Memristive Bridge, 2025
Custom hardware, electronic mechanism, and generative algorithm
Slemmons Collection
Named after self-organizing electric systems, and the result of research examining colonial and indigenous bridge-building techniques, “Memristive Bridge” envisions a computational paradigm rooted in stochastic properties and ecological symbiosis, rejecting the extractive, deterministic logic of modern technology. By employing copper—a sustainable, cyclical material responsive to solar energy—the project creates a slow, non-linear system where environmental fluctuations (sunlight, conductivity shifts) generate adaptive, ever-unresolving “blueprints.” These outputs resist the immediacy of digital interfaces, instead demanding patience and contemplation of digital technology’s embedded biases, as well as its entanglement with colonial-capitalist infrastructures. The work challenges AI’s illusory novelty and green tech’s hidden harms, proposing instead a rewilded computational ethos: one that embraces noise, decay, and human-nonhuman collaboration as core principles.
Nimrod Astarhan is an artist, technologist, and educator. Working in sculpture and digital media, they exhibited and initiated group projects in Europe, the US, and the International Space Station. Recent showings include the Gwangju Biennial Pavilion Project, Ars Electronica, The Ammerman Center Biennial Symposium on Arts & Technology, Die Digitale Düsseldorf, and xCoAx in Graz, Austria. Last year, they received grants and awards from the Municipal Arts League of Chicago and the Arts, Science + Culture Initiative at the University of Chicago, among others. Nimrod holds an MFA in Art and Technology Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where they teach at the Film, Video, New Media, and Animation department, alongside their position at the Multidisciplinary Art School at Shenkar College of Engineering, Art, and Design.