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Ancient Binary

Photo by Paul Warchol

Ancient Binary is a series fusing archaic verse with computer binary in hybrid translations, expressed on canvas as analog screen. From blocky, mechanical 1’s and 0’s to scrawling, handwritten “cursive binary,” these texts seek to make the ephemerality of machine code monolithic and legible, while drawing a through-line from the origins of written language to the evolution of cyber communication and beyond. By preserving poetic fragments in binary code, the works record traces of human imagination for future viewers — the new species we may become. 

 

Created in collaboration with my studio partner Kris Bones, Ancient Binary is part of a larger AI poetics project that grapples with the promises and perils of machine learning, investigating how artificial intelligence may — with the right inputs, ethical considerations and applications — unlock supercomprehension and turbocharge creativity.

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01101111 01100100 01101001 00100000 01100101 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101101 01101111 (“Odi et Amo”) 36" x 36" Acrylic, pencil, chalk and epoxy resin on canvas ​
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