Jason Salavon and Siebren Versteeg Artworks at Oklahoma State University

Carl and Marilynn Thoma, both 1971 graduates of Oklahoma State University, have loaned artworks from their digital art collection to the OSU Student Union. Rainbow Aggregator, by Jason Salavon, and Daily Times, by Siebren Versteeg, will be seen by thousands of students as they pass through the Student Union building.

Rainbow Aggregator, by Jason Salavon, shows continuous, real-time representations of trending topics on Twitter and Google (among other social sites and search engines) on a 55 inch monitor. Salavon created a software process that translates this data stream of tags, posts and internet searches into a rainbow of pixels, constantly shifting words and images. Every few minutes the software refreshes and reveals approximately 30 new online trends.

Daily Times, by Siebren Versteeg, downloads the front page of The New York Times every morning in real-time. Throughout the day, painterly strokes of color appear on the screen, responding to peculiarities of The New York Times’ front page layout. The computer creates digital paintings, each a product of the software’s interpretation of the newspaper’s formal layout. Eventually, the abstract marks cover the entire front page, completely blocking any view of the newspaper content. The artist’s algorithmic program begins each morning with a fresh and new front page, and digital paint builds up and drips down the page as time passes throughout the day. Eventually, the legibility of the newspaper is compromised and entirely obscured by “paint.”

Students at the Oklahoma State University Student Union view Daily Times by Siebren Versteeg from the Thoma collection.

“These are not static artworks that were simply created in the studio and then hung on a wall,” said Jason Foumberg, curator for the Thoma Foundation. “The artworks rely on the invisible labor of the internet, from browsers to bloggers.”