“We have to go back to kindergarten. We have to get back to the level of those who have not yet learned to read and write. In this kindergarten, we will have to play infantile games with computers, plotters, and similar gadgets. We must use complex and refined apparatuses, the fruit of a thousand years of intellectual development, for childish purposes.”
—Vilém Flusser, “Does Writing Have a Future?”

Born 1978, Chicago, Illinois

Joel Swanson is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of language, material, and technology. He is an Associate Professor in the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder where he directs the TYPO Lab. He received his Master of Fine Art at the University of California, San Diego with a focus in Computing and the Arts.

His practice explores the glitches, failures, and limits of language and text-based tools technologies. He creates work in many forms from monumental neon installations to tedious hand-made works on paper. He is fascinated by translation software, predictive text, and spell-check algorithms, along with correctional fluid, highlighters, and manual typewriters. He uses these tools and materials in absurd and unorthodox ways to expose their subtle but profound influence on our communication. His work is playful, provocative, and at times uncomfortable, as he challenges the cultural standards and norms surrounding language.

His work has been exhibited at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, the MSU Broad Art Museum, the Power Plant in Toronto, the Glucksman Museum in Cork, Ireland, Banff Centre for the Arts, and the 57th Venice Biennale (official offsite venue). He is a Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum Fellow and his work is included in the Electronic Literature Organization’s 4th Anthology.