EXTRA SPECIAL OPS
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2007, wood, silica, digital video, 44 x 80 x 5"
In Extra Special Ops, pixelated versions of four chance-derived ink splatters go through a cellular
automata process to simulate population growth. These changes are made physical via video
projection onto dunes of reflective white silicate sand.
Using John Conway's "Game of Life" (an early virtual intelligence model) as a catalyst for the sculpture; the context of these cell divisons is changed through choice of materials and presentation. Now the abstract figures resemble data with no fixed value; and the data in the program itself becomes a point of meditation. These patterns play over white noise, as populations divide and conquer, creatin a shifting topology over the sand relief. "Territorial wars" run rampant throughout the work on a continuous loop.