In his digital zine VIRONOMICON (2020), Eric Millikin incorporates a moribund collection of: cut-up incantation poems assisted by an AI trained to study writings about and during plagues and pandemics, AI-generated magic circles of summoning and protection based on spell books from Medieval and Renaissance plague times, re-engineered viruses as potential future pandemics and/or vaccines, and QR code tarot Death cards that unlock secret sound experiences. Together, this eclectic collection asks the viewer to draw connections between the occult and our current relationships with digital technologies.
Note: The QR code tarot Death cards can be scanned with your mobile phone’s camera to access the sound experience.
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Check out Eric’s Q+A here.
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Eric Millikin is a conceptual activist new media artist, using techniques like artificial intelligence, sound art, artist’s books, interactive video projection, augmented and virtual reality, bio art, 3D printing, occult experiments, and dark humor to address his research into topics like the global COVID-19 pandemic, economic injustice, police brutality, and species extinction. Millikin is currently an MFA candidate in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Kinetic Imaging program. He has recently exhibited in 20 venues within a year’s time, and his work has been exhibited in museums and galleries from Detroit, Denver, and Dubai to San Francisco, Scotland, and South Korea. Millikin’s artwork has been featured in WIRED, USA TODAY, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, and The New York Times Sunday Arts section.
