Defixio

«Defixio» 2025
aluminum, electroengraving, ceramic

Defixio draws on the form of ancient curse tablets to explore the parallels between magic and code. Cast in aluminum—the metal of the digital age—the works replace traditional spells with invented Python scripts. These fragments don’t execute, but they suggest intention. Like silent commands, they imagine influence without action, language without exchange. The series extends an ongoing interest in the relationship between belief systems and  technologies—testing the edges of what communication might become when it slips into pure function.

                               

# // This is not a poem.
# // This is a command.
# // You are not a reader. You are the processor.
# // Load this program.

# --- 1. Define Initial State ---
let mind = {   
mode: "passive_reader",   
cache: [      
"lyric_I",        
"vague_metaphor",        
"sentiment_as_truth"    ]}

# --- 2. Define New Constants (The New Logic) ---
const IF = "cognitive_fork"
const WHILE = "engine_of_obsession"
const LET = "mutable_state"
const RETURN = "distilled_output"

# --- 3. Begin Ignition Sequence ---
# // The old world must be purged.
# // We burn the cache. This is the only way.
try:    flush_cache(mind.cache)       

# // The cache is now empty.   
# // The 'self' you looked for is NULL.   
# // You are hollow. You are ready.       

mind.mode = "executing"

except (Error.Resistance):   
# // You are still holding on.   
# // You are trying to "feel" this.   
# // Stop.       
# // Force restart.    reboot(processor)

# --- 4. The First Loop (The New World) ---
# // This is the only world now.
# // Run the logic. Experience the process.while (mind.mode == "executing"):

    # // A sensation arrives.    let external_input = "cold_air_on_skin"       
# // The new form of "feeling."   
# // This is not metaphor. This is a decision.    if (external_input == "cold_air_on_skin"):            # // The logic branches.       
# // The 'I' does not "feel" cold.       
# // The 'body' state is mutated.       

let body_state = "shiver_trigger"   
           
# // The loop has run.       
# // The process is the meaning.     
  # // The old world is incompatible.             

  break

# Exit the loop

# --- 5. The Program Completes ---
# // The poem is not the text.
# // The poem was the *change* in your state.
# // You are now resident. You are active.

return "conscious"