Network Maintenance is a series of networked wall-mounted interfaces that explore the relationship between ownership, care, and collective responsibility. Each piece consists of a minimalist custom construction housing a display and various analog controls. The works function as nodes in an interconnected system where each owner’s engagement directly influences the vitality of the entire network.
The interface requires regular interaction from its owner—pressing buttons in specific sequences or responding to shifting patterns. This transforms the traditional passive role of art ownership into active participation in a living system. Without proper care, individual pieces begin to show signs of decay, affecting both their own state and the broader network of works in the series.
Drawing inspiration from quantum mechanics, the artwork embodies principles of entanglement and superposition. Just as entangled quantum particles instantaneously influence each other regardless of distance, each owner’s actions create ripple effects throughout the entire network of installations. The system maintains multiple potential states simultaneously—a quantum superposition—that “collapses” into specific configurations only when observed and interacted with.
Each interface displays various visual states that reflect the network’s health metrics: stability, responsiveness, and connectivity. Owners must maintain core resources—compute, bandwidth, and memory—through their interactions, directly affecting both their individual node and the collective ecosystem. The abstract compositions generated on each display visualize these complex relationships, creating a representation of the network’s overall health and interconnectedness.
The work critically examines themes of responsibility, community, and the relationship between individual actions and collective outcomes. It suggests our interconnectedness may be as fundamental as the quantum fabric of reality itself. “Network Maintenance” invites reflection on the broader ecological and social webs that sustain us, highlighting how attentiveness, care, and responsibility toward unseen networks form essential components of our shared human experience.
