Franz Keller

Franz Keller started with early computer graphics in the 80's, as the visually artistic son of the late Dr. Robert Keller, a computer science professor and jazz musician, and has kept a bold, minimalist aesthetic since then, as well as a sense of wonder about this glowing technological art. He studied character animation, then graphic media design at UCLA in the 90's.
(This family respect for the value of science would be tested in 2020's anti-vaccine debates! Informational art does have the possibility to save lives, or change points of view.)
In the 2000's he got into projection arts for electronic dance music shows, VJ stands for video jockey. The "eye candy" aesthetic of high contrast, constant motion, and blazing colors or intentional monochrome of this 21st century pop art and op art became central elements.
In the 10's he became a serious YouTuber, keeping the username VJFranzK, but broadening the focus to tutorials and reviews of "creative tech" in general, believing that each person may be a bridge for others, between two or more worlds they understand intuitively. He became active in the Pomona Arts Colony scene, working at the SCA Gallery, and showing at the dA Center for the Arts and others.
The 20's and beyond will see amazing creative developments in expression with Virtual Reality art, and galleries that may exist only in cyber space. The technology and culture of NFT Art will offer new possibilities to experience, trade, and monetize art. These evolutions will remove all barriers for entry into the art word, resulting in overcrowding as well as empowerment, we must expect it. Cyber art can thrive in spite of pandemics, or other dystopian circumstances, truly the antidote for technophobic and dystopian future predictions is to build valid ethical structures every step of the way toward an inclusive and sustainable future!
Through all of it, Franz has believed in the right to fun, as well as self expression for all beings! Let AI's be constructed in a positive and cooperative way, because we are increasingly living with them, and may eventually unify with them, as the next step in evolution.

Nikki O

Destiny Medium: Video/Sound .mp4

Jimmy Martinez

OHMYGODNOWAY Medium: Moving Image .MOV Year: 2007

The animation of a yellow smiley face emoji character can be seen with a shocked expression with its palms to its face. The figure exclaims the words "Oh my God! No Way!" in a shocked tone before collapsing on the ground. This animation is believed to have originated on the messaging platform MySpace in 2007.

The Manfish

All music and visuals created, composed and performed by All content Steve Fishman. Year: ©2021

1. Step Into The Future Medium: .MP4 features Clem Burke on drums and Doug Aitkin on organ.

2. Beat-itude Medium: .MP4

Part of a series of videos and stills shot with a smartphone on a computer screen as social media, communication and technology riffing. It deifies symbols of sensory mechanisms, primarily the eye, as modern and ancient that permeates history in diverse cultures. It asks in what ways and to what degree the senses and context affect our lives and world views. It also considers the interplay between the outer and inner eyes.
The Manfish uses mixed media and is a veteran musician who has worked with the biggest to the strangest artists in history.

Divya Farias & Alexander Feliciano Mejía

“Donny from Grandma” Medium: .M4A Credits: saxophone, voice, production, and arrangements - Divya Farias voice, production, and arrangements - Alexander Feliciano Mejía

“We sought out musical and linguistic artifacts from our grandmothers to explore our relationship to the heritage languages that were never passed down to us. Sourcing sound objects from media circulated on our family’s WhatsApp threads, we paid respect to some of our family’s ghosts through an assemblage of samples. From Konkany folk songs from Mangalore, India, to Marimba music and Kaqchikel multilingualism from Guatemala, the materials were gathered, studied, and recomposed to make sense of some family stories we had to work to uncover. This is an offering to everyone who is working to make sense of and transform complicated family legacies.” - Divya Farias & Alexander Feliciano Mejía

Divya Farias is a composer, musician, and improvisational artist based out of Oakland, California. 

Alexander Feliciano Mejía is a media artist and filmmaker based out of Oakland and originally from Vallejo, California. 

Molly Sienna Stack

Not My First Rodeo Medium: an 8 part dance track, .MOV

“Not My First Rodeo; an 8track dance is a limited run of short tapes amplifying the wear and tear of life, love, family, and heartbreak. Sometimes the content that hits the hardest also cuts the deepest. Enjoy these 8 tracks. Each dance track stands alone, but feel free to enjoy as you would an album...shuffle/repeat/share/sing/dance along in your room. xoxo” - Molly Sienna Stack

Molly Sienna Stack is a movement and somatics specialist, dancer, choreographer, artist, and teacher. She was born in Tucson, AZ where she began her training in aerial, modern, and ballet. Since being a freelance dancer and choreographer she has trained and worked in Israel, Europe and UK, and the US. She is now living in Los Angeles moving, creating, and collaborating to bring movement into all layers of our art and communities.

Mariángeles Soto-Díaz

Me/We #4 Medium: .JPG Year: 2021

Mariángeles Soto-Díaz began her art and judo studies in Venezuela, the once-promising oil and abstraction producing nation that has become one of the most violent and polarized countries in the world. From fragments of a shattered modernist project, a collapse of democracy and a failed revolution, Soto-Díaz probes identity through notions of self-determination and affect, drawing on Latin American feminism as well as conceptual, abstract and experimental languages from the Americas. Recent projects include a solo exhibition, performative installation and social practice project at the Orange County Museum of Art, CA, and her participation in the SUR:Biennial. Her work has been exhibited at MASS MoCA, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, and 18th St, among other venues. Before the pandemic, she was training at Bunasawa’s Dojo in Costa Mesa. (California, USA) and at Kodokan Judo Institute (Tokyo, JP). She is currently an artist in residence at Transformative Arts.

Jasmin Blasco

The Frog, Vertical Medium: Video (2min52secs), .MP4 Year: 2020

“A short fiction film about fear, featuring Jordan Rountree. Examining how confession and revelation are constructed and experienced,The Frog reflectson the potency of our own invasive thoughts.” - Jasmine Blasco

Jasmin Blasco is a French-American artist who works with sound, language, film, installation and performance. His practice explores the relationship between interpretation, translation and narration. Blasco's work pays particular attention to the evolving dialog between communication systems and their embodiment, observing the ways in which narratives emerge out ofthe encounter between the lived experience and the built environment.His work has been exhibited at the Antarctica Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, Istanbul Modern, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The MAK Center LA, Zébulon, The Music Center LA, Human Resources, Coaxial, Café OTO, Iklektic, Spektrum, Goldsmith, Ikono.tv, Baert Gallery, Wilding Cran Gallery and with Seymour Projects in Paris. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Manny Orozco

Infinite Psalms File type: .GIF Year: 2021

Manny Orozco is a Filipino-Mexican American new media artist. His work explores themes drawn from lived experiences and world events, including: identity and geo- politics, colonialism and capitalism, IRL and URL environments, and climate crisis. Inspired by techniques and behaviors from video games, online communities, and algorithm-driven content, Orozco creates multi-dimensional collages with narratives that reflect on the past, present, and future.

Aziz Jamal

الحل الصعب Medium: Diptych .JPG

Born and raised in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Aziz Jamal’s multidisciplinary practice explores inconsistencies both personal and societal. His works are informed by observations and aesthetics of the incongruous lacking harmony or provoking surprise. Employing found and handmade materials, he docu- ments scenes that contain contradictions, suggesting shifting social realms or the passage of time.
These actions of combination and disparity are found across both material and subject matter. He considers childhood and home, society and isolation, memory and disassociation through odd and unexpected mediums, such as hard cement with plush stuffed animals, violent war tools with children’s musical instru- ments, or priceless grand marble statues with disposable Pez dispensers.By blurring the line between the accidental and the intentional, Aziz uses informal and anecdotal modes as routes into heavier topics. Through juxtaposition, his absurdist lens lays bare realities hidden in plain sight.

Aziz earned his BFA at Eastern Washington University, in rural Washington State. 

Uli Ap // Alien AI // Char Simpson

Uli Ap is a trans-disciplinary artist with a background is in fine art, new media art, architecture, fiction writing and journalism. Uli Ap collides physical, virtual and mental spaces and critically investigates art, science and technology. The artist questions our technological advances, post-human condition and erases identities and borders. They create disorienting interactive installations where virtual and physical experiences merge and alter participants’ mental states, spatial and immersive video-audio environments to transfer physical experiences through digital realms, destabilizing performances, and AI–VR–BCI–Robotics situations. “Artificial Intelligence of Virtual Reality” is their ambitious solo exhibition in Ambika P3 in London that includes interactive environment the Brain AI that followed with an interactive performance of the Alien AI at Columbia University Digital Storytelling Lab in New York.

Ap received a Scholarship from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, won Kim Fielding Award for experimental arts, awarded a residency at the British School at Rome and International-Artist-in-Residence in Japan amongst others. Their work is included in Whitechapel Gallery screenings, Sci Art Initiative Exhibition in New York Hall of Science, Ars Electronica Festival. Based in London and New York. Lives and works all over the globe.

The Alien Artificial Intelligence is Uli Ap’s current character of their experimental performances, ephemeral video and immersive experiences  in Physical and Virtual Reality with a new EEG skin. The Alien AI manifests Ap’s artistic and personal values: equity, inclusivity, freedom, open  borders and identities with no racism or discrimination, and like-minded communities. 

The Alien AI is a synthetic hybrid character. It constantly transforms, morphs, defragments, shape-shifts. Their identity is fluid. They live in  a situation of no borders and no frontiers of constantly shape-shifting and moving everywhere Alienation Land, which Yellow Zone is a part  of. The Alien AI is neither Alien nor Artificial Intelligence or cReature. But all of them an none of them at the same time. 

Alienation Project is a project about being different. It explores the Alienation Factor as a force that can move a society forward but is  controlled and restricted from its action by human powers. 

Char Simpson (they/them/theirs) is a non-binary artist, interactive writer, and creative producer. They specialize in the crafting and mapping  of compelling immersive stories. 

Char focuses on modes of storytelling that encourage an extranoematic interaction between the reader and the text. They work in the space  between comedy and horror, equal parts whimsical and grotesque. Their conceptual work is based on the Funhouse as a hot zone for self discovery. Camp, parody, and horror as amplification of the self, and interactivity to permeate the extremes of our emotional landscape. 

As an experimental creator, Char brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective to their work. Their interactive writing experience runs the  gamut from children’s literature to adult horror experiences. This versatility lends a playfulness to Char’s thinking- even when it gets really  scary, there is still a flicker of fun. 

Their work has been presented at Tribeca Film Festival’s Virtual Arcade, Cannes XR, the idfa DocLab Forum, DEFCON, Mozilla Fest, and the  Blackout Haunted House. Char is a Sundance Storytelling Lab fellow, a resident of the POV Spark Lab, and a member of the Columbia  University Digital Storytelling Lab. Their writing has been featured by WNYC, Choose Your Own Adventure, the Disquiet Literary Conference,  and others. They work in a range of industries including education, healthcare, and digital entertainment. Char has been a featured speaker at Columbia University, Concordia University, Cannes XR, and more. They lead workshops for artists  interested in branching narrative writing, hybrid work, and world-building with the LA-based teaching initiative Problem Child, Choose Your  Adventure, and Columbia University.

For the coaxialarts and n.y.f.wa, Uli Ap is developing a Whats App conversation with Char Simpson, where the Alien Artificial Intelligence talks to their body part that is present at the Alienation Land in a form of gas, while the Alien AI is visiting Earth with their mission.

Hiba Ali

UI.ui, A spell Medium: 1920 HD Video, mp4, 2018- 'Till We're Free

hiba ali is a producer of moving images, sounds, garments and words. they reside in many time zones: chicago, toronto and eugene. born in karachi, pakistan, they belong to east african, south asian and arab diasporas. they are a practitioner and (re)learner of swahili, urdu, arabic and spanish languages. they work on two long term art and publication projects: the first being an art-based phd project that examines womyn of colour’s labour, and architecture of surveillance as it exists within the monopoly of amazon (corp.) and the second being project that addresses music, cloth and ritual practices that connect east africa, south asia and the arabian peninsula in the indian ocean region. they are an assistant professor of new media artist/ geminist discourse at the college of design in the art & technology program at the university of oregon, eugene, or. currently, they are a phd candidate in cultural studies at queens university in kingston, ontario. their work has been presented in chicago, stockholm, vienna, berlin, toronto, new york, istanbul, são paulo, detroit, windsor, dubai, austin, vancouver, and portland. they have written for the following magazines: “c”, the seen, newcity chicago, art chicago, art dubai, the state, medium’s zora, rtv, and topical cream.

kt

love you this much! Medium: digital collage, .jpg Year: 2021

Caitlin Abadir-Mullally (kt) is a Coptic-American installation and social practice artist based in Philadelphia. She works to create communities for those who live between spaces. Her research dives into fear, hybridity, queer(ing) collective thinking, grief, and cultural loss. Caitlin Abadir-Mullally works in sculpture, video, performance, and relationship building. Caitlin Abadir-Mullally is pursuing a master’s degree in library and information science with a focus in archival studies. She is passionate about documenting diasporic queer Southwest Asian and North Afrikan joy and complexity, and the agency of the living to decide how their narratives are preserved.

GulfGraphixx

Saudi UP UP UP Medium: video, mp3 Year: 2020

GulfGraphixx is a one woman show that collects pop cultural elements from the GCC, inspired by the underbelly of khaleeji societies, the democratic nature of memes and it's accessibility as well as the advent of the social media on the khaleej, Gulfgraphixx is just 4 the people by the people.

aisha tida

Aisha Tida Abbassi (aisha tida) is a cultural worker and TASAWAR Curatorial Fellow based between Houston and Tunis. She collaboratively employs alternative forms of education and creative intervention to engage children and young adults in the many places she calls home. Her practice has sculptural and social emphases and employs mainly sérigraphie, patterns, textiles, and language. Aisha’s interdisciplinary works facilitate a new way of seeing and the valorization of everyday shapes and objects. Her work lies at the intersection of art, design, and civic action and is grounded in the themes of heritage and diaspora, art as social practice, and the making and breaking of patterns. In her artistic and curatorial work, Aisha explores the creative potential of togetherness when contemporary and community arts converge, co-creating with artists and initiatives whose aesthetic practice is a tool for community-building in search of justice. She seeks to discover what art, curation, and intersectional education can offer in the further development of individual awareness, collective identity, and a more equitable future.

Jonathan Kelham

Fuck, Where is the Mute? Medium: Film | Digital Animation Duration | 00:03:06 .mp4 Year: 2021

Amal Amer

Ascension I II III and IV Medium: .MP4

Amal Amer (they/them) is a trans*disciplinary artist, writer, and facilitator of SWANA descent currently based in California. Their work explores the tension between rootedness and movement in diaspora. Weaving together magic, spirituality, desire, displacement, and state violence, their work colorfully trans*cends gender and media boundaries. Blessed with the gift of traveling between worlds, they move between organizing spaces, nightclubs, moneyed institutions, friends’ couches, and star-storied spirit and plant realms. They have shown across the web and have performed or shown work at USC Roski and Leiminspace in Los Angeles, YallaPunk!’s show at Vox Populi in Philadelphia, and La Mutinerie in Paris. Their work has been featured in Reconstructed Mag, Salon al Mahjar, Zafaraan, MILLE World, them, XY&Z and AWID Magazine, and on the podcast they host, Diaspora Babes. They have recently been an artist at the Wassaic Project in New York and HATCH Workshop in California. Though learning is their life long work, they graduated with a BA from Williams College in 2017, and they regularly take herbalism, dance, and astrology classes. Find them at amalamer.com and on Instagram @youcandoithabibi

“These works inspired by religious and spiritual gifs sent on WhatsApp by Muslim family members. Using a combination of Islamic mythological imagery like the Israa and Maraj in combination with magic and goddess imagery. Together they offer an insight into world creation for queer SWANA desire for transcendence.” - Amal Amer

Sarah Albaiz

Sarah Albaiz is a creative technologist and digital artist based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sarah's creative practice explores themes of culture and heritage, particularly on collectivism and cultural dichotomies, through the use of data, AI, and archives; Sarah is greatly passionate about tech and how it intersects with art, and she hopes to occupy a role that will help her continue to explore those ideas. Aside from that, Sarah can be found making a playlist over a strong cup of coffee.

Artwork description: Inspired by the WhatsApp stickers shared in Saudi family groups, especially on the submissive qualities that defines femininity, this duo captures the style of those graphics shared in the groups but with a reflection on the shift made in social interactions of Saudi; specifically reflecting on the toxic masculinity that has made itself a core part of the male experience in society. The background of the image being AI-generated juxtaposed with messages that respond to the toxic masculinity prevalent in Arab societies representing the future and cultural shift that occurred with the country’s progress but in a form that is best recognized by an older generation that upholds those traditions in society.