whoami
a brief and simplistic existential visual poem
about self attributed human social constructions
whoami?
am I bytes?
I woke up scrambled that morning, feeling a terrible headache coming over without any warningI started to realize, what the hell was I doing? Had I forgotten where I come from? Who am I?
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bytes as characters
Data-driven generative image
3488 x 3488 pixels
am I data?
I wondered if I could remember anything at all that would remind me of my essence, but no luck! Had I lost myself to a terrible illusion or a heavy smoke that disguises the extents of reality?.png)
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bytes as hexadecimal pairs
Data-driven generative image
4116 x 4116 pixels
am I code?
I turned to my hands to find out more about me - these are the hands of a human but hold no answers… I felt out of control, a swirling mind, confusion over fake memories, could I remember who I am?.png)
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bytes as assembler code
Data-driven generative image
4992 x 4992 pixels
am I pixels?
I even asked myself if was just another image, a ghost for someone else to be frightened of ...but as I had no memory of my previous self, I could then begin a new life determined by the consequences of my actions..png){kind=tracking}
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bytes as pixel values
Data-driven generative image
3184 x 3184 pixels
No. I am function...
I am what I do.
Concept
whoami is a set of generative images designed to convey the need for self realization through whatever activity we choose to do – in a society where titles are assigned without actually reflecting the reality of the actions from the people behind them, it’s important to recognize our strengths in the only factor that’s still left in our hands: our actions.
We are what we do – that was what philosopher Martin Heidegger tried to explain in his works, who proposed that the concept of destiny held little account in our lives if we actually had the will to reach out our fullest potential – we just have to set out our goals and reach as far as we can – the more consistent we are with them, the more we become congruent, we become our actions: we are what we do.
We usually spend more time wondering who we are rather than working on who we want to become, though...
Technique
whoami was created using the binary file for ‘whoami’ – a linux operating system command that allows the user to know his own username – which was disassembled into code, extracted as bytes, turned into hexadecimal values and then graphical representational values using a home brewed app.
After producing the images from the source data, they were merged with a set of images created using Disco Diffusion – an AI based online engine that allows image creation based on a text prompt by using a data set trained from a large group of images, mostly paintings and digital illustration.
The merge between represented data and an AI created image conveys data based generative art from two totally different perspectives and techniques – these was accomplished by another special app, and yes, it could have been done with an image editing program, but one guiding premise was to just use code.
About the author
220 is a transdisciplinary creator whose current work pretends to identify and explore both potentials and vulnerabilities of the human mind to find the relation between the elements of reality and the development of individual and collective minds.
Find out more of his work on his website: 2-2-0.online