S. Ryan O'Connor, known as jiwa, is an artist working with code, based in Berlin, whose algorithm-driven works often bridge into physical objects and explore process, progress and the self. He holds a B.S. in Information Systems from George Mason University and was the inaugural Artist-in-Residence with Art Blocks and OpenSea in 2025.
His 2023 generative collection Axo, released through Art Blocks Presents, renders the human mental condition as a network of neurons whose pixels fire and search for synaptic connections, cycling through states of stress, awareness, re-centering and reprogramming. Built with a custom pixel-easing algorithm in pure JavaScript, each work responds to keyboard input, letting a viewer toggle its state of mind, curate and replay its history, or freeze it at an earlier stage. Individual works in the collection can also affect one another, so that one piece's state of awareness or stress ripples through the wider network.
