CYBOTAGE (detail), 2025, animation installation with sound, 4:20 minutes, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.
CYBOTAGE bridges art, biology, global security, and social science. This series of animated digital colossi probes the ethical dilemmas of human enhancement technologies—sparking dialogue on their impact on society and the environment. Inspired by the colossal guardian statues of Ancient Egypt’s Abu Simbel, these figures, constructed from MRI-like scans overlaid with mapping systems, stand as “guardians” of cyberspace, projected onto landmark facades, skyscrapers, or displayed indoors.
Drawing from the legacy of Ancient Egyptian colossi, CYBOTAGE underscores our evolving reliance on technology––from “stone’s” materiality in temple construction, to digital “pixels” as building blocks for cyberspace visualization. CYBOTAGE presents a contemporary colossus as a "deity" of the Internet age—emphasizing our dependence on cyberspace as a permanent temple and the “guardianship” required to protect our digital lives.
CYBOTAGE’s towering digital guardians serve dual roles as protectors of cyberspace and advanced warfighters. As living firewalls, they defend and fight in the shifting landscapes of data, adapting to threats. Their coral-infused limbs, shell-plated armor, and spined extensions mirror military enhancements engineered for survival.
CYBOTAGE is the recipient of the 2025 Leonardo-ASU Seed Grant and is supported in part by the 2024 SF Bay Area Artadia Award and the Spirit of the Depths Artadia Award.
CYBOTAGE (detail), 2025, animation installation with sound, 4:20 minutes, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.
CYBOTAGE (detail), 2025, animation installation with sound, 4:20 minutes, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.