Jonathan Chomko (Canadian, b. 1988) is an artist working with and against technology, whose practice takes the form of interactive public installation, participatory performance and visual explorations. His work examines the seam between the physical and digital worlds, exploring how digital forces act on physical space and how physical phenomena are modulated as they enter the digital, through themes of memory, gesture, value, relationship and perception.,
Chomko studied Interaction Design at Malmö University in Sweden,graduating in 2012.In 2013 he held a residency at Fabrica in Treviso, Italy, where he created News Machine, an installation that sent a participant's tweet through a cycle of machine-to-machine translations before printing the result.,In 2014 he won the Playable City Award with Matthew Rosier for Shadowing, a set of modified streetlamps that capture and replay the shadows of passers-by.,It was installed for months at a time in cities including Bristol, London, Tokyo and Paris.,The pair formalised their collaboration as the studio Chomko & Rosier, active from 2015 to 2018 and commissioned by institutions including the UK Space Agency.,In 2017 Chomko returned to Montreal to focus on an independent practice centred on agency, collectivity and materiality.
In 2020 he created www.grindruberairbnb.exposed, a participative performance that guides participants through a synchronised choreography of gestures performed via their phones.,Its title combines three digital services, Grindr, Uber and Airbnb, whose networks the piece frames as directing bodies, vehicles and real estate.It was exhibited at Tangente in Montreal in 2023.In April 2022 he released Colour Time, twelve on-chain animated pieces made during a motorcycle trip from Montreal to Los Angeles, shown at Verse in London that year.,
Proof of Work, begun in January 2021, is a series of manually generated images in which physical gesture directly shapes visual density.,Sold as NFTs, the series is framed as a challenge to the metrics NFT markets use to value art.A solo show of the series, “Red Blue Center”, was held at OFFICE IMPART in Berlin in June 2023.,That September, Natural Static was shown at Public Works Administration, curated by Brian Droitcour and presented by JPG.In 2022 he contributed Draw by Computer to a tribute of nearly 5,000 NFTs by more than 60 artists honouring Herbert W. Franke.
