Tyler James Bangkok

Are We Floating Yet?

NFT audiovisual loop

"For many years, as a queer in Minnesota, I clung to films like “Wizard of Oz” and modern Japanese anime as realms of escapism. I always wanted a pair of magical ruby red heels for myself, but just like Dorothy, it took some time to realize that I always had them on.

But I have come to see that only escapism is very overrated and that I am just as concerned with reality as I am with surreality and fantasy. With my experience in working for and growing online startups in Asia and creating my own path in my life in general, I have been able to navigate this world in unique ways. "

— Tyler James Bangkok

About the artist

Tyler James Bangkok

I’m a queer, American artist who has lived and worked in between the USA and Asia for ten years as my boyfriend is Thai-Taiwanese. My work focuses on making interactive video instruments and other interactive installations utilizing Max/Jitter, Touch Designer, Processing and various other applications to program interactive applications.

I have created a life of freelance online work and international projects while living as a global citizen for ten years.

I was a founding member of Minneapolis Art on Wheels, a bike-based graffiti projection group. As part of this group, I have done over 100 public projections utilizing interactive media and video – from major art galleries to political protests. I am still interested in bringing art into our daily lives beyond galleries, taking back public space, and empowering new people to use creative tools in new ways. I have continued to create public engagements in various settings, workshops and projects in Asia.

During my last two years at the University of Minnesota, I was a founding member of Minneapolis Art on Wheels (MAW) under Ali Momeni's guidance and continued working with the group after graduation. With our mobile media machines, we could cover entire skyscrapers by connecting multiple projectors. I found a flurry of excitement in thinking of cities as my playground. New media art’s ephemeral and interactive nature creates many new things to explore experiences and engagements. I had some personally cool experiences like projecting on the Badlands in South Dakota, but more importantly, I learned a great deal about how to engage the public with new media tools. During my time at U of M, I also met Teresa Gowan, who led me on my exploration of social theory in classes like Cities and Social Changes. I conducted ethnographic research with her that helped me to frame and contextualize what I am doing with my art practice. In her classes, I also found connections to the Situationist International. The Situationist International have stylistically influenced me both in the notion of thinking about how our spaces should be as alive and connected as our veins in our bodies as well as their use of subversion of mainstream culture and detournement. I also dug into theorists like Guy Debord and Foucault that let me see the cultural, economic, and design forces in cities that lead to alienation in our social systems. As we used our mobile media machines to join protests, engage with NGOs and plan new media events in unexpected places, I saw so much room and pathways for new media to branch out into.