Dutch artist explains how digital technology walks hand in hand with art

“We [digital artists] change contemporary art into digital format,” said 0010x0010, whose real name is Ray Tijssen.

He explained that museums across the world were gradually displaying digital and contemporary art side by side, adding that digital art will soon become more prevalent.

However, Tijssen said, digital art offers an experience that is very different to contemporary art, thanks to technology like visuals and sound.

“When we look around, there are sounds of nature like birds, ocean and wind,” he said. “This [digital art] allows audiences to see the bigger story or emotion.”

The artist said his exhibition “Algorithmic Organisms”, currently being showcased at the Museum of Contemporary Arts (MOCA) in Bangkok, tries to prove that people’s lives are being controlled more than ever by an algorithm.

“Wherever we go, we have a phone with us. The phone listens and knows exactly what we want,” he said. “We have a smart home, that knows exactly when to turn on the heater, the air conditioner or dishwasher.”

The artist said his creations try to represent the duality between beauty and darkness, so people can recognise the beauty of life despite its darkness-like misery.

He also said he hopes his art will inspire Thai artists to explore the diversity of art forms and develop their work accordingly. As for his exhibition, he said he would leave it up to the audience to judge if his pieces are dark or beautiful.

Tijssen derived his new moniker, 0010x0010, from the binary code of his birthday – February 2 – and is recognised as a trailblazer in post-contemporary digital art. His style is to meld technology with the spiritual, crafting vivid, immersive installations that blur the boundary between the digital and tangible and offer viewers an otherworldly experience.