Eric Lee, aka easterner, is an interdisciplinary audiovisual artist/musician from London/Hong Kong, currently based in New York, who explores the cyborg condition: what does it mean to live in interconnected human-machine communities in a precarious world? He experiments with–and glitches–old and new technologies, ubiquitous to obsolete, to explore their poetic potential, as well as to critique their role in society.
He is an active performer and organizer in the livecode.nyc collective, and a co-organizer/producer of the Creative Code Art IG community, including its audiovisual event series “& FRIENDS”. He organizes and performs audiovisual shows, and curates exhibitions and workshops.
He has performed and shown his work at venues ranging from Public Records, Harvestworks, and ZeroSpace in NYC to Gray Area in SF, Iklectik in London, and on public screens across Shibuya in Tokyo.
EASTERNER // ERIC LEE
May 19, 2024 - Beautiful Machines #11 - livecode audiovisual performance at Public Records, NYC
LIVECODE AUDIOVISUAL PERFORMANCES
December 20, 2024 - Toplap winter solstice livecoding festival, livestreamed on Euler Room on YouTube and Twitch - livecoding performance set using custom Max and Puredata patches, orca coding, Ableton (see video)
September 19, 2024 - livecode audiovisual performance including TouchDesigner x Unreal Engine 5 visuals as part of co/function & FRIENDS at H0L0, NYC (see video)
June 8, 2024 - livecode audiovisual performance at Theater Mitu, NYC, sharing stage with PixelTongue (Charlotte Mundy and Christian Quiñones)
June 5, 2024 - livecode audiovisual performance at ZeroSpace, NYC, sharing stage with Kevin Peter He and Jake Oleson
May 19, 2024 - livecode audiovisual performance at Public Records, NYC, sharing stage with Colloboh, alsoknownasrox, and Tommy Value
September 2, 2023 - Tea Leaf Reading for Cyborgian Futures” as part of Public Visuals &FRIENDS, at LUME, NYC
September 23, 2023 - Jitr extended gong ensemble - joined as collaborative livecode audiovisual performer as part of Elekhlekha’s extended gong ensemble project/performance at CultureHub, NYC
June 10, 2023 - algorave audiovisual performance with avclub sf, at Gray Area, San Francisco, CA
May 27, 2023 - “human.machine.interface: vox machina” - director and livecoder of this performance piece, with orca generating music shown as scrolling score sight read by vocalists wearing VR headsets, at Persona NYC
May 5, 2023 - “Tea Leaf Reading for Cyborgian Futures” at Persona NYC in Dumbo, BK - livecoding audiovisual performance set with cup of tea, webcam, microphone, laptops, analogue video glitch gear, and rescanned CRT TV, as part of evening of two performances, along with Elliot Cole
April 16, 2023 - cofunction, live generative visuals for live improvised electronic music
April 12, 2023 - skulptor x easterner audiovisual set at soundobsessed, as part of Refraction Festival at nft.nyc
April 8, 2023 - “human machine interface: string theory” - director and livecoder of this performance piece, with orca generating music shown as scrolling score sight read by string quartet, at Club Code at Persona NYC
January 2023 - “Voyager” - audiovisual performance with d0n.xyz as part of Parallel Play at Persona NYC in Dumbo, BK
December 2022 - NOISEMAS - individual orca and pure data audiovisual set, and visualist for other musicians, as part of a 12-hour sound marathon at Iklectik in London, UK
November 2022 - “What do neural networks dream of?” - visualist on LED wall in partnership with Dog Collar on music, at livecode.nyc show “Pixel Worship” at ZeroSpace
October 2022 - “Tea Leaf Reading for Cyborgian Futures” - livecoding audiovisual performance set with cup of tea, webcam, microphone, laptops, analogue video glitch gear, and rescanned CRT TV at Neon Genesis Kybernetes at Visaural NYC
July 2022 - algotrek - livecoding performance with Gameboy and Korg Monotribe, for livecode.nyc mountain show, at outside locations along a hiking trail in upstate NY
June 2022 - “Tea Leaf Reading for Cyborgian Futures” - livecoding audiovisual performance set at Aleatoric Audio for Infinite Islands, as part of Lee Tusman’s residency at Flux Factory on Governor’s Island
April 2022 - “Flash Crash” - livecoding audiovisual performance set as part of the Lines community, to be livestreamed on Twitch
March 2022 - “Algorave Turns 10” - livecoding performance as part of global algorave and livecode.nyc community events and educational workshops on livecoding, at Brooklyn Publlc Library, Brooklyn, NY (see video)
December 2021 - “The Longest Night” solstice livecoding festival, livestreamed on Euler Room on YouTube and Twitch - livecoding performance set, titled “cyborg imagination” (see video)
October 2021 - Group performance, “Computer Pop!”, livecode.nyc collective, Wonderville, Brooklyn, NYC, and live streamed on Twitch - livecoding performance set, titled “this is who we are / this is not who we are”
May 2023 - “human.machine.interface: vox machina”, Persona, NYC
October 2021 - “COMPUTER POP!”
Wonderville, NYC
November 2022 - “what do neural
networks dream of?“, ZeroSpace, NYC
CURATING AND ORGANIZING SHOWS, EVENTS, WORKSHOPS
November 8, 2024 - & FRIENDS audiovisual show - curator, co-organizer of “& FRIENDS” audiovisual event series, this Creative Code Art show invited an all-women line-up of local audiovisual artists to perform at Chemistry Creative, NYC, including artist talk by Ana Roman
September 19, 2024 - co/function & FRIENDS - curator, co-organizer of “& FRIENDS” audiovisual event series, this Creative Code Art show invited live hardware electronic music performers co/function, and visiting artist Portrait XO to perform at H0L0, NYC
Apr 26-May 5, 2024 - “My ____ Is An Ecosystem” - curator, co-organizer of livecode.nyc x Harvestworks programming at Harvestworks, Governors Island, NYC, including curating and moderating panel discussion “Art in a Changing Climate” with artists/educators Tega Brain, Sam Lavigne, Alex Nathanson, and Allison Parrish
December 2, 2023 - & FRIENDS #2 - curator, co-organizer of “& FRIENDS” audiovisual event series, this livecode.nyc x Creative Code Art show invited Albert.DATA and the Glad Scientist to join local artists to perform at BK Arthaus, NYC
September 2, 2023 - Public Visuals & FRIENDS - curator, co-organiser of “& FRIENDS” audiovisual event series, this Creative Code Art show invited Japan-based audiovisual artists to perform alongside local artists at LUME, NYC
May 27, 2023 - “livecode.nyc presents human.machine.interface” - curator, co-organizer of livecode.nyc audiovisual show at Persona NYC, Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY
April 16, 2023 - analog video glitch art workshop with Tachyons+ - curator, co-organizer, hosted at Hex House, Brooklyn, NY
April 15, 2023 - CRTICAL MASS - curator, co-organizer, livecode.nyc show at Wonderville, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
ART INSTALLATIONS, KINETIC SCULPTURES & OTHER PROJECTS
(2024) Electronic kinetic sculpture composed of phonograph mechanism, metal, wood, microcontroller, electronic components - This totemic kinetic sculpture with mechanical controls advances an algorithm when operated. The mechanism can be manipulated and operated by hand; it can store and generate power; it continues to move with its own momentum after the wheels or levers are released. This piece surfaces some of the effort it requires to perform computational tasks that might otherwise seem frictionless. Regarding algorithms and their increasingly ubiquitous role in society, it invites considerations of our potential agency, complicity, and resistance.
January 17-23, 2022 - “Barcode” - audiovisual work exhibited by New Media Art x Neo Shibuya TV’s 15 Seconds Museum, playing on 9 large screens at Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, Japan
October 18-24, 2021 - “Disco Physarum” - audiovisual work exhibited by New Media Art x Neo Shibuya TV’s 30 Seconds Museum, playing on 85 screens in Miyashita Park, Tokyo, Japan
June 2021 - “The Importance of Process” - a set of digital artworks made in collaboration with Shantell Martin, Ben Sheppee, and Colton Moyer, premiered and released on Nifty Gateway. I conceived of and created the generative music and sound design for Shantell’s signature line drawings, in animated form; I produced videos showing the behind-the-scenes creative process
October 2020 - “Kely”, short film directed by Laksmi Hedemark - film score and sound design
February 2020 - Group exhibition, “Digital Twin”, Data Through Design, Soho, NYC - my piece “Long-Lost Twins” was a collaboration with Yen Mooi, and was an interactive digital art installation addressing the themes of data privacy and surveillance capitalism
August 2019 - “Alice”, short film directed by Christina Yoon - film score and sound design