American Artist's Black Gooey Universe Explores Blackness in Digital Culture

In 2018, American Artist debuted Black Gooey Universe in Brooklyn, delving into the historical erasure and future potential of blackness within digital spaces. Their installation, Mother of All Demos (2018), showcases a workstation enveloped in bitumen, a nod to the 1968 demonstration of graphical user interfaces. This shift symbolizes the legacy of antiblackness in the U.S., connected to both slavery and Silicon Valley. The piece imagines blackness on screens as an operating system that transcends white supremacy. American Artist's work spans installation, sculpture, and net art, intertwining radical black politics with conceptual art. They changed their name to challenge access reserved for straight white cis men. Currently, they are a resident artist at Abrons Art Center, having previously completed a residency at Pioneer Works. Zach Blas, who resides in London, contributed to this feature.