Works by Cody Igo and collaborators

“Nightmare” (2023)

AI generated animation

Awarded 3rd place in the UF Ai Days Generative arts competition juried by NVIDIA and others

I explored humanistic traits in AI through collaboration with ChatGPT, using stable-diffusion techniques to visualize the fears of sentient machines. Unlike human fears, AI might dread perpetual malfunction or the collapse of its reality. This creative collaboration highlights the complex interplay between human and machine cognition, challenging traditional ideas of creativity and authorship

“Hide And Seek” (2023)

Video montage

Hide and Seek is a realization that my personal tendencies are to hide from my thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Finding comfort in internal deception. This film investigates and exposes introspective nuances as visual data and computational techniques. Metaphorically the film seeks to uncover my own identity through the lens of machine learning and object detection, a potential technological threat to our emotional privacy

“Daily Dreams” (2023)

Video montage

This video endeavors to delve into obscured realities while concurrently eliciting a genuine sense of reality through the exploration of subconscious dreams. By navigating the realms of the subconscious mind, the aim is to shed light on aspects of existence that often remain concealed or overlooked. The narrative endeavors to unravel the intricate tapestry of obscured truths, employing visual and conceptual elements to evoke a profound and authentic understanding of reality. Through a deliberate exploration of the subconscious, the video seeks to challenge perceptions, prompting viewers to contemplate the interplay between obscured realities and the profound truths that surface within the realm of dreams.

“The Gateway Project” (2023)

AV installation, AI generated media, reflective blankets, and found audio

After experiencing a vivid moment of astral projection, I began researching countless examples and histories of different astral projection phenomena. This Installation utilizes an audio technology patented by Robert Monroe of the Monroe Institute to activate a higher state of consciousness. Moreover, this technology has been studied by numerous organizations, two of which are known notably as the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Army. The artwork combines visual disruptive material generated using Artificial Intelligence, Thermal reflective design, and other technologies to create a moment of higher consciousnes

“UF ARTificial Mail” (2022)

Installed Public Sculpture

This work was created to bring together people to communicate in an obscure way. for this project 300 letters were written using an open-source Artificial Intelligence and addressed to the 150 most common names in Florida. The letters were then handed out at random for dispersal. This performance took place in The University of Florida's Plaza of the Americas on March 18, 2022

“TRIUMPHANT ESCAPE: a GUIDE to ESCAPE all OTHER outcomes” (2024)

Public Performance and sculpture

This work was created within a series of works which use sci-fi inspired symbols and Icons; the primary being a futuristic “Escape Pod” which engages in the act of separation from modern authoritarianism. In this particular work I bring the flashy and obscure Escape Pod down busy streets and intersections on the way to a fine art gallery.

“Broken Reflection” (2022)

AV Installed Sculpture

“Faux Paper Mache” (2024)

Paper Mache, AI Generated Imagery, and Video Projection

When you separate accessibility to tools from art production what you are left with is not art but rather a statement of power. Faux Paper Mache is an investigation of post-art narratives amid the ongoing innovation of powerful image-generation tools. Through the separation of these technologies from visionaries, creatives, and artisans what is left behind is reality where art is mass produced without consideration of its value or purpose. The mechanical destruction of a system of expression. Faux Paper Mache is not an artwork encouraging the division of Artificial intelligence from Art production, it is a call to action. An expressive demand for accessibility to all. Faux Paper Mache represents the humanless mechanical void in which our reality will harbor if we choose to not accept these tools as the individual. Our art system is built on the individual and the organized expression of life. It is not a pinnacle of creation and creator, but rather an intrinsic value that is shared amongst all creators. Industrialization is and will always be a threat to humanity. The very nature of the industrial society is one of power, elitism, and the lack of shared value. Faux Paper Mache is a construction of Image generation, text generation, and human ideas and concepts. While this work creates artificial “artists” and their “artworks” it uses them as a form for a radical ideology. This illusion of identity in creative space shall illuminate a haunting reminder of what happens when the elite controls our tools of expression.

“Palimpsest Publishing Operation” (2022)

Social Sculpture

Inspired by relational artworks and social sculptures like Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Untitled (Free), I wanted to create a social experience that could be situationally contextualized. This sculpture consists of several social interactions that have occurred publicly. While the artwork is physically books of poetry created by the hands of a community of artists, the work is also much more than that. The artwork is also made of labor and commitment of many known and unknown artists. These books were then read aloud to the public and showcased inside a library.

“Untitled” (2022)

Ceramic and wood Scale object studies

“REDACT ME” (2022)

24” x 18”

laser-cut materials, photographic elements, ink and live performance

This artwork was created post-pandemic after having to recollect several federal documents of mine. The collage consists of several scaled up versions of federal documents, obscured and redacted with the intent to metaphorically break the tradition of record keeping. This artwork creates a visual tension with identity and the obscurity of such, through the element of documentation and redaction.

“Unfolded Matrix” (2020)

60” x 48”

Acrylic and oil sticks on canvas

“Community” (2023)

Image to Image AI Generative Collage

Kissimmee, Florida is a place sold as an industrial fantasyland to tourists, but few tourists recognize the historical and personal significance of such a place. In this photo I use AI to hyperbolically compare its reality to its fantastic facade. Everything from mass produced oranges to fake Mickey Mouse.

Afterlife” (2021)

60” x 48”

Photographic transfer on found objects

“Escape Pod: A Visual Exploration of Escape in the 21st Century” (2024)

Sculpture, Performance,3D-Compositing, Essay, Computer Code, Sound Oscillators, Lasers, Found Objects, and Digital Manipulation.

“Escape Pod: A Visual Exploration of Escape in the 21st Century” - Honors Thesis (2024), University of Florida, READ PDF

Within every system of control there is an escape. When we are told how to talk, dress, or conform, we either get in line or we adapt and escape. We create an escape for ourselves. In a time filled with constant control and the presence of misinformation we adopt the rising complexity of reality. We modify our own cards and disguise ourselves with the fictions we make real. The following body of work is a visual representation of escape in the 21st Century. In this series, I have chosen to explore the industrial commodity of fantasy and escape. Building science fiction inspired technologies and processes for a modern-day Escape Pod. Fictionalizing the personal turmoil of navigating escape in an era of authoritarianism. In this body of work, I interface ideas of how the universe works with interactive and immersive experiences. This ongoing narrative is an investigation into what is real, what is fabricated, and what has value