World Wide Web (WWW)
Works composed for, or directly relating to, my favorite medium: the World Wide Web. I was lucky enough to thank Sir Tim Berners-Lee for his invention in person at a 25th birthday party for the Web. There were countless pre-inventors before him, and infinitely more pioneers afterward, but Tim (and CERN) mark a special nexus in human history.
Self-taught
Projects, essays, or news items that feature topics or methods that I’ve taught myself, rather than received formal instruction on. These are often illustrations of my broad curiosity and tenacity. (In stark contrast to the times that I’m exhausted and hide behind the curtains.) See also,
Quantum Computing (QC),
Artificial Intelligence (AI/ML),
Spatial Computing (XR),
writing,
and
music.
Interaction design (IxD)
JavaScript (JS)
Works that make particular use of my favorite widely-used programming language. I’ve been an enthusiastic fan since before Douglas Crockford wrote JavaScript: The Good Parts. It’s dirty and weirdly flexible; so flexible that cowards tried to graft classical inheritance onto it, and later invented TypeScript. (Disgusting.) It could only be better if it had been allowed to be Scheme as Brendan Eich had intended. (I strongly disagree with Eich’s early-2000s stance against gay marriage, but it would be wrong not to acknowledge him as the initial creator of JavaScript. We must contend with our history rather than ignore it.)
Yale University
Brooklyn, New York
Robert Gerard Pietrusko
Longtime collaborator and dear friend. See also Warning Office.
New Haven, Connecticut
Era: Yale University
Works composed during the years I spent working toward my Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree at Yale University’s graduate graphic design program in New Haven, Connecticut.
See also Yale student work.
Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe (ZKM)
Artist
Hack
Era: London
Music-related
Works that are constructed around a particular piece of music (see also, music videos), are collaborations with musicians, interviews of musicians, facilitate the creation of music, consist of experimental audio performances, involve the distribution of music, or reflect on the experience of listening to music. I’ve worn all the hats.
Interviewee
Speaker
Yale student work
Works composed in service of my Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree at Yale University’s graduate graphic design program in New Haven, Connecticut. See also
art.yale.edu,
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville,
Christopher Pullman,
Glen Cummings,
Linda van Deursen & Armand Mevis,
Jürg Lehni,
Daniël van der Velden,
Tobias Frere-Jones,
Dan Michaelson,
Sara Soskolne,
Irma Boom,
Karel Martens,
Sigi Moeslinger & Masamichi Udagawa, and
Laurenz Brunner.
Writing
Karlsruhe, Germany
Spatial computing
“Spatial computing” is a broad term for technologies that facilitate interaction with digital information within a spatial, usually 3D, context. This includes virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality or mediated reality (MR). Extended Reality(XR) is a similar catch-all term, but is limited to the goggle-mediated or “magic window” experiences of VR, AR, and MR—while spatial computing is a larger category encompassing both 3D and 2D; both with and without headsets. See also
Simon Greenwold’s coinage of “spatial computing” in his 2003 MIT thesis.
Talk
Speaking engagements, talks, lectures, and slideshows.
Interview
Era: O‑R‑G
Works composed during the years I served as an intern / entry-level designer for graphic design legend David Reinfurt at his O‑R‑G studio. See also
o-r-g.com,
davidreinfurt.com,
dextersinister.org, and
servinglibrary.org.
XR (Extended Reality)
Wikipedia: XR is a catch-all term to refer to augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality or mediated reality (MR), using “X” be an arbitrary variable that can interpolate between these various realities or eXtrapolate (eXtend) beyond them. Time will tell. See also, spatial computing.
Conceptual
Open-source
Era: Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Shouting into the void
Art installation
University of Connecticut
Items related to UConn—as a student, as a recent graduate assisting with the computer labs to make ends meet, or the years beyond.
Animation
Era: University of Connecticut
Works composed during the years I spent working toward my Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree at the University of Connecticut’s graphic design program in Storrs, Connecticut at the turn of the century.
See also University of Connecticut student work.
Video
Creative Director
Exhibition piece
Three.js
PHP
Virtual reality (VR)
Performative
Writer
Java
VRController.js
Radiohead
0 to 1
Larger undertakings that I’ve been involved in from the blue-sky concept phase, to launch / publication / broadcast to the masses. In the best of cases these projects started as a very small collective and then grew to include sizable teams of talented folks.
Climate change
Bronson (animation framework)
Realtime 3D animation framework created by myself and Robert Gerard Pietrusko specifically for sketching, proofing, and deploying 360˚ data animations intended for display on the walls of custom-built rotunda environments. (Later adapted for more general purpose use.) It was the key component of our collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro on Exit (Terre Natale). Bronson was written in Java, used OpenGL for graphics rendering, and made use of the then-beta version of Processing. Named after Charles Bronson, a rugged man who will get the job done, no matter the ugliness required.
UConn student work
Works composed in service of my Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree at the University of Connecticut’s graphic design program in Storrs, Connecticut at the turn of the century. This program was created by the heavily influential
Edvin Yegir,
along with
Mark Zurolo,
Randall Hoyt, and
David Frisco.
If I made anything halfway decent there it was because of their guidance.
Quantum
Works related to quantum computing, or engaging the topic of quantum physics in general. See also, Yale Quantum Institute.
Cascading style sheets (CSS)
Works that make particular use of special CSS features, such as 3D transforms or combinations of features that constitute a clever hack. For more on what style sheets are and how CSS came to exist, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS.
Atari-inspired
There’s nothing quite like the vintage Atari arcade cabinets of the 1970s and 80s. The simple vector graphics, limited color palettes, and oscillator-driven audio; these things are beautiful. Games like Asteroids (1979), Tempest (1981), and Pong (1972) continue to inspire me decades after their creation.
Game
Data visualization
Typeface
Quantum computing (QC)
Works that employ or are related to quantum computing. See also, Yale Quantum Institute.
MoMA
WebXR
Browser-based virtual reality experiences.
OpenGL
Official
Storrs, Connecticut
Jürg Lehni
For a few years Jürg Lehni and I shared a small studio space on Shacklewell Lane in London. In addition to Hektor and other artworks that I admire, Jürg’s also created fantastic software tools such as Scriptographer, and Paper.js. This collection of works makes use of Jürg’s software tools. (I miss our time together, Buddy!)
Moar Technologies Corp
Architecture
Machine learning (ML)
Works that employ or are related to machine learning. See also, artificial intelligence.
Processing (Java framework)
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Works that employ or are related to artificial intelligence. See also, machine learning.
Music video
SFMOMA
Projection
Yahoo
Software library
Google Creative Lab
Fairfield, Connecticut
New York
Spooky
UConn Design Center
Publication
San Francisco
Yale Quantum Institute (YQI)
Items related to the Yale Quantum Institute at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. See also quantuminstitute.yale.edu.
Era: Unity Deux
Quantum JavaScript (Q.js)
Patented
Motion
Community
ASCII art
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Python
It’s Nice That
Food
Harvard University
Paper.js
Paper.js is an open source vector graphics scripting framework that runs on top of the HTML5 Canvas. It offers a clean Scene Graph / Document Object Model and a lot of powerful functionality to create and work with vector graphics and bezier curves, all neatly wrapped up in a well designed, consistent and clean programming interface. Developed by Jürg Lehni & Jonathan Puckey.
Era: High School
Young Guns
Large language model (LLM)
Leap year
Calendar
Jonathan Puckey
Works that are either collaborations with Jonathan Puckey of Studio Puckey, or use software tools developed by him. (Such as Paper.js, developed with Jürg Lehni.)
Kale Robot
Jupyter
Dairy-free
Anniversary
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Braket
Aliens
BASIC (programming language)
Nut-free
Rubik’s Cube
Era: Amazon Web Services
Era: Yahoo
Nuclear weapons
London, England
Google Data Arts Team (DAT)
Google’s Data Arts Team (AKA, “DAT” for short), originally lead by Aaron Koblin, was a specialized group within Google that explored the ongoing dialog between artists and emerging technologies. DAT (located in San Francisco) began as a component of Google Creative Lab (located in New York, itself part of Google’s marketing division), but due to changes in leadership and market pressures was forced to find various new homes within Google; eventually dissolving. Or at least as far as I understand.
Sugar-free
Panel discussion
Judging panel
Gluten-free
Kikkoman (slideshow)
Bespoke slideshow software for delivering presentations from within a Web browser.
Amazon
Visit
Studio visits, office visits, and so on.
Vegan
Natural language processing (NLP)
SXSW
Ernő Rubik
Copenhagen
Unity Technologies
Philadelphia
Hand pose recognition
Responsible AI
Job hunting
Proof of Life essays
Futurism
QBasic
Augmented reality (AR)
O R G
Projects for graphic design legend David Reinfurt’s O‑R‑G studio. See also
o-r-g.com,
davidreinfurt.com,
dextersinister.org, and
servinglibrary.org.