Brent Gustafson / 2005 / USA

Generated on a web page from 128 different video arcade game startup screens, Brent Gustafson’s “BX” is a rhythmic, abstract amalgam of digital patterns. Since the typical function of a boot screen is testing and calibration, its presence in gaming is brief, not usually seen by the player. But in this installation Gustafson has foregrounded the otherwise overlooked within a seemingly endless cycle of colorful data. Each of the constantly shifting matrices we see is but one of the nearly four trillion random combinations that are possible in the piece, reflecting an exhaustive algorithmic sensibility.