Code 20: Typography, Music, and the Human Machine

 Where text dances to Gamelan, cardboard becomes an instrument, and parental disappointment gets animated

Typo Therapy: The Brutal Truth Set to Music

Yes, I made an animation that repeatedly states "your parents did not want you" synchronized to a beat. Tasteless? Probably. Therapeutic? Possibly.

This TouchDesigner experiment began as typography study but evolved into rhythmic confession. The phrase pulses with each beat, creating a hypnotic confrontation with thoughts we typically suppress.

Sometimes the most uncomfortable art is just externalized internal monologue.

When "you know it's true!! you know it!!" flashes across the screen, the typography itself becomes aggressive—amplifying the already uncomfortable message. Once these thoughts are outside my head, pulsing to music, they become almost absurd—which is probably the healthiest way to view our harshest self-criticisms.

Cardboard Orchestra: Gamelan on Boxes

In a less psychologically concerning experiment, I mapped Gamelan music onto cardboard boxes. What happens when you divorce traditional music from its traditional visual context?

Instead of showing the actual instruments, I translated each sound into visual reactions on plain cardboard. The disconnect between ornate traditional instruments and mundane packaging creates fascinating tension.

There's something satisfying about watching utilitarian boxes dance to centuries-old musical traditions—each one responding to different frequencies and patterns. The cardboard becomes elevated; the Gamelan becomes accessible in a new way.

Audio Reactive Life Forms: September 2020 Flashback

Looking back at experiments from September 2020 feels like archaeology. I was deep in my audio-reactive obsession, creating visualizations that responded to sound in increasingly organic ways.

Simple waveforms evolved into creature-like formations that seemed to breathe with the audio. There's something primal about watching sound take visual form—it taps into that synesthetic desire to see what we hear.

Processing the Piano: Audio Reactive Boids (October 2021)

By October 2021, I'd moved into the Processing environment, creating audio-reactive boid systems responding to piano input. These simple digital entities follow basic rules but create complex emergent behavior—like flocking birds or schooling fish.

Different notes and chords would create distinctly different movement patterns. A gentle melody might create flowing movements, while dissonant chords could scatter the boids into chaos before they slowly reorganized.

This sits at the intersection of music visualization, algorithmic art, and artificial life simulation. The piano becomes not just an instrument for human ears but a control system for digital organisms.

Live Cam Pixelation: Digital Privacy Aesthetics

The live cam pixelation experiments began as privacy tools but evolved into explorations of digital abstraction. Familiar forms break down into mosaic patterns that are strangely engaging.

At certain pixelation thresholds, the brain still recognizes forms but has to work harder—creating an active viewing experience where your mind constantly assembles and reassembles the visual information.

We recognize ourselves even in our digital disintegration—perhaps especially in our digital disintegration.

This technique became crucial for several NFT projects exploring the boundary between recognition and abstraction, identity and anonymity.

NFT Explorations: "From the Beginning"

"From the Beginning" represents my most ambitious integration of these experiments. Available on Foundation, it combines reactive typography, audio visualization, and human performance (by Erika Reitz) with Julia Mcdougall's soundtrack.

What began as separate technical experiments converged into a statement about origins—both personal and universal. The human form, abstracted through digital processes, moves through various states of digital being.

This project raised an interesting question: Can you perceive any creation if you are not human? We're constantly searching for humanity in abstract forms, but what if we created work specifically for non-human perception?

Interactive NFT Collection: Hic et Nunc

I developed interactive NFTs for Hic et Nunc that require active participation to fully experience. The interactivity transforms the relationship between artwork and audience—these pieces respond and evolve based on user engagement.

Two people can own the exact same token yet have completely different relationships with it based on how they interact. The artwork becomes less an object and more a possibility space.

Digital Synthesis: Finding the Thread

Looking back at these experiments—from uncomfortable typography animations to interactive NFTs—I see a thread exploring how digital systems process and reflect human experience.

Whether mapping traditional music to cardboard boxes, visualizing sound as digital organisms, or creating interactive spaces, each experiment asks: what happens at the boundary between human expression and computational interpretation?

There's something powerful about using logical systems to process emotional humanity. The contrast creates a tension that feels honest to our contemporary existence—increasingly mediated through digital interfaces yet still fundamentally human.