Digital Being

Digital Being: Rebirth - I (Renaissance), 2020

17(W) x 11(H) x 5(D) ft, CRT TV Monitor, TV Mount, Pipe, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Mac Mini, LED, and Electric Parts on Wood Panels

When I came to New York City in 2008, it was a year before the broadcast transmission system went digital. Since then, I have observed many abandoned technologies, especially analog TVs, which were once expensive and iconic examples of cutting-edge technology during Nam June Paik's era, discarded on the streets. As an artist, I wanted not only to give them new life as a form of art but also to explore the direction of evolving technology, its sustainability, and its undiscovered possibilities through my series of artworks, Digital Being.

Digital Being is an invisible and formless creature born out of the radical change known as digital transformation. Some of these beings work interactively, while others operate randomly, based on the characteristics and original functions of the machines.

Digital Being: Rebirth — a pile of digital code emerges from abandoned technologies, giving birth to new life. These beings ponder, "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?" while imagining the sun, planets, and tele-stars. The spinning stars on the screen are streamed over the internet from an NFT collection located in a decentralized world, like a new soul for the machine. With NFT technology, each one has a unique identity, allowing them to float and coexist between the physical and virtual worlds. Through the use of NFT and IPFS (Interplanetary File System), they will live with us forever.

Through my artwork Digital Being, I hope to invite you into a world beyond human-centered thinking.

Video Link: Youtube

Digital Being: Rebirth - II, 2023

12(W) x 8(D) x 9(H) ft, CRT TV Monitor, Mount, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, LED Matrix, Pipe, Chair, Speaker, Traffic Light, LED Light, U-matic Tape, Beta Tape, VHS Tape, Multi-Strip, Relay, The Clapper, Wire, and Various abandoned technology on Wood Panels

When the TVs stop working, the beings take the form of a digital candle.

As part of the preservation of my work, if the latest display technology does not adequately reflect the originality of the piece, I ask that you temporarily place a digital candle inside the TV until the technology is sufficiently advanced.

Video Link: YouTube