Someone recently called me a futurist.
They said I constantly introduced them to obscure, innovative technologies that initially seemed strange but eventually became ubiquitous.
In 2000, I was accepted to a pretty good art school in New York City. I moved across the country from a small town in Texas. Everything was going great – until two big buildings fell on me, and the city locked down. Excitement and hope were usurped by loneliness and fear.
Although I didn’t know it then, becoming a forced participant in the 9/11 tragedy made me lose my way.
After I completed NYU Film School in 2004, I gravitated toward work at the intersection of art and technology.
My career spans working on tech for films and selling tech to production companies. I went from hanging lights in small theaters around Manhattan to installing architectural lights in a two-hundred-plus-year-old historic landmark. I started my company, Make Smart Intelligent (MSI), creating advanced AV systems in commercial spaces and smart homes.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the world shut down, I was alone for almost a year. The pandemic triggered my 9/11 PTSD. The fear, the immense loss, and the anger all returned, but this time scaled up globally.
This project is me finding my way again.
I use technologies born from war to create. I use LiDAR and photogrammetry to heal. I use architecture as a common language to start a conversation.
Through my art, I see the future again.
