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There is a wealth of information in our world today. This surplus is thanks to the everyday technology we use to enrich our lives. With a few taps on your smartphone or clicks on your computer keyboard, we are presented scientific advancements, athletic milestones, political developments, and dinner recipes, instantaneously, and from multiple sources around the world. In one sense, technology collapses time and space in order to deliver information to us. But, what purpose does this serve exactly? I am interested in using this abundance of information as a medium to depict the human experience and the systems that implicitly guide that experience.

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︎ Lost Treasures Found, 2019

After a career in the coliseum Encolpius works toward an academic degree. Outside of class he yearns for the affection of his boyfriend Giton, the validation of his professor Agamemnon, and the collapse of his once friend and now arch rival Ascyltus. Encolpius, however, is time and again met with failure. His endeavors unravel throughout The Satyricon, written by Petronius in the late first century, in the most bizarre and hilarious ways. Traces of Encolpius’ trials can be seen today in the incredulous stories shared over social media. The reception of these stories, like the original reception of The Satyricon by Ancient Romans, are met with widespread amusement and engagement. This signals the timeless qualities of human emotions in society.  

Today, however, digital culture occupies our focus and pushes Encolpius into the shadows. We are not building off our predecessors so much as we are obscuring them. In an attempt to reverse this tendency, Lost Treasures Found offers contemporary access to the story of Encolpius. It presents The Satyricon unabridged and in its original Latin. It replaces key Latin words with their contemporary Emoji counterparts through a custom transcode function. With no prior understanding of Latin, dive into the text and catch glimpses of daily life, from thousands of years ago. The Latin literate are presented with a familiar story set against an unexpected, but appropriate modern backdrop. Ultimately, this book collapses two-thousand years of progress and exposes two distant cultures to each other.

︎ des Objets Reconnus, 2019

Transcoding is a technological phenomenon which can be used to connect different cultural subjects. This case is explored in Lost Treasures Found where Latin and Emojis become an unlikely match. On the other hand, artists like René Magritte, John Baldessari, and Jean-Michel Alberola connect subjects via visual juxtaposition. Through juxtaposition, Magritte compares clouds to boulders. Baldessari examines type’s relationship to color. And, Alberola superimposes fragments of figure and lyric to make whole forms. Through juxtaposition, these artists are able to reframe, question, and better understand their subject matter. Des Objets Reconnus takes this spirit of juxtaposition and combines it with the power of transcoding.

On the right side, hundreds of famous oil paintings cycle in and out. On the left are keywords perceived by an object recognition algorithm used by many of the top technology corporations in the world. As the keywords change, the computer distorts the oil painting to reveal the part of the painting that triggers hidden metadata. The methodical pace runs at one half of one percent the speed the computer takes to recognize objects in an image. This expanded view frames the computational process in terms conducive to human perception. In addition, the wispy motion of the paintings is directly tied to how uncertain the algorithm is. Lastly, a sonic layer matches predominant colors present in the painting to underscore the pace. Des Objets Reconnus transcodes oil paintings through object recognition in order to juxtapose representation and meaning. In this way, des Objets Reconnus questions our personal relationships with paintings to better understand this pervasive algorithm.

︎ Harm to Ongoing Matter, 2020

Transcoding is expressive through its rigidity. In Lost Treasures Found and des Objets Reconnus transcoding made it possible to ingest and standardize many discrete assets, words and paintings respectively, to frame juxtaposition. Where transcoding is rigid, juxtaposition is loose. It is an artistic gesture to promote expression. For instance, Lost Treasures Found compares languages from different eras and des Objets Reconnus analyzes representation and meaning. So, one strength of new media enables the commingling of rigid and loose approaches to expression. Harm to Ongoing Matter pushes this dynamic further.

On Saturday October 5, 2019, Brandel alongside electronic musician Christina Chatfield took the stage to perform for La Gaîté Lyrique’s Nuit Blanche programming. During the two-hour set, thousands of people danced to acid rhythms and saw a retelling of Robert Mueller III’s “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election”. Throughout the infamous document, there are words, lines, and paragraphs which are redacted, blacked out. These redactions carry the label, “Harm to Ongoing Matter”. This recontextualization is made possible through transcoding. The juxtaposition of media, a political report and a concert, adds a new and contradictory layer to this still developing narrative. Contradiction, as media theorist Geoff Cox puts it, is “where politics is evident and where re-invention takes place.”

In this limited edition video loop, the documentation from the Nuit Blanche performance is superimposed onto the report. All artist proceeds from this piece will be donated to Gray Area, the San Francisco project space where the works were originally conceived to be shown prior to COVID-19. A talk on this work and others from The Transcode Process is available on Patch by Gray Area alongside the exhibition opening on Sedition starting July 2, 2020.

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Technology allows us to interact with each other in new ways. Collaboration and creative development are not exempt from this phenomenon. My artistic process coupled with the ability to realize complex technical systems offers a unique, personal, and most importantly human perspective on digital art. This point of view enables artistic collaboration and distinguishes brands from traditional digital experiences. Below is a sampling of different types of commercial collaborations from audio-visual instruments to interactive installations.

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︎ What You Don’t Know, 2019

Dive into the creative process of avant-pop artist Matthew Dear from his new single of the same name. Floating above you is a magic eight-ball beaming lyrics. In the distance planetary objects orbit around you to the beat. And directly ahead is an elastic wave which bounces, bulges, and twists to the complex melodies. This multi-layered visualization allows you to pivot along eight unique instruments, manipulate the speed of each one, and scratch as if you were standing on a giant turntable. The result is a music video that asks what you know about music creation. Whether through VR, mobile, or desktop, this WebVR experience offers a new way to appreciate the craft of music. Distributed under the partnership of WITHIN and Ghostly International and freely available on the web.

︎ The Doomsday Invention, 2015

The Doomsday Invention (link) is the title of an in-depth New Yorker article written by Raffi Katchadourian. In it, he explores the ethics and futures of artificial intelligence primarily through the thoughts, events, and circumstances surrounding Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom. Working with Brooklyn-based studio Hunter Gatherer (link) and the New Yorker art direction team, we realized the publication’s first interactive illustration. This gave added weight to the article’s cover spreads on both the publication’s website and mobile applications, while simultaneously staying consistent with printed material.
    The direction stems from the concept of cumulative computer functions or routines. Each routine individually is rather simplistic, hence the geometric foundation. However, when combined and automated there are radically large combinations that yield unique but cohesive elements. The earthen color palette furthers the mundane nature of these routines. As society enlists more use cases of artificial intelligence,  its currently mysterious movements will emerge as perceivable intent.

︎ Unnumbered Sparks, 2014

Unnumbered Sparks is a monumental interactive sculpture in the sky. Choreographed by visitors in real time through their mobile devices, at night the sculpture became a crowd-controlled visual artwork on a giant, floating canvas to celebrate TED’s 30^th anniversary.
    The sculpture spanned 745 feet between buildings in downtown Vancouver, Canada for one week in March, 2014. After sunset the sculpture came alive with illumination. Visitors with smartphones and tablets were able to paint vibrant beams of light across the sculpture at a remarkable scale: small movements on their phones became hundred foot long trails evolving and combining with fellow participants. As part of Google’s Data Arts Team, I developed, designed, and architected the visuals that visitors created on the sculpture.

︎ Mellow Waves, 2017

Mellow Waves is the  studio album from the band Cornelius. For me it is a varying ride of pensive thought and staccato emotions. There are many familiar hooks and textures where collegiate nostalgia surfaces. In other moments I am caught with unsettling feelings about what is and what might happen — both musically and emotionally. Despite these salient qualities nothing defines Cornelius more than Keigo’s voice. This goes beyond just the sonic qualities of the music he produces. The visual accompaniment for Cornelius’ music videos, album art, and stage performances reinforce the thoughts and feelings as much as songs. When Rostrum Records reached out to chat about collaborating for the American release of a special vinyl press for Mellow Waves, we came up with a special website where you can play custom sound clips from the album alongside his concert visuals.