I'm motivated by the evolutionary trends of culture,
communications, and consciousness. My aim is to engender the
synthesis of Art, Science, and Philosophy with Technology--specifically:
Visual and Conceptual Art, Cognitive Science, Integral Philosophy,
Archetypal Cosmology, and Ancient History with Information and
Communications Technology. My focus is on cultivating new language--or
something like or beyond common language--to
yield new signifiers to the "patterns
that connect," and are communicative of a broader and deeper
perspective of reality. Such a meta-language can assist
in delivering a universally comprehensive, coherent, and re-enchanting
orientation of the human condition, whereby we can collectively
articulate, navigate, and realize our ultimate evolutionary
potentials.
My favorite tools are Flash and the Internet. I discovered Flash
during it’s initial emergence near the internet bubble
(1998), and I knew right away that it would be a primary palette
of expression. I appreciate Flash for it’s
natural capacity to bridge vector graphics and computation.
Flash is also great at producing dynamic and interactive content
in coordination with the connectivity of the web.
As a result of working as a professional Interaction Designer
primarily in the LOHAS demographic,
I've produced many Flash-based geographic
maps. As a multimedia artist, I'm interrested in extending
the notion of "global mapping" into the frontiers of sociology,
philosophy, psychology, and cosmology. I especially love to work
in 3 or more navigable dimensions within dynamic data space.
There is a plethora of opportunity to be found in the interrelations
of data, social connection, and computational visualization that
can unfold new ways of understanding ourselves, each other, and
our world. Although my literal medium is on-line interactive
visual graphics, I actually feel like I’m working
with something far more palatial: architecting and engineering
fresh perspectives of space, time, and meaning witin the collective
social mind. I call this
approach "Archetypal Engineering".
My current work involves two general trends. The first trend
has been developing conceptually for sometime, and fundamentally
involves various explorations into the "geometry of meaning" and
the creation of "vision-logic interfaces". My work here includes
a manifold series of dynamic mappings of semantic spaces based
on fundamentals of exoteric and esoteric geometry and numerology.
These spaces integrate and synergize various philosophical, spiritual,
and psychological systems of thought into navigable topologies.
Here are a few models that represent the general trend of this
work:
Holosys (2003): a conceptual template for information
visualization based on a triune (3) ontological
framework where Cartesian space (x, y, z) is directly correlate
to color (red, green, blue), as well as associative to various
other triune-based ontological schemas (such as Art, Science,
and Spirituality):
www.holosys.net
Mandapa (2004): a conceptual model (conceived
and developed in collaboration with Scott Fossel) that synthesizes
three fundamental philosophical and psychological theories of
cosmology and consciounsess--namely: Wilbur's AQAL, Grof's BPMs,
and Teilhard's phenomenology--into a navigable 3-dimensional
model:
http://holosys.net/lab/content/mandapa/1
http://holosys.net/lab/content/mandapa/print/test.html
AION System (2004 - present): an interactive
application for exploring new perspectives in archetypal cosmology
in context to the events of world history.
http://www.aionsystem.com/aion/
CogSpace (2009): a specific implementation
of the Holosys framework as a navigable 3D conceptual model of
the knowledge domains and sub-domains of Cognitive Science and
Consciousness research distributed by collective consensus within
a semantic-color-space matrix.
www.cogspace.net
Much more of the bulk of this work trend exists only as ink
on paper in stacks of journals and drawing tablets that have
been accumulating, germinating, and congealing for over a decade.
I anticipate that a certain momentous threshold
is approaching, and that the bulk of this work will be revealed
in a uniform fashion within
the next few years.
The second trend in my work has more to do with social networking
and augmented reality. With over a decade of “web
design” experience, I'm looking forward to fulfilling
a growing fascination with bridging the juxtaposition of on-line
and off-line networks with tangible artifacts--and that is the
type of work I intend to produce with projects such as Social
Alchemy and Synchronicity
Network, each of which are in early stages
of development. Social
Alchemy is based on a seed idea that emerged with developing
various
HyperFlyers ,
as well as with the HyperHive project.
Ultimately, my intention is to merge these two trends. In all,
the general idea is to reveal new dimensions of our individual
and collective connectivity with direct phenomenological experience
thru augmented social networks oriented around coordinated geometric
and semantic design. The DataTemple project
is a place holder for this eventual synthesis: a system that
provides various perceptions into the multitude of collective
dynamics in our shared exploration of space,
time, and meanng ... a peering thru something like windows into
the vastness of a transforming social mind.
With the advents of the internet, I see a continually evolving “ecology” of
newly unfolding dimensions in social and technological innovation.
This "socio-tech ecology" is growing like a garden. My role
is to plant conceptual seeds, cultivate ideas, and distribute
the blossoms and fruits.
~ Michael Gaio, 2009
