GAZELL.iO presents MIT-trained roboticist Alexander Reben’s sacred_prechlorination. Each artwork in the Tiling Series comes with a distinct code which allows the collector to output an unlimited number of images, making the collector a co-creator of the work. Reben sees this work as akin to the instructions made by Sol Lewitt for his ‘Wall Drawing’ series he began in the early 70s. Alex is replacing the instructions with the code that generates the output, and he is replacing the human that would follow the instructions with a machine. Reben is alluding to LeWitt’s idea that the conception of the idea (in this instance, the code) rather than the execution constitutes the artwork. When given the code, the collector is instructed to produce a set number of images to piece together the final artwork, which can then be printed, and reordered to create unique patterns. Reben is thus handing over the control from artist to collector and machine.

"Sometimes when you’re working with outputs, you don’t necessarily know what the output will be but you sort of tease it out and train it in a particular direction, allowing ample room for discovery.” Says Alexander Reben to Whitehot Magazine, December 2021.