project: algorithms of the absurd
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The central element of the Algorithms of the Absurd series is the tree, a omnipresent paradigm in computer science. From the the anatomy of the file system on a personal computer’s hard drive to complex sorting algorithms, the tree is a fundamental data structure in computing. For example, the most efficient sorting method is a heap sort which builds a tree, then repeatedly moves the maximum item towards the root.
I wanted to expose the heap sort algorithm as a hidden structure and illustration of the desire for efficiency and the modes of production of the capitalist system. Therefore I wrote a program that would graphically represent a tree structure. The digital prints submitted are the output of this tree algorithm.
I have always been interested in juxtaposing the two main ideologies of our time and their impact on an individual level -- part of it because I have experienced both.
"Feeding" the tree program selected paragraphs from Marx's Communist Manifesto seemed a natural choice. The central text of the communist ideology is -- in each piece -- being "devoured" by the program, which uses each word to render branches for its tree structure. Once the text is fully disassembled, the empty branches (the ones that don't have "children") are populated with logos -- a celebratory way of signaling the end of the struggle and its victor. Long live the capitalist system and its juicy fruits, mass consumption and transnational corporations.
Sifted by the parser, words are whirled out of context and grammatical order, and are reduced to graphical shapes and an amalgam of unreadable signs. Language patterns that jump out especially at the periphery of the rendering can only convey the sense of absurd relationships. The main text of an ideology that has driven the lives of millions of people becomes thus a structure of banality, repetitions, incongruity and exaggerations in the manner of surrealist paintings. Words no longer demonstrate and convince they become alienated from their context the way trademarked corporate tag lines are removed from language and are reserved for commercial use only.
I wanted to expose the heap sort algorithm as a hidden structure and illustration of the desire for efficiency and the modes of production of the capitalist system. Therefore I wrote a program that would graphically represent a tree structure. The digital prints submitted are the output of this tree algorithm.
I have always been interested in juxtaposing the two main ideologies of our time and their impact on an individual level -- part of it because I have experienced both.
"Feeding" the tree program selected paragraphs from Marx's Communist Manifesto seemed a natural choice. The central text of the communist ideology is -- in each piece -- being "devoured" by the program, which uses each word to render branches for its tree structure. Once the text is fully disassembled, the empty branches (the ones that don't have "children") are populated with logos -- a celebratory way of signaling the end of the struggle and its victor. Long live the capitalist system and its juicy fruits, mass consumption and transnational corporations.
Sifted by the parser, words are whirled out of context and grammatical order, and are reduced to graphical shapes and an amalgam of unreadable signs. Language patterns that jump out especially at the periphery of the rendering can only convey the sense of absurd relationships. The main text of an ideology that has driven the lives of millions of people becomes thus a structure of banality, repetitions, incongruity and exaggerations in the manner of surrealist paintings. Words no longer demonstrate and convince they become alienated from their context the way trademarked corporate tag lines are removed from language and are reserved for commercial use only.