“Tapestry” represents the earliest line of inquiry within Primordium, made in Sage’s artist studio in Berlin in 2019. It was first shown at Dismantling, a show in collaboration with Kit Kuksenok interrogating the “instruments of science.” Based on a 2010 paper by Jeff Jones entitled “Characteristics of pattern formation and evolution in approximations of physarum transport networks,” Sage ported the algorithm to a real-time context. This translation allowed them to explore the model dynamically, and it inspired the subsequent works in the exhibition.
“Tapestry” expresses a trajectory through the phase space of this original model from left to right as a graphic score. The grid-like structure endemic to modernist thought is twisted and mangled as if spun from a loom in control of its own fate, always at risk of spilling out and enveloping its surroundings. The tapestry desires connections to the outside world, as if it craves to be actuated by a performer.
An archival print of “Tapestry” will be printed at Nervous System in April 2022 and then shipped to the collector.
