THEY CAN ACCEPT (UNSCATHED)

These two sided panels highlight the relationship between calculated and arbitrary. One side consists of reasoned, precise application of dye on canvas in a grid representative of information encrypted into binary code. The other demonstrates the arbitrary forms and colors created once the dye is out of the artist’s control. The duality questions the link between encoding or language in art, and the intuitive or arbitrary nature of many aesthetic decisions. The option to view either side A or side B, front or back, intensifies this contrast.

The encrypted information is sourced from a historical book of telegraph codes. Used to reduce the length of telegrams in order to save money, this book connects a single word to a common phrase. The correlation between phrase and code word is entirely random, without any thought to possible conversation between the two. By searching through these combinations and intentionally choosing those with interesting relationships I highlight the contrast between encryption and chance, and the poetic possibilities therein.