Curated by Sheldon Gooch

Produced by Bed Kudler

Technology has long served as a tool for human self-understanding—both of our interpersonal relations, and of our relations with the broader world. The Antikythera mechanism, the oldest known analogue computer, exemplifies such. Discovered among the remains of an Ancient Greek ship dating back to the first century BC, it is theorized that the hand-powered, bronze-geared device was used for predicting the movements of the sun, moon, and planets—while also aiding in timekeeping, navigation, and divination. Invoking the Antikythera mechanism as a historical precedent, Embodied Algorithms / Collective Mechanics showcases seven projects from NEW INC’s Art & Code Track, which all explore technological applications for visualizing the seemingly abstract phenomena that govern embodied experiences and collective practices.

Spanning video, virtual reality, audio, and sculptural installations, the exhibition presents works that manifest the capacity of digital processes to both engender somatic experiences and inspire the development of collective systems. Together, the works establish tangible connections among bodies, space, and time. Much of contemporary digital engagement is predicated on rapid and continuous consumption, insatiably feeding the body and mind without pause. The resulting alienation from self and others is examined in Ivan Zhao’s interactive video poem, at the end of the earth, I find {}, in which the body’s pulse modulates the legibility of text and meaning. In Hiba Ali’s Watering the Somatic Oasis, viewers are invited into a guided meditation within a virtual reality experience that attempts to decelerate time while encouraging viewers to “breathe as stars do.” In this work, a viewer’s breath is registered in real-time and indexed in the immersive 3D environment as water droplets and stardust.

Dan Gorelick’s audio installation also facilitates a measured experience of time through four sound compositions that sonify our ever-shifting celestial, geological, and biological timescales. Mattaniah Aytenfsu further materializes such timescales in a series of kinetic sculptures whose forms were generated by program mapping solar eclipse data from 1869 to 1937, evoking, in the artist’s words, “the cosmic scale of humanity’s journey.”

Other projects within the exhibition emphasize how systems are shared, shaped, and interpreted by groups. Analogous to the Antikythera mechanism, these meticulously designed devices are operated by individuals who are united by a shared objective. Spencer Chang’s computing shrines invite visitors to contribute to web experiences that archive communal interactions with the site-specific sculptures. In Free99’s Syllabus (Subject to Change), a continuously printed changelog embraces the disordered and complex exchange inherent in cooperative pedagogical models. Furthermore, in Trevor Van de Velde’s Hacking Grains, a network of modified rice cookers has been reconfigured into digital synthesizers in order to cultivate a collective, ritualistic experience of futurity.

Embodied Algorithms / Collective Mechanics presents a compelling counterpoint to increasing contemporary critiques of technology's purported role in the sterilization of human experience. The featured artists leverage the potential of algorithmic systems as tools for grounding us in our bodies and enhancing our conscious connections with others and the surrounding world.