Matt Asato-Adams (1991)Graphic Design and Researchm@mattasato.info
For full-time or freelance opportunities, collaborations, and availability please email.
Matt Asato-Adams is a graphic designer and researcher interested in the relationship between the body, the self, and technology. He recently graduated from ArtCenter College of Design with a BFA in Graphic Design. His practice often investigates the intersection of culture, design, and technology; taking the form of publication design, spatial media, and performance. By embracing the accidental nuances with experimentation and process, he uses design as a tool for speculation and inquiry.His work has been shown at ArtCenter College of Design's 5th floor gallery, Wind Tunnel Gallery, and Prenzlauer Studio / Kunst-Kollektiv.
1.
Interactive web component
Orbital Reflector (2018)
Orbital Reflector is a sculpture in the form of a satellite, made by artist Trevor Paglen and in collaboration with the Nevada Museum of Art. Using tracking data from the sky watching app Starwalk 2, the public sculpture is visible from the ground without use of a telescope. The interactive web component allows users to input their location data in order to observe Orbital Reflector's last known coordinates and an ETA of when it will be overhead. The map interface has a filter to show the sculpture's relation to other objects in the sky and a terrestrial map, tracking it's path around the world.
2.
Identity system proposal
Virtual Futures (2018)
Virtual Futures is an annual conference held in London. The events bring together artists, designers, philosophers, and writers to discuss and address the benefits of looking at our future through the role of technology. The goal is to connect individuals across various practices and promote original thinking within a cultural space.
3.
Research, Product, Performance
Self Development Kit (SDK) (2018)
The Self Development Kit (SDK) is an ongoing research project that investigates the habitual life spent in front of computers. Using machine vision, AR trigger patterns, and front facing camera performances, the project explores how our algorithmically driven habits might evolve into digital trigger postures or BUI—body user interfaces. SDK examines this evolution of ‘pattern’ — pattern as habit, textile, and algorithm—through a fashion line made to be worn for the automated, interfacing, and computer facing everyday self.
4.
Installation
Ryukyuan Rituals (2018)
Hajichi were traditional tattoos women in the Ryukyu islands, now known as Okinawa, wore dating back to the 14th century. Commonly seen as arrowheads, circles, and squares, they functioned as symbols of the transition from adolescence to womanhood, warding off evil, ensuring safety, and bringing happiness. In Ryukyuan belief, women ruled the spiritual domain and were believed to possess spiritual powers and by extension, these tattoos performed as signifiers and transmitters of female power.
Ryukyuan Rituals performs this act, allowing individuals to lay their hands upon a Ryukyuan hearth to take part in the hajichi ritual.
5.
Website
VUUM (2019)
**Currently in development**
6.
Installation proposal
Pillars of Unsound (2017)
The Pillars of Unsound is a proximity and sound reactive installation, part of the 2018 Unsound Festival identity proposal. The pillars act as an extension of the identity system's logotype, performing alongside the years lineup. Using custom Processing code, the typography is mapped directly to sound input around the structure, shifting color, expanding, and contracting. The installation also utilizes a motion sensor to control upward velocity of the type, creating abstraction and texture when no one is near, and providing legibility when close by.