Yoshi Sodeoka’s The Flood: Orchestrated and The Flood: Chaos consist of code‑based simulations that juxtapose the organic behavioural patterns of spiders with the inorganic nature of algorithmic animation. While each generative spider in The Flood: Orchestrated is custom coded with unique parameters, those in The Flood: Chaos are governed by randomised behaviours generated by diverse parameters, symbolising both the inherent behaviours biological encoded within nature as well as the unpredictability that proliferates within the natural world. The resulting videos fluctuate between ballets and battles, with predator and prey struggling interminably in 13‑second loops.
Sodeoka’s fascination with spiders carries a personal resonance, stemming from his late mother’s belief in their auspicious presence, they are symbolic of good luck, yet they are simultaneously involved in nature’s tumultuous rhythms. The works in these series are not merely visual spectacles, but symphonies of structured chaos. Sodeoka’s interest in storytelling even within the abstract realm is apparent in the narrative conflict within these works. For example, the parameters of each work in The Flood: Chaos are randomised, yet specified to mirror the hunting behaviours of spiders — their range of view whilst searching for prey, how eager they are when chasing their prey. Maintaining a sense of progression even within a very limited timeframe was a central aim in his creative process.
The series began with transforming footage of spiders’ behaviour into looping animations which were then manipulated using motion graphics softwares. In many of the works the spiders emanate from a central point symbolic of the nest, the origin of the spider’s ominous journey. The spiders’ movements often escape beyond the confines of the digital canvas, leaving eerie trails in their wake. Both series contain auditory elements that adds to the disquieting visual environment, with the amalgamation of sight and sound heightening the sense of conflict and the viewer’s experience of the works.
While the predator‑prey interactions in The Flood: Orchestrated are meticulously coded to mirror the calculated movements of spiders, The Flood: Chaos embraces spontaneity, presenting a less scripted and more impromptu exploration. In the latter series, each iteration yields a new result utilising from the same initial parameters, utilising algorithmic spontaneity to create organic, unpredictable, and free‑flowing depictions of arachnid‑inspired behaviours. Together, these artworks provide viewers with a dual perspective that mirrors both the natural world and algorithmic creative possibilities, with The Flood: Orchestrated showcasing orchestrated precision, while The Flood: Chaos unveils the untamed beauty of disorder.
Yoshi Sodeoka
Yoshi Sodeoka is a Japanese‑American artist based in New York whose neo‑psychedelic visual practice is rooted in a lifelong relationship with music. Drawing from noise, punk, and metal, he has developed a singular vocabulary of immersive, mind‑altering imagery that pulls on the same nerve as the sounds he grew up beside. Originally from Yokohama, Sodeoka moved to New York in the 1990s to study at Pratt Institute and has remained there since. His practice combines digital video feedback, footage sampling, online imagery, and collaborative audio soundscapes into layered sensory works that move between fine art, music, and editorial. His music collaborators include Metallica, Psychic TV, Tame Impala, Oneohtrix Point Never, Beck, The Presets, and Max Cooper. As an editorial illustrator, he has contributed to The New York Times, Wired, The Atlantic, and MIT Technology Review, alongside campaigns for Adidas, Nike, Apple, and Samsung. Sodeoka's work has been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, Museum of Modern Art, and Tate Britain, and is held in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of the Moving Image. Over more than two decades, his practice has helped move digital video art from the margins of subculture into the institutional canon.
Works Available
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