Ix Shells and the Future of Sound and Generative Art

Ix Shells, interested in the intersection of sound and generative art, rhythmically layers geometric patterns and plays with gradients, pixelation and glitch to craft a signature style that expresses her belief in the transformative power of both art and music.

We spoke with Ix to gain a deeper understanding of her creative process, her background and her visions for the future.

Untitled, 2022

Untitled, 2022

Your digital creations are primarily constructed with TouchDesigner, a visual node-based programming language, rather than written with code in the traditional sense. How did you first come across this, and what does the technology mean to you as an artist?

I began using the software after researching how to edit photos, videos and music. Whilst in Toronto, I dove into exploring different applications and plugins, and discovered a website called Derivative.ca which offered a bunch of courses and seminars. I went to a few of those before researching on YouTube and online forums on my own. I couldn't stop using it after that. It's a very fun, flexible software, and it's a very visual tool where you can actually interact with the process.

I like to work with noise algorithms. I've been using a lot of algorithms related to oscillation and gravity. What I like to use the most is anything that will simulate a physical environment, like how the ocean behaves, or the wind or light. I like to work with nature and architectural structures, and examine how they can co-inhabit.

Casco Viejo, 2021

I often play music in the background and if the music inspires me, I'll try to sync what I'm listening to with the visuals. I can have a video for whenever I see a pattern match up with the music. That's when I know I'm getting to an output I really like. Whenever I don't know, I try to research how to do things differently. A misconception about TouchDesigner is that it's only for big events or installations. I’ve been using it for almost eight years and only started doing installations last year. So I think anyone can start using it, even children. Obviously, if you want to make stuff that is more complex it requires more skill. You need to learn it for at least a year to be able to master it, in my experience.

Are you interested in exploring other generative processes?

Definitely. I've had a few conversations about exploring dynamic artworks or things that will evolve using blockchain technology and, for example, Art Blocks projects.

I've also been exploring machine learning, Although I'm not very proficient with those tools, it's getting easier for us to create artwork using AI. I also want to learn how to use other programs, just for the fun of learning a new language.

I am interested in studying computer science, and learning how to create programs and tools like TouchDesigner. I'd love to create a new program myself one day, for others to use in the future.

What are the main messages you try to communicate through your art?

I'm mostly sharing memories of who I was, who I am, and what I'm going do in the future. For me, it is a long archival and documentative process of my life, which is almost 100% about art. Everything I do becomes a performative way of seeing life.

Art is a way to express my daily life, like when I go to a class or meet someone, or go on nature walks or to the beach, or anything. Other people can see what I see through abstraction and music and just the rhythm of things. Maybe I can inspire others to do the same, or provide a safe place where they can place their thoughts as they might correlate to what they see in my work.

I've created a community through my blog on Instagram, that's where I share the most. I have a lot of people now following what I'm doing and what I'm planning on doing next. These people are really proud of me, they're like family, even though most of them I've never met in person or spoken more than just a few phrases to. In a way, it feels like I've created another planet. There are people that stay, there are people that leave. But there's a planet out there of ‘Ix’ where things are happening. That's what matters.

Dreaming at Dusk – created in collaboration with Tor, a company focused on data privacy through open-source software for encrypted communication – is one of your most well-known works. Can you discuss the meaning behind this piece?

The Tor project has been online for more than 15 years. They were one of the first websites to create a browser. Its mission was, and still is, centered around pro-anonymity, keeping people safe by not exposing them when they needed access to resources.

When I created this piece, I thought of a journal. If you zoom in, you can see the lines of a notebook almost. Then there's this pixel sorting, which represents information that is within the artwork. The work itself is a container for information, references from this website that was created 17 years ago. I think this work was a good way to commemorate and create a graphic representation for this important social tool of internet history. I feel really honored to have done this and I think it's one of those symbols for how NFTs can really work to preserve art and the internet.

Dreaming at Dusk, Proof Of Concept, Singapore Art Week, 2023

Dreaming at Dusk, Proof Of Concept, Singapore Art Week, 2023

As a visual artist experimenting with music and audio, I am curious if you ever see sounds or experience synesthesia?

Yeah, I do. I think I have this sort of perception of reality that's different. I can visualize sounds and I hear patterns, even when it’s silent. Whenever I listen to new music, usually with instrumental music, I immediately know what visuals to play around with. I think I have some sort of pattern recognition. This book I’m holding, for example, I can automatically match it with an album from an artist that I have a photographic memory of, a musician that I've seen before, and I visually match-up the two. I am fascinated with colors and patterns. Whenever I see an artwork online, it's easy for me to pick up its patterns and associate them with other examples I’m interested in at the time. Those are just some ways that my brain works.

Do you have a favorite pattern that you’ve explored or would like to explore in the future?

I would like to explore more organic, fluid patterns, and fluid simulations. There are many examples out there, but I'd love to show my work in more public spaces where you can demonstrate how these environments can become physical.

For example, I imagine a piece as being part of an entire room, encompassing an entire hallway that people can walk and move through. It has curtains or glue hanging from the ceiling. But in fact, it's light. The difficult part is bringing this to life in our physical reality. I think it can be done with the use of lasers or perhaps lidar. It could also be a holographic installation, but those tools are still in a very early stage. In order to create this, I'd really have to experiment with these tools myself.

It appears programming comes naturally to you, would you agree, and does this also apply when you're bringing an idea to life?

I think so. You can program with your bare hands. You don't necessarily need the computer. When you take photographs or a video, you can create a set of rules that becomes the art. I think it's ingrained in me. I already think of myself as a machine.

I've used many automated tools, but whenever I use them too much my brain starts to get lazy and I'll allow the machine to do everything. That’s why I try to do things manually. I select music or select outputs myself before creating these new languages by writing them down on a piece of paper. Then I start finding a way to give it meaning.

For example, I have two tattoos on my arm. You can actually translate it and it will come up with the letters of my name, but it's not that easy to decipher. I'm not saying it's impossible, but you have to take some time to analyze it and understand how it works. I created that myself, and I think it's a way to save my truth, my secrets, and my identity from being copied and keep people that are really interested in my work, connected to me through their curiosity and effort.

You minted Sewing and Alterations in February 2021 and Switching Time Zone I][][]I[]_ in September 2022. Can you share any lessons you learned during that period of time?

I think it would be to ask for help. When I created art previously, I felt somewhat disconnected from the world. I didn't go out that much and I didn't know much of the art scene here in my country. So, when I was hit all at once by the reality of galleries, shows and museums, it was really overwhelming. I knew in order to grow, I had to get out of my comfort zone, but I couldn't handle everything on my own. So thanks to ARTXCODE, Sofia and Toni, I've been able to manage everything that’s overwhelming for me, so I can continue to create and make art.

I have a lot of visibility with my platform which I now try to use to help other artists. I'm trying to do it without rushing them or making them feel too overwhelmed. The lesson here is to slow down. I want to be able to provide help around all of the necessary steps to become an artist on the blockchain.

Can you describe the feeling you had when you first saw your art on the cover of Fortune Magazine, ‘Crypto Climbs Back From The Worst Year Ever’?

It's so different from where I come from and what I used to do, but when I met the team and the people behind it I realized that it's not just a corporation trying to get attention for their publication. They actually think it through when it comes to art and even showed me an entire floor of Magazines from the 1930s. It was so beautiful.

Ix's Fortune Cover in TouchDesigner, 2023

Things would be more balanced if we didn't only use faces of magnates and people that ruled the world on the cover of publications, because I think abstraction is a way to communicate without manipulating. I create pieces without having an idea sometimes. I’ll just make it and won’t put a title or any description to it. I’ll just leave it there to be. After a while or whenever I need to, I find a concept. I find ways to correlate a concept to the piece. That's the beauty of abstraction. You don't need to use it for something specific, but you can create a whole story. I think the piece inspires growth and positivity despite the challenges. I like the warmth that it gives despite being a set of like straight lines. You can also feel like a sunrise, a very positive reflection.

Overall, I felt really proud. I felt like it was a door opening for other artists and designers who would love to have that opportunity in the future. I felt like I made history, and that's a nice feeling, to be part of something that is so big.

Can you talk about Bend, your work that was exhibited and later acquired by The BuffaloAKG Art Museum?

I was looking for a space to be free from confinement after two years of being in lockdown. Here in Panama, it was very strict. Women only had one day to go out and the next day it was only for men, and on the weekends we couldn't go out at all. You only a certain amount of time to go to the store or do whatever you needed to do that day, two hours max. So in the middle of the lockdown, I told myself, “okay, I need to move, I need to get up, do something, but I'm too shy to show my body online”. Dancing helped me a lot. I was obsessed with this technique called Gaga, which is about flowing. It's almost like guided meditation. Someone telling you, “feel this way”, “move this way” and “just be free”. It gets so intense by the minute and when you finish you're completely drenched and tired, but happy. It's almost like getting high with movement. I was doing that every week. I learned a lot about myself and it helped me curate the artwork.

This organization called Fundación Espacio Creativo brings in kids from towns with low resources or no resources at all. They teach them about how to make art with video. They have a green screen where they can use computers and dance. A lot of these artists have managed to grow and go to other countries. This organization is actually changing lives, including mine. It's nice to have a safe space where you can go and be free. Move freely and grow.

I picked up this kinetic lamp and plugged it into a program that turns data into lines. I picked Bend after I finally went out into the real world and started dancing with real people, showing myself and being vulnerable. The museum curator, Tina Rivers Ryan, also helped me pick the piece after I talked to her about the struggles I just described. I went with that title because I was bending, trying to adapt and be resilient. I'm pretty vulnerable in that video, but people can't really see it, and that's the fun part. I'm showing my skin, wearing almost nothing, and being completely free.

Stills from Bend

What audio/visual techniques and future advancements are you most excited about?

The use of LIDAR. With this, people can touch artwork and actually interact with and move it. Or sometimes you might feel the light that comes out of the LED screens. I think that's a very interesting technology. It's the closest we are to crossing the line between the metaverse and the physical world. There's also a camera where you can take photos of whatever is around you, and it detects the structure of them and can turn it into a map.

Live Audiovisual Performance, Proof of People, Ix, Keene and Rozendo

VR also interests me. Not many people make art using VR headsets, but I know of an artist that can paint an entire world with just their VR controllers. I imagine being in a headset for 16 hours a day in a different dimension. I think it's going to be so real that we won’t even know the difference. This could also allow you to choose where you want to live. There are certain parts of the world where people can't even go out without fear of danger. VR would allow them to construct their own reality where it's safe and peaceful. I think it's important to make this technology available for people who can't move or may be suffering from some sort of disability. Instead of having to spend your whole life healing or trying to heal without success, you can create your own avatar in a different world where you can do all the things that you can't do in this world. Likewise, I am interested in brain-managing interfaces which can help people who are not able to use their hands or brains properly. These technologies could allow them to make art with brain signals, through their memories, like an extension of the brain through the computer. I think that's where we are heading.

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