Coda: Zuihitsu in 30 Remoscopes is a linear video work that follows a set of rules to generate Denkbilder within a zuihitsu format. Two Tumblr blogs serve as initial aggregators that diarised captured fragments: still photographs and one-minute videos (remoscopes) with accompanying captions or titles, from thirty consecutive days spent in Tokyo and Hong Kong, where each dated entry features a selected photograph or remoscope collected on the day.

I am interested in the use of algorithms in producing a single iteration. Instead of using the alphabet, chronology provides the structure. The single-channel linear video aggregates thirty remoscopes chronologically, each beginning with a three-second title. As zuihitsu, these one-minute windows capture daily moments and call attention to both the ordinariness and significance of everyday experiences. Here, the visual images, audio tracks, and texts interact within a Denkbild scaffold.

Gaps between elements and between the thirty segments are deliberately left open, harbouring the potential to disrupt. Like Sei Shōnagon’s lists of poetic images, Coda singles out things to be observed, experienced, and pondered. In this way, a list provides a simple type of algorithm that directs our attention, organises our observations, and catalogues our experiences according to different modes of thoughts. List-making in Coda is an act of pattern recognition that allows experiences to crystallise from a sea of contingencies.

Jo Law is an artist, researcher, and scholar who investigates the transformative potential of art, science, and technology in response to our changing sociocultural and political environments. Jo works with divergent media to develop a materialist aesthetic engagement with everyday experiences. Her award-winning screen works have been exhibited in international programs.

Through her media art practice and scholarly research publications, Jo explores how the textual imprints of media and materials in artworks shape human experience. Jo teaches at the University of Wollongong.