Every Icon >>
John F. Simon, Jr.
An inexhaustible 32x32 grid explores both the void and saturation of
iconographic imagery with Every Icon.
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||| HIAFF 3.0 | university of colorado | department of art and art history | digital arts area | in conjunction with alt-x | atlas | blurr
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[Reviews] It has been said that given enough time, a group of monkeys randomly tapping at
a typewriter will produce the complete works of Shakespeare. John F. Simonâs
Every Icon is a programmed artifice that demonstrates this process. Although
like the monkey playwrights, this piece will probably never produce more than
random bits of gibberish in anyoneâs lifetime, it is the concept that is the
most intriguing and thought provoking element of this work. Theoretically, if
Simon's piece was produced in color and enlarged to the size of a computer
screen, it would eventually generate every image on the Internet, past,
present, and future.
The piece itself isn't really much to look at: a 32X32 black on white grid with
some of the squares in the first couple of rows flickering. Not exactly
something to email home about. It is also possible to buy your own edition of
this program and start it iterating right from your very own desktop. It will
live there and grow without any attention, unlike those high maintenance
virtual pets that have to be fed every few hours like baby birds. Given a
little electricity and a small bit of time from your processor and it will
happily run along forever. Watch it through a few winks of the Big Bang and
youâre guaranteed to see every icon.
Icons themselves are an interesting phenomena; symbols that represent larger
ideas. As we often wonder whether every idea has already been thought of
before, it is encouraging to note how many possibilities there are contained in
even something as simple as a 32X32 square. The same icons may even come to
represent different things as culture changes. An idea that went largely
unnoticed in the past may be repeated and become a big hit in the future.
Although Every Icon is simple and not very aesthetically pleasing by most
standards, it has a thought provoking quality to it that seems to encompass the
entire universe and break it down into what it truly is: iterations of
patterns. Displayed on a computer screen, it plays with the idea of symbols and
representation, especially in light of the idea that net.art exists only in
virtual space and represents no other artifact than itself.
By JOe Farbrook |
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