Ksawery Kirklewski

CTRL_DAT

NFT + Minicomputer (sculpture)

5 unique sculptures, each sculpture comes with 1 unique NFT (square video) minted on FoundationApp + Instruction Paper, COA signed by the artist

https://foundation.app/collection/ctrl-dat

Shipping and import tax are excluded

More information about the series can be found here: https://ksawerykomputery.pl/works/ctrl-dat

CTRL_DAT is a limited series of sculptures commissioned for the exhibition “Phygital” that focuses on combining digital artworks with physical mediums.

I’ve been fascinated by the analog means of presenting a digital work for a long time. Programming a physical thing seems more expressive to me, more natural. It’s there as a real, self-standing, complete piece of work, with its own body structure and soul. Understanding a medium is as important to me as the coding part.

In CTRL_DAT the medium is a mechanical flip digits display, built out of 7-segment digits arranged in 4 rows of 7 columns. The low resolution is a limitation, but also an interesting field to play with grids of geometric patterns. These types of displays are usually used for informational purposes, ie. at airports or train stations – because of low power consumption (energy is only required to change the state of digits) and good visibility in strong light. The sound comes from the moving mechanical parts of the digits.

On the coding field, the key principles of my usual generative artworks are the study of randomness and noise. Most of the pieces start with the random impulses, which are later reinterpreted due to a pre-coded set of rules, to produce new, surprising results out of every program run. I try to create an impression of a living thing by controlling chaotic signals in a logical way. It means that random numbers are the seeds for the work, making their existence alive and organic.

In CTRL_DAT I'm adding a new key factor – time. As a result, every iteration now has its own unique number (ID). Using it as a fundament for the generated patterns, it guarantees a long loop of unrepeatable results (over 500k to be exact).

• CTRL_DAT series includes 5 unique sculptures. Each artwork contains a built-in unique numeric signature to assure a different set of visual results.

• The sculpture generates unrepeatable compositions every minute.

• To be able to cover 525 600 different compositions (60 minutes * 24 hours * 365 days), the system combines 63 shapes with 84 compositions and 18 special decorations.

• In every iteration 2 out of 63 shapes are arranged according to one of the compositions, then adds a 3rd special shape (decoration) on top of it.