Illuminations Series
For(Loop) Illumination is an illuminated manuscript of the computer code from a prior installation, entitled For(Loop){Meditations;}.
Just as a religious text is a record of the logic that underpins an act of creation on a divine scale, computer code is a record of the logic that underpins an act of creation on a human, artistic scale. For(Loop) Illumination reimagines sacred textuality in the digital era.
For this project I’ve adopted contemporary analogs of 15th-century techniques and materials, like gouche on synthetic parchment paper and Humanist Minuscule script in lieu of egg tempera on vellum and Carolingian or Blackletter script. The historical influences of these reach back to classical metaphysics, while also preseaging postmodern culture and digital typefaces.
The prior installation that the manuscript references allowed viewers to use 3D printed prayer beads with embedded push-buttons. As the viewer moved from bead to bead, each button would iterate through the pixels of a meditative image, one by one, filling the room with light the color of that pixel. The manuscript seeks to reference and replicate that experience with the hand drawn QR codes and other imagery embedded throughout.
For(Loop) Illumination approaches the java-based code from that installation in much the same way a medieval scribe would have approached a sacred text. In doing so, I bridge ancient Roman script and computer programming script in an examination of our own emerging cyber-metaphysics.
FOR MORE ON THE CREATION OF THIS PIECE AND MY JOURNEY TO BECOMING A SCRIBE, SEE HERE