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Beginning this year, ATLAS faculty member Joel Swanson is promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure in the Herbst Program for Ethics, Engineering and Society. A member of the ATLAS faculty since 2005, Swanson played a key role in the development of the Technology, Arts and Media program, which he directed from 2008 to 2015, helping to oversee the launch of the College of Engineering and Applied Science BS in Technology, Arts and Media (subsequently renamed Creative Technology and Design).

Since 2015, Swanson has taught a wide range of graduate and undergraduate classes, in addition to devoting more time to his creative work. He's a visual artist who explores the subtle but powerful ways that language shapes perception and structures our world through standards such as spelling and grammar, digital character encoding, and even alphabetization. His work has taken many forms: blinking neon signs, interactive digital works, sculpture and handmade works on paper. 

“I want my artwork to make people perceive words from new and unconventional perspectives,” says Swanson, who has shown work in national and international venues, including The Banff Centre for the Arts, The Broad Museum in Lansing, The Power Plant in Toronto, the 57th Venice Biennale, the Glucksman Museum in Cork Ireland, the North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. 

While earning his Master of Fine Arts in Visual and Digital Art at the University of California at San Diego, Swanson focused on computing and the arts. This fall, he launches TYPO Lab, a speculative design lab exploring the intersection of language and technology—work that exemplifies the ATLAS Institute’s spirit of exploring the spaces between conventional disciplines and fields.

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"In addition to working on this project, I'm enjoying exploring the libraries and archives of Lisbon, engaging with the local art community and eating dozens of Pastéis de Nata," Swanson says.

Swanson's research and teaching interests includes digital art, digital media theory, design and typography. He teaches digital art, media theory and the history of design for the Creative Technology and Design (CTD) program, and his work intersects language and technology. 

His newest body of work is also funded by Denver's New Collection, which offers grants and collaborations that "give artists the support they need to do something fundamentally different and new."

Swanson's artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Broad Museum in Lansing, The Power Plant in Toronto, the Glucksman in Cork, Ireland and the North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2014 Swanson had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. In 2017 he showed work in Personal Structures, an official satellite show of the 57th Venice Biennale.

"The Distance Between Words" will be exhibited in Denver in September.

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, code-based artwork by Joel Swanson, ATLAS assistant professor, is on exhibition for the 26th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA 2020), Oct. 13-18. Themed "Why Sentience?," the hybrid online/on-site program features the works of more than 100 local and international artists, adapted to a virtual platform.

Codependent Algorithms explores human interdependence with algorithms. The project begins by choosing a random word. Then a misspelling algorithm, used to intentionally mimic human spelling errors to improve website search rankings, deforms the word which is displayed on the right. Then a spelling correction algorithm corrects that word and displays it on the left, creating an infinite feedback loop of deformation and correction that removes the need for human input and intervention.

ISEA 2020 focuses on work and talks that touch on animality; the ecosophic world; machinic sense and sensibility; sentient difference; matter’s nattering; the politics of sentience; and the planetary topics.

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