LO – 08 – Individual Practice

Lauren McCarthy is a computer programmer and artist who often uses her knowledge of coding and computers to pose interesting interactions with both entities as they intersect. I admire the way that she uses her knowledge of two different worlds to create a valuable commentary on both of them. She actually created P5.JS, which I didn’t know until after that I watched her lecture. I found her work very admirable because she knows enough about both human behavior and computer behavior to push both to their boundaries of discomfort. I love how with her project ‘Follower’, she creates an almost-normal service that has just enough dissonance from an acceptable service to allow for unexpected discoveries.

https://lauren-mccarthy.com/Info

Her work always depends heavily on the pragmatism of computers in order to contrast the fickle nature of humans. I admire how there seems to be a whimsical element to her work, it is almost as if her experience with computers has taught her to embrace her human volatility. Ultimately, I admire how she uses technology to create socially, emotionally, and even physically uncomfortable situations that challenge conventional ideas of how computers and humans exist beside one another.