User:Zoyander.cc
I'm an artist-researcher who does things with computers. I was doing an MA in History of Design at the Royal College of Art in London during the sort of peak of the maker movement I guess, in 2010-2012. I taught myself how to code as a side job, helping artists to put Arduinos into things, as was the style at the time ;) I've been doing things with computers ever since, albeit as a dilettante with a lot of passion and enthusiasm. Ultimately, I'm better at writing about code than I am at writing code, but I get by with a little help from my friends.
In 2015-2018 I was the Senior Curator of Critical Distance, a website that aggregates and archives writing about games, and I continue to serve on their Board of Directors. We are a 501c3 non-profit working to encourage critical engagement with games, and since 2009 we have played a key role in helping people blogging on personal or independent websites to get their work seen by other people.
I'm in the process of decentering corporate social media in my practice, while still maintaining a connection to audiences and benefitting from the dialogues that are still possible, despite everything. For years I just felt kind of guilty and ashamed that I was still addicted to the algo-apps, and I believed that I couldn't invest more energy into the Fediverse and small web without becoming siloed and isolated. Of course, the reverse is true! Learning about the Indie Web principles has been kind of pivotal in helping me reconceptualise my relationship to the internet. POSSE and PESOS are such helpful concepts, and I want to try to help other artists to bring this into their own practices.
Relevant blogging
- Why aren't leftist video essayists on Peertube?
- Freedom of format on the fediverse and indie web
- Hampering the search for real criticism
Projects
- Intrapology - Series of interactive online performances using our own original software Intrinsink
- Cis Penance - Online interactive documentary based on interviews with trans people. There are also other interactive works on my [1] page.
- Critical Distance - Website collecting and archiving critical writing on games
- Desperate Livin - online archive of resources for trans people and their families