Jeanyoon Choi

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System Art: The Elephant and the Blind

Updated: 2/11/2025

We’re living in the world of hyper objects, hyper systems - that go beyond our understanding. These systems define our daily lives and interactions. Crucial to understand these systems (even the part of it), but we tend to confuse the only the part (징후) of the system as the core of the system dynamics - It is only the tip of the iceberg that we sense, but we confuse this iceberg as if it’s the whole system.
We’re just like the elephant and the blind: The elephant is the whole system, and the blind is us. We try to analyse the ‘징후’ of our society: sometimes using very heavy data-driven methodologies, and comprehend our world from that perspective. We encounter a problem, and we try to solve this based on our knowledge. Thus, all our solutions become increasingly myopic - as we are trying to focus on what we actually sense/experience (which is obviously the part of the whole system) - and thus, consequently, our solutions tend to cause even more problems in the future - in other parts of the system. If we keep on confusing that what we sense/the data we get is supporting the whole system - if we don’t acknowledge that we are the blind - the more systematical catastrophe our civilisation will encounter in the near future.
Therefore it’s extremely important to depict this relationship - The system and its 징후들 미세한 징후들… And Multi-Device Web Artwork always serve as a good platform for depicting this system dynamics.
SYSTEM
MDWA: Operates Hidden System
Screens Display: 징후들. Part of the system/symptoms of the system. But does not show you the essence of the system (The essence/algorithm of the system is invisible)
Audience: Either 1) Controls the system, 2) Navigates the system, 3) Become a part of the system, or 4) Unexpected System Consequences. (Depends on the narrative/setting)
The whole multi-device web artwork network acts as a system. Interactive system. From audiences. However this system - algorithm can never be fully depicted/drawn/shown. It is only the part of the system that the audience will sense as an output - the screen displays. Screen displays show you what you will see as ‘the blind’ - but you can never see/sense the whole elephant - you just acknowledge that it shall exist.
Practical System Display Options: 
Data Visualisation Assets
Graphs, Graph Grid
Dashboard
Numbers & Tabular
Stock Market-ish Visuals
Hans Haacke-style Graphs/Relationship depicting
Commercial Visuals
Commercials/Commercial Designs
Commercial Web UI
Practical Services Web UI: Flight Reservation Ticket, E Commerce Shopping Mall Site, Fashion Items
Business Cards, Logos
Generative Outcomes
Generative Videos/Images
Stacked in 2D/within 3D (Case of Omega)
Texts or Typographies
Text Layouts
Chunk of Texts/Flux of Texts
Visual Languages: Small Multiples
Clocks/Time-related
Avatar/Simulacre Agents
Agents profile (Squid Game-like visuals)
Avatars
Map
Geolocational plotting
Practical Interaction Options:
Controlling the System
User’s control directly affects the dynamics/parameters of the system
Interest Rate Idea for example – Altering the interest rate creates different amplified effects across multiple screens
한국식 상명하복/관료주의 – Audience writes/directions some command, and the whole other screens react/transform accordingly
How to make the interaction fun/meaningful/semantic enough?
Navigating the System
More on the navigation of the existing/self-evolving system: System self-evolving/automation aesthetic is important
There is a system (Just like the symphony of civilisation - movement 3) - which has multi-faced context/narrative - User navigates and view the different part of the system
Example: Historical Archive. Certain times in history. User navigates through different spatial dimensions/perspectives to look for different parts of the system
Example: System is already there with pre-defined parameters & automated. User inputs some text and AI will generatively show the part of the system that the user can focus on.
Part of the System
Especially useful in avatar-like/multi-agents situations
Competitive Landscape
Collaborative Landscape
Mobile Jockey is also one good example
How can this be also applied for installation settings, with 1-5 users? What is the value of becoming a part of the agential system?
Unexpected System Consequences
Most aligning with the concept of ‘hyperobject’: User interacts with the system and affects partially? And the unexpected systematic consequences happen within other parts of the system
Can be used in more-than-two rooms situation: In room A user does some interaction and happily ends, but that causes negative consequences in room B
Might be like vice versa from Room B → Room A. So Room A’s achievement → Negative to room b, room b’s achievement → Negative to room a. They both work hard in their own direction, but systematic-wise they are making an effort for nothing. Zero Sum Game. Modernity. Converging Competition. 
Zero-sum game, environmental issues. 
Or can be temporarily presented: Short-term good decision, long-term negative decision. 
As a result this setting might best fit within spatial-temporal expansion: After user’s interaction, positive outcome will be presented within the proximate spatial-temporal dimension. But further away (either spatially or temporally), there are negative consequences…
Further branches:
AI generates the whole system! Generating AutomaticsSystems
Inputs? Parameters? Inter-relationships? Graph Theory?


Text written by Jeanyoon Choi

Ⓒ Jeanyoon Choi, 2025