Regardless of whether or not the aberration is harmful, human nature seems to lean towards elimination.

 

 

The Unseemly Court

5x5 Lenticular Morph Prints

 

seel·y

noun

FAIRY COURT

The court comprised of more benign fairies which, while still dangerous, are more likely to work with humans.

un·seel·y

noun

FAIRY COURT

The court of more malevolent fairies which are an active threat to humanity.

 

Internet culture has elevated two particular elements to unprecedented levels: interconnectedness and anonymity. Social media serves as a sort of warped mirror for our society; we filter, tune, and tweak, presenting a version of ourselves that is highly controlled and manipulated. This work explores this uncanny self-representation, at the same time touching on the aspects of humanity that are brought out by anonymity. By feeding augmented reality filtered Instagram selfies into a machine learning model, these portraits of otherworldly beings begin to emerge, showing us an eerie amalgamation of the augmentations which we make to ourselves—internet fairies.

 

 

Stasis

Bio-Crystals Grown From Human Renal Dialysis Waste Solution

 

sta·sis

noun

Definition of stasis (Entry 1 of 2)

1: a slowing or stoppage of the normal flow of a bodily fluid or semifluid: such as

a: slowing of the current of circulating blood

b: reduced motility of the intestines with retention of feces

2a: a state of static balance or equilibrium : STAGNATION

b: a state or period of stability during which little or no evolutionary change in a lineage occurs

 

Sepsis occurs when the body has a systemic reaction to a bacterial infection. Severe cases can result in long-term health problems, organ damage, or death. We often think of the solution to illnesses as being sterility; that, if we are able to cleanse ourselves of germs, of bacteria, that we will be free of disease. However, the opposite of sepsis is not sterility; it is asepsis, the normal state of not being septic. Our bodies operate as holistic entities, and we depend upon micro-organisms for our survival. To the same end, families, communities, and societies also function holistically. In order to heal, we must rely on one another and come together, rather than keeping everyone at a safe, sterile distance.

 

 

Faerie Circles

Cultured microorganisms that live on game discs used to produce other work throughout the show.

Hagstones made from bioplastic embedded with traditionally classified “magical herbs.”

Hagstones have been called many names over time, including: Adder stones, Snake Eggs, Fairy stones, etc., but have always been attributed with the same powers: to reveal the unseen and to peer into other realms.

If lucky enough to possess several, you can increase their power by binding them together. By suspending them over you at night, their healing energy rejuvenates you, mind, body, and spirit.

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