Separator is a 42-minute, single channel digital video work with a multi-channel electronic soundtrack. It is a collaboration between Matt O'Hare (visuals) and composer Brian Wenner (music).

The visual content of Separator is best understood as a series of algorithmically-generated living collages that utilize a variety of found materials including architectural simulations, video game screen-captures, animations of surgical procedures, and hundreds of elements taken from internet advertisements. The result is a digital hallucination that rapidly oscillates between the beautiful and alienating, and is reminiscent of the literature of Philip K. Dick, the films of Godfrey Reggio, and the euthanasia sequence towards the end of Soylent Green.

Separator is best experienced in a darkened cinema equipped with a 16:9 projection surface, four loudspeakers configured for quadraphonic sound, and a subwoofer.

The Flowstates Series pairs longform solo music improvisation with first-person video footage recorded in a variety of environments.

The intent is to underscore the exploratory aspect of freeform music by comparing it to, say, a walk in the woods. In retrospect, Flowstates are also a product of the COVID era, which (at least for me) was conducive towards long introspective periods and contemplation.

While I don't count it as part of the Flowstate Series, the above video East Side Ride demonstrates my first experiment with this format.

An algorithmic video piece that was installed at the Main Station in Zurich, Switzerland. "American Currency" takes its name from the 30th horse to die at the Santa Anita Race Track since December 2018. It is inspired by the novel They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy and the film adaptation directed by Sydney Pollack.

During the installation period in September 2019, American Currency would operate autonomously throughout the day. One cycle through the video content takes about 10-20 minutes (see an example immediately above), but each instance is uniquely sequenced with algorithmically-generated variations in content selection, visual effects, timing, repetition, and playback speed.

In the evening time, the "cube" became a performance space where -- in response to the original story -- dance marathon contestants would compete for follows, likes, and posts on social media while remaining constantly in motion on colorful treadmills. The event was hosted by Mike Bonanno of The Yes Men with choreography by Jeremy Nedd, and performances by Florian Denk, Jeremy Nedd, Anna Hofmann, Alireza Bayram, Sascha Soydan, Jakob Stark, and Leon Pfannenmuller. Costume design by Daniela Zorrozua. Set design by Laura Knusel. The video engineer was Robert Meyer. Music and Sound Design by Janiv Oron.

While researching "American Currency," I spent a lot of time watching the film adaptation of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? directed by Sydney Pollack in 1969 as well as reading Horace McCoy's original novel from 1935. The video work above features clips appropriated from Pollack's film combined with research inspired by the novel to provide a personal view of the story.

The BLO Reveal Video was commissioned by art group The Yes Men and was created for the Barbie Liberation Organization's EcoWarrior Barbie campaign that took place in 2023.

It includes algorithmically-generated music I developed to complement the fungal imagery utilizing original software-based synthesizers and digital audio effects. Learn more about the BLO and their work here.

Music, editing, and graphics by me.

American Deformity is a collaborative performance project devised with graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Houston under the direction of visiting artist Matt O’Hare.

Participants developed characters and storylines through a series of collective improvisations and independent projects often involving online platforms (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Google Docs) and consumer technologies (smartphones, laptops) as creative tools.

Loosely based on former UH professor Edward Albee’s 1961 play The American Dream, the play addresses the enduringly immediate themes of Albee’s original text including conformity, consumer culture, and queerness, but set in a contemporary America suffering through a pandemic of unknown origin.

As part of the Convergence Research series at Houston's Blaffer Museum, I discuss the origins and process behind American Deformity.

Binaural Kayak (2016) is a sonically-focused first-person voyage through a marshland in southern New England. Video was captured utilizing a head-mounted camera while the audio was recorded via in-ear binaural microphones for a spatial audio effect. Wear headphones for best results.