![[PR-3D_01.jpg]] I’m Matthew Waddell, a digital artist, educator and creative programmer living in Calgary. What follows are a few threads that run through my creative process and thinking. I’ve been online since 1994, when I first logged into e-World on my parents’ Macintosh computer. I remember how open, free (and slow) the internet used to feel, before it was taken over by a handful of techno-oligarchs and their walled gardens. As a teenager, I taught myself photoshop (version 6) and used it to alter documents that I had scanned. I loved the feeling of warping reality with a few clicks. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a weird feeling about technology. I think my appreciation for the analog world - its pace and more deliberate sense of delayed gratification - made me wary of the endless barrage of digital gadgets, social media posts and the rapid convenience that comes with it all. I believe that some friction in how we interact with technology is good. Otherwise we become digital addicts, constantly craving more. I no longer participate in social media because I don't like what it does to my mind and society. Things feel very urgent to me in this moment. I see a world that is increasingly dependent on digital technology to function and it freaks me out! It seems like a few billionaires are making crucial decisions that will impact everyone on the planet. How do we respond to this? There’s no single answer, but one way is to pull back the curtain. My recent work focuses on revealing the hidden mechanisms behind the tools we use every day. I believe we need to strip away the layers of abstraction and remember that, for all its god-like mystique, technology is made from earthly elements that are extracted by human bodies, built by human hands and programmed by human minds. If we can see these systems for what they are, machines built by other humans, then we can push back or shape them differently. There is a small man behind the curtain pulling the strings. The wizard must be exposed! If we don’t ask what kind of future we’re participating in, and if we don’t reclaim some autonomy over the devices we use, then we will likely default to the most convenient solution - not necessarily the best one. Stay curious, stay skeptical, and slow the hell down!