BIO
Timothy Scaffidi is a New York native and has been interested in art and technology since he was a child. He received his Bachelor's degree in both Computer Science and Art from Ithaca College, followed by his M.F.A in Emerging Practices from University at Buffalo in 2012. He is primarily focused on the intersection of technology and art, and his artwork manifests in both physical and virtual form. Scaffidi has lived all over New York State, and now resides in Brooklyn where he works full-time as a software engineer.
STATEMENT
My work is an exploration of the hidden things lurking behind the scenes of our everyday existence. Everything leaves a trace, from the virtual to physical, microscopic to astronomical, well defined to chaotic. A trace is a direct abstraction of its real-world counterpart and presents us with new information about its source. I am currently interested in the visualization of relationships over time; this includes human relationships to ourselves, to each other, to society, and between larger composite entities or virtual systems. Tracing the movement and interplay of these relationships over time yields beautifully complex results which can offer insight into the workings of the human macro-organism. I aim to reveal the hidden structures embedded within these environments: by better understanding the large scale of time and space, we may come to better understand our actions on a personal level and vice-versa. My work often requires physical viewer participation in order to be fully experienced; the behavior of the viewer is just as important—if not more so—than the physical or virtual manifestations of the work. An interactive (reactive) experience should be able to grab one's attention and interest by engaging a will to play, learn, and explore.