Composition no. 99

Composition no. 99 continues Schwittlick’s practice of algorithmically abstracting the vast amounts of data generated by his own digital activity. The works in this series specifically use cursor movement data that the artist has been collecting from his computer for years, which is then processed through a custom AI tool that seeks patterns in those movements. These procedures are trained to find existing motions, and to interpret latent movements, depicting upward dragging gestures – paths that almost appear to sprout upwards or launch into flight. These descriptions are apt of a landscape setting, and the screen of a computer is certainly that – covering much of the view seen from our modern digital lives. The cursor traces shown in the up-close magnification of these landscapes remind us that there is purpose and beauty in those seemingly minor, lost gestures we contribute offhandedly.

This passive drawing practice, with mouse in hand, is a semi-conscious creative interaction that we all participate in, connecting human to computer in yet another manual activity that’s losing popularity, while holding relevance. It’s through an examination of these vastly accumulated interface marks that the unpredictability and latent meaning of our daily minutiae is revealed as an abundant source of inspiration.

The variety of gestural vector compositions in this series are uniquely translated into color pen plots of different sizes, using Schwittlick’s collection of vintage plotters and custom-mixed inks. A combination of oil, water, and alcohol-based inks are used in both ballpoint and felt-tipped pens, controlled by each drawing machine. Each work is named with standard seed phrase words that correspond to the first three characters of the hash used to define the generative algorithm of that specific artwork.