Karen Harkema South African, b. 1969
The Architecture of Information (A Quadrilog), 2025
Mixed media collage with reclaimed acrylic paint, rice paper and
colored electronic wires, on panel with acrylic fluorescent edge.
colored electronic wires, on panel with acrylic fluorescent edge.
20 x 20 x 3cm
Copyright The Artist
This set of four panels, collectively titled The Architecture of Information, documents the systematic unmaking of digital logic into organic form. Each work begins with the same foundational recipe: a...
This set of four panels, collectively titled The Architecture of Information, documents the
systematic unmaking of digital logic into organic form. Each work begins with the same
foundational recipe: a meticulously constructed mosaic grid of small colored squares,
mimicking the tiling of data in a raster image or an AI training set. These grids serve as
the digital substrate, a constructed reality of pure order. Against the background grid of
ordered data, the foreground of each panel features a disruption in the form of
electrical wiring, which evolves from panel to panel:
The Binary Field: Orderly, Blue and yellow wires fan out in precise, parallel lines. The
logic holds; the system is functioning.
The Synthetic Sprout: The red wiring begins to curl and tangle, breaking the parallel
lines. Entropy enters the system.
The Tangled Signal: The purple wiring forms a chaotic, synaptic cluster. The grid is no
longer constraining the form; The ”static” of a new language is breaching the order.
The Root ofConnectivity: Brown wires take on an earthy, root-like appearance,
digging into the substrate. The data has germinated. The transformation is complete.
The machine has become a garden.
systematic unmaking of digital logic into organic form. Each work begins with the same
foundational recipe: a meticulously constructed mosaic grid of small colored squares,
mimicking the tiling of data in a raster image or an AI training set. These grids serve as
the digital substrate, a constructed reality of pure order. Against the background grid of
ordered data, the foreground of each panel features a disruption in the form of
electrical wiring, which evolves from panel to panel:
The Binary Field: Orderly, Blue and yellow wires fan out in precise, parallel lines. The
logic holds; the system is functioning.
The Synthetic Sprout: The red wiring begins to curl and tangle, breaking the parallel
lines. Entropy enters the system.
The Tangled Signal: The purple wiring forms a chaotic, synaptic cluster. The grid is no
longer constraining the form; The ”static” of a new language is breaching the order.
The Root ofConnectivity: Brown wires take on an earthy, root-like appearance,
digging into the substrate. The data has germinated. The transformation is complete.
The machine has become a garden.