CONNOR GOTTFRIED ON THE REBELLIOUS ACT OF 'PLAY', RECONNECTING WITH THE CHILD WITHIN US, AND HIS CREATIVE PROCESS
You have previously cited various influences on your creative journey: the Apple II computer brought home by your dad in 1982, books on BASIC programming, and even the punk music scene. Could you share how you progressed from an interest in computation to where you are now?
It has definitely been a winding path. When I first saw what a computer could do when I was 5 years old, my mind was absolutely blown. I discovered that I had an ability to understand and work with computers right away and my brothers and I started programming simple games as jokes. At an early age, I saw computers as a fun and powerful creative tool, and that laid the foundation for me as an artist.
In my teenage years I lost interest in computers and my focus turned towards skateboarding, snowboarding and music. The skateboarding scene had such a vibrant and rebellious culture and we’d watch VHS copies of the early skate videos and, through this, were exposed to so much great music and art. Skateboarding was free, playful, rebellious and unconcerned with rules – this really resonated with me. We started a punk band when I was a teenager and in my 20s this evolved into an improv band that incorporated punk, jazz, psych, hip-hop, and electronic into genre-mashing tracks. We’d record long stretches of improvisation and then I would edit the material into finished songs. We ended up releasing 25 albums in total and some of them did well on Canadian college radio. We toured Europe/UK in 2007 (played Manchester, Leeds, Brussels and Berlin) and this work really informed my current process of combining improvisation with computer editing when making art.
My recent works may seem quite structured (computer-cut aluminum for example), but the process to arrive at this stage is definitely one of improvisation and experimentation. I love the interplay between computer-controlled accuracy and hand-made imperfection.
How long does it typically take to finish a piece? Could you walk us through the process from ideation to creation?
The full process to take a piece from initial inspiration to completed work usually takes about a month. I always try to stay open in my daily life to new ideas and write down a lot of notes when I have something interesting. Once I have a concept, I work and rework it in Photoshop until it does justice to the initial vision. This can involve scraping paint or glueing paper to canvases and then photographing these elements and working them back in to the digital design. I’m inspired by early pop-art like Bridget Riley so I often use patterns like Blaze 1 (1962) or I may incorporate mathematical constructs like Wolfram’s Rule 30 (which symbolizes the creation of complexity from simple steps). At this point, I’ll bring the layers into After Effects so I can make the project 3D and I can spin it around to look at it from all angles to see how the layers interact. I’ll iterate back and forth until I’m satisfied and then I prepare the final files for printing and cutting into the elements used in the physical piece. The pieces either get printed on aluminum composite panelling and CNC-cut or printed on acrylic and laser-cut. Once I have everything ready to go, the final stage is to router and fold the aluminum (for the cardboard box pieces), assemble everything, glue and insert the electronics.
I think error is an amazing teacher – failures, bugs and crashes force us to discover the unexpected, improvise and stay open to change.
As technology becomes more predictive and personalized, what do you think we risk losing in our relationship to randomness, error, and surprise?
This is a fascinating question. I think error is an amazing teacher – failures, bugs and crashes force us to discover the unexpected, improvise and stay open to change. The online personalization that we’re seeing now shows us only what we want to see, but we need unexpected information to be introduced so that we can continually re-evaluate our world views and belief systems. Randomness is the mechanism that allows new things to happen (biological evolution for starters) and so if we end up with a form of algorithmic solipsism we lose the ability to incorporate new viewpoints and grow as people. Surprise is an emotion that reminds us that things aren’t always what the seem. It’s especially important in these current times to remember that even the most powerful systems of oppression and mind-control contain cracks that can be exploited.
Play is a form of rebellion against manipulation and brings us back towards our true selves.
Can you speak to the idea of ‘play’ as both a personal memory and a political act, particularly in an era when digital leisure time is often commodified or gamified?
For me, play is about freedom, creativity and joy. I think that I first realized that play was a political act when I was skateboarding as a teenager. Some of the powerful people and groups in our town tried to stop us from skateboarding by getting the police to harass us. In the current climate, I feel that play is a rebellious rejection of rules and conformity at a time when digital systems (from social media to news media) are being designed to control us and create a constant state of fear. This is no accident, fear has a powerful, disruptive effect on brain function, especially when it comes to executive function. The prefrontal cortex gets partially shut down during fear states, reducing our ability to make rational decisions and to engage in perspective-taking. Essentially, it makes us more prone to emotional manipulation. Play is the antidote to fear. It's not just fun, it transitions us into a state of connection, creativity, and regulation. It returns us to a more balanced emotional landscape, one where we are likely to make very different political decisions. Play is a form of rebellion against manipulation and brings us back towards our true selves.
When contextualising Haters you reference The Language of Emotions by Klara McLaren. How much time do you typically spend reading and researching throughout your creative process? Are there any books or texts that you could recommend for those interested in diving deeper into your work?
I read a lot, sometimes related to topics I reference in my work and sometimes not. I think reading is a really important tool for an artist as it allows you to explore, in rich detail, the experiences of other people. It's a great tool of empathy and it's so mind expanding. If someone would like to understand my work on a deeper level, one book I would recommend would be “Connections” by James Burke. This book explores the connected and surprising ways that inventions, discoveries, and ideas are linked across time. It suggests that innovation doesn’t follow a straight line, but it unfolds when the conditions are right—when the world is ready for it. Reading this helped me view technological innovations not as isolated leaps, but as part of a larger web of influence, and that continues to shape how I think about the patterns and connections in my own work.
I would love for visitors to stand in front of the pieces, play the games and not just remember, but to feelwhat it was like to play as a child.
Do you believe we’re in a moment where the boundary between artist and technologist is dissolving? And if so, what new roles or responsibilities do artists have in shaping future tech?
Yes, as we become somewhat augmented by technological tools, the boundary is blurring. That said, I think it’s important to remember that the technology is just another tool in our journey as artists to create or explore meaning. Technology is a powerful tool though, and I think artists are attracted to the possibilities it offers both in the creation and the dissemination of art. I think artists have always played a critical role in shaping technology – science fiction writers, for example, have had a profound effect on shaping the direction technology has taken over the last hundred years. Science fiction has always been a kind of blueprint for what’s possible. It’s inspired inventors, scientists, and engineers who later bring to life what they saw in science fiction as children. I’m an avid science fiction reader and this has definitely informed my work as well.
What do you want visitors to take away from Play II?
I would love for visitors to stand in front of the pieces, play the games and not just remember, but to feelwhat it was like to play as a child. If they can reconnect with that and take a little piece of it back into their everyday lives, I'd be really happy.
View PlayII exhibition here