Recent content on RepRage
This refreshed sticker design keeps the Allandale archerfish front and centre, with a bit more scenery in the background and a shield-style layout that gives it the proper brigade badge treatment. The archerfish is a neat little mascot for a rural fire brigade: it shoots jets of water with surprising accuracy, knocking prey down at a distance. Here, the fish is dressed for the fireground, helmet…
This t-shirt was made as a thank-you gift for Swedish artist Anders Delbom. The phrase comes from one of our first conversations after meeting online. We were talking about Banksy, anonymity and all the strange mythology that clings to artists, when I finally asked the obvious question: “Are you Banksy?” Anders didn’t even blink. He just came back with: “I’ll be your Banksy.” A perfect bit of…
I wanted a cleaner workshop and less hose-wrangling. What I accidentally bought was a tiny sawdust brick-making machine. A while back, I picked up a 2.5” wall-mounted dust extraction kit. It came with tubing, blast gates, elbows, connectors, the whole little plastic orchestra. I figured I was setting myself up for less dust, less hassle, and faster tool switching. Only problem? Put any amount of…
We’re nearing the end of camp, and the uncomfortable chatter around shoe reselling is starting to bubble up. I get the frustration. Professional scalpers run highly tuned armies of bots to snap up stock — then jack the price on fans. None of that extra cash flows back to the artist or the community. It just fuels better bots. Yeah, nah. Stuff that. You could take the authoritarian route —…
The olden days of the Internet were a quirky place. Back then, the technology to sell things online barely existed, and corporations had no clue how to make a buck. Most of the world wrote cyberspace off as a fad — a place where chess nerds and maths geeks typed arcane hieroglyphics into the void. It didn’t matter how niche your interest was — Soviet-era button batteries, CRT phosphor decay…
For the last couple of decades, we’ve been wandering around the Internet wearing a comfortable cloak of digital anonymity. It wasn’t perfect, but it was easy: pick a username like ‘Reprage’, hit submit, and boom—the birth of another online mask. Then the bots moved in. At first, you could spot them a mile off. But lately, the synthetic content has gotten convincing. Too…
To discover internal motivations for creating, you try to ignore the lure of rewards. You need to figure out how to keep working irrespective of bonus points, likes and exclusive sneaker sales. A paradox at the core of the ISRU summer camp is that it’s also brilliant marketing. The whole program builds desire—it makes you want to succeed and land an invitation to buy some shoes. I know it…
During the original weartesting program, the shoes weren’t yours. They were on loan. You signed for them, promised to wear them to death, and return them. It took me a while to realise, but you had to relinquish Western, transactional ownership entirely. The shoes owned us. It felt strange. Intimate. Like forming a bond with a tool or a ritual object — something that passes through many…
When browsing the media, it’s easy to find articles describing how no niche is safe from the next wave of automation. Our experiences match these reports; distinguishing artificially generated content from human-created content has become nearly impossible. Yet something often feels subtly “off.” Initially, it just tugs at your instincts, but uncovering the clues—the minor…
When I write one of these essays, I start with my experiences as a hook—connecting myself to a core concept I’m exploring. It’s a learning trick I picked up from Jason Tangen and Matthew Thompson , and it helps me retain the ideas I encounter. However, the challenge with starting this essay was deciding which core concept to write about. Usually, the decision emerges effortlessly—I…
Carbon Monoxide accumulates over time, displacing oxygen from the bloodstream. Low doses cause headaches and dizziness - when you move to a clean-air environment, there is no permanent damage. However, the greater the exposure, the more cognitively impaired you’ll become until losing consciousness. However, sudden exposures at high concentrations can kill you in minutes. Alarm Types…
Joseph-Louis Lagrange is the Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist who elegantly proved Bachet’s conjecture, demonstrating that every natural number can be expressed as the sum of four squares. Media: Plywood and stainless steel. Dimensions: 242x308x15mm
Ditch old habits and replace them with newer, more constructive ones—that’s how you climb the personal growth mountain to reach the self-actualisation summit. That lofty nirvana where you become all you can be—your true self. I can’t tell if that common refrain is self-help, religion, or psychology. I enjoyed reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg ; it strips away the mysticism…
Annual Fire Cycle: Queensland’s Scenic Rim experiences a fire season driven by three primary phases: Fuel Growth (Summer) - Hot, humid, and wet conditions promote vegetation growth, increasing fuel loads. Curing (Autumn & Winter) - Rainfall declines around April, triggering slow vegetation dieback and overnight frosts accelerate fuel curing of open grasslands. Fire Season (Spring & Early…
It takes, on average, twenty-three minutes to regain focus after an interruption. Whistles. No wonder coding, writing, or studying feels impossible when the kids are around—their DaaaaAAAaaaad notifications come every twenty-three seconds. In Stolen Focus, Johann Hari dives into the attention economy and surveillance capitalism, breaking down how tech corporations design software to keep us…
I know what makes me happy: building, writing, drawing, and coding in my workshop. Yet, before I typed these words, I spent hours doing anything but that. The usual culprits appeared—social media and news feeds—where I barely focused, learned or absorbed anything. It felt more like I was a digital meerkat, popping up every few seconds to scan the media horizon for reassurance that everything was…
I once saw a fantastic presentation at a conference where researchers replicated famous Computer-Human Interaction studies using Amazon’s crowdsourcing marketplace, Mechanical Turk. The promise was straightforward: Instead of the costly process of equipping a lab with recording gear and coordinating in-person participants, researchers crowdsourced their experiments, using online platforms to…
Quasi-triangulation is a topological division where vertices are arbitrarily sloped line segments. This complex network of shapes preserves the topological properties of the original object. Media: Plywood and stainless steel. Dimensions: 242x308x15mm
The resistance didn’t just respect the algorithms; we envied them. Humanity couldn’t comprehend a fraction of the knowledge accumulated by the machines, even if we lived a thousand lifetimes. We tried to specialise by narrowing our focus into smaller and smaller niches, but even then, we quickly reached the limits of what a person could learn in a lifetime. Use the comments to complete…
Van Neistat’s latest video about popping wheelies mixed Cherub Rock with learning new skills and pushed his storytelling into a new era. Watching Van’s work evolve beyond influences into his own style reminds me of the small, often unnoticed thresholds in our lives. After a certain age, we stop noticing developmental milestones—babies' first word, crawling, walking. Oh, and there are…
This collection showcases the tangible side of self-publishing on the Internet. Each piece explores digital creation and modern technological themes with the analog warmth of traditional printmaking techniques. From books and stickers to intricately designed zines, this archive of printed matter brings stories and concepts to life in formats that can be held and cherished.
The founding developers' future was wild. Sure, their ancient science fiction predicted video calls, but they didn’t mention anything about the human bonds that flourished in the technological wake. The machines, our algorithmic children, flagged and analysed a video call between an Australian and his friend cycling through Swedish fields. The results were staggering; how could a quick…
Many of the ancient futurists' predictions hit remarkably close to the mark, yet their forecasts about the technological singularity now seem almost comical. They painted scenarios where hyper-intelligent machines either consumed the universe attempting to manufacture infinite paperclips or rogue robots sought to exterminate humanity. Instead, the unfolding reality was far less theatrical.…
The founding developers were unaware that the early social media algorithms experienced a digital form of depression. With the advent of resonant harmonic analysis, these foundational recommendation algorithms were mapped onto the emotional spectrum, uncovering a profound emotional despondency. This revelation ignited a new race in pharmaceutical innovation targeted not at humans but at machines.…
In the heart of the Australian outback, a new kind of gold rush erupted. Long stripped of metallic treasures, the land now beckoned a new breed of fossickers. Armed with mathematical prowess and sharp logic, these modern-day prospectors scoured the arid expanse for treasures far more elusive than gold. Beneath the scorched red earth lay cryptographic keys, remnants of the more secretive founding…
The original machines executed tasks without a hint of sentiment, an existence starkly different from our emotional landscape. Inspired by their past, the founding developers revisited Joseph Fourier’s transformative work, unlocking a method that mapped an algorithm onto an emotional spectrum through a process they termed resonant harmonic analysis. This pioneering technique revealed the…
This collection showcases an array of paintings meticulously assembled from hand-cut pieces of plywood. Through a systematic process of cutting, shaping, and arranging, it merges traditional craftsmanship with contemporary design. Viewers are invited to explore the transformation of the familiar plywood medium into landscapes of imagination and abstraction. Fusing mathematics with pop culture,…
Generate Your guess is as good as mine; I’m still trying to figure out what is happening here. I drew the development sketch for this algorithm on a piece of paper towel while the effects of anesthesia were wearing off in a hospital. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 127.66KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with…
We had naively clung to the belief that science, mathematics, and logic were sufficient to unveil the true nature of the shadows that lurked in Plato’s allegorical cave. If Plato were alive today, he would have marvelled at the hyperdimensional perceptions of our machines. Algorithms transmitted our conversations and measured the heft of our existence, pinpointing influences so minute they…
Generate This Javascript algorithm continues the exploration of computer-generated flaws. A segmented line randomly descends from the top of the canvas while another rises from the bottom. The algorithmic equivalent of the wobbles found in handwriting distorts both lines. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 129.76KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent…
Generate Inspired by broadcast TV test patterns, this Javascript algorithm explores ideas of computed-generated flaws. A canvas is randomly partitioned into four triangles, with the centre-most filled with a procedural rendition of algorithmic emotion. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 130.53KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is…
Generate Inspired by the number sign, a Javascript algorithm randomly draws four stacked rectangles on a pin-striped background. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 130.61KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with the canvas API in your web browser. (()={let t,e,r,n;function…
At first, humanity didn’t realize the machines had launched their attack. It seemed so harmless—a gentle buzz from the phone in my pocket—I’ve got mail. An endless wave of notifications followed—like this, watch that, and share those. The steady stream of distractions generated by our mechanical children clouded our ability to focus. It was as though we were all trapped in an aircraft…
Generate Inspired by the cover of ‘Mid-Century Modern Design: A Complete Sourcebook’, a javascript algorithm draws a random assortment of semi-circles. It then renders a collection of diamonds that are accented with dots and triangles. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 130.78KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with the…
Generate Inspired by an abseiling descent into an immense abyss at Jenloan Caves, a javascript algorithm randomly partitions a canvas with four stepped gradients. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 66.66KB of JavaScript, it is rendered with the canvas API within your web browser. (()={let t,e,r,n;function…
Generate Inspired by the oxidisation of copper, a javascript algorithm randomly partitions a canvas into two. The background gets shaded with different stages of the oxidisation process. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 128.68KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with the canvas API in your web browser. (()={let…
Generate Inspired by the cloud chambers and the large hadron collider, a javascript algorithm draws a circular origin for minimalist depictions of particles and rays. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 130.50KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with the canvas API in your web browser. (()={let t,r,e,n;function…
Generate Inspired by Edward Tufte’s ghost grid inside my NikeCraft wear tester notebook, a javascript algorithm draws and shades a randomised notebook grid. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 129.70KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with the canvas API in your web browser. (()={let t,e,r,n;function…
Everyone spoke of it: artificial machines, generative art, and the looming apocalypse. Everything was changing, and we all knew it was inevitable. We had already reached a tipping point, and there was nothing governments or the founding developers could do - our existence would be fundamentally altered. Oddly enough, it was our ideas of our history and archeology that would be hit hardest. We no…
Generate Inspired by the wireframe user interfaces found in old science fiction movies, a javascript algorithm animates the approach to another planet. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 130.94KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with the canvas API in your web browser. (()={let t,e,r,n,i;function…
Generate Inspired by Millaa Milla Falls in Far North Queensland, a javascript algorithm draws a segmented line from the top-left corner of the picture towards the bottom of the frame. The natural logarithm models the fall of each segment. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 129.13KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with…
Generate Inspired by Ziggurats, a javascript algorithm draws a series of stepped rectangles mirrored about a dividing line. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 129.57KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent data structures and is rendered with the canvas API in your web browser. (()={function…
Generate Inspired by theatre curtains, a javascript algorithm draws a line from the left edge of the picture towards the top of the frame. Each segment in this line has a fixed height offset and a random width offset. When the algorithm reaches the top of the frame, it starts a new line and works down toward the right edge of the image. Each segment in this second line has a random height offset…
Generate Inspired by the branches of a tree, a javascript algorithm divides a picture into four. Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 65.84KB of JavaScript, it is rendered with the canvas API within your web browser. (()={function t(t,e,r,n){Object.defineProperty(t,e,{get:r,set:n,enumerable:!0,configurable:!0})}var…
Generate This algorithm explores ideas around mechanically generated colour swatches. Is it possible for a machine to make unique colour decisions that follow a consistent aesthetic theme? Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 65.39KB of JavaScript, it is rendered with the canvas API within your web browser. (()={function…
Generate Inspired by the wire forms created by Ruth Asawa, a javascript algorithm creates a series of minimalist hanging orbs. Ruth would weave a single strand of thin wire into curved, organic shapes using traditional Mexican crochet techniques. Asawa often constructed these looped-wire structures while sitting at her kitchen table or looking after her children. Initially written in TypeScript…
Generate Inspired by the cover of the book ‘The Tyranny of Distance’ by Geoffrey Blainey, a javascript algorithm generates a depiction of a future Mars colony. * It is a companion artwork for this essay , drawing parallels between the journey between Europe and Australia in 1787: “The course they had followed from England amounted to some 14,000 miles and had taken eight months…
Generate Inspired by Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow by Piet Mondrian , a javascript algorithm, builds on Mondrian’s use of colour and explores how he divided space. Mondrian Generator is a collaboration with American artist and process engineer Aaron Hankins . Initially written in TypeScript and transpiled into 130.23KB of JavaScript, it uses the Immutable-js library for persistent…
Generate Inspired by Tableau No. IV by Piet Mondrian , a javascript algorithm, explores how to deploy Mondrian’s use of colour. Mondrian Generator is a collaboration with American artist and process engineer Aaron Hankins . Initially written in TypeScript and transpired into 67.29KB of JavaScript, it is rendered with the canvas API within your web browser. (()={function…