Zach Blas’s Icosahedron (2019) takes its name from the 20-sided die at the heart of the Magic 8-Ball fortune-telling toy. During his recent Walker artist talk with Kris Paulsen, associate professor in the Department of History of Art and Film Studies Program at Ohio State University, he positioned the work within his broader practice, including interests in surveillance, technology, and predictive policing. Commissioned by the Walker, the work—an artificially intelligent crystal ball that predicts the future of prediction—is inspired by Silicon Valley’s obsession with certain thinkers of the future such as Ayn Rand, Stewart Brand, Ray Kurzweil, and Michio Kaku. Coined by Blas as a meta-work to The Body Electric, Icosahedron speaks to contemporary society’s preoccupation with the future, viewed through the intersection between technology, fantasy, and science fiction.
Get Walker Reader in your inbox. Sign up to receive first word about our original videos, commissioned essays, curatorial perspectives, and artist interviews.
)
)
)
)
)