Son[i]a #312: Lars Holdhus/TCF

TCF works as an entropic self-referential system, conspicuous and withdrawn to the public, that takes shape in a vast span of mediums –from tea to sound, to a chatbot or even DNA strings–. Keyholder and administrator of this unique information system is artist and musician Lars Holdhus, aka TCF, who interrogates our relation to the technological infrastructures that permeate contemporaneity through language, code, cryptography and, most recently, ecology.

For the last few years, the Norwegian born artist has been going through a personal process of confrontation with the materialistic conditions involved in his artistic practice. A paradigm shift that is tilting the axis of his work from future to present, from reactiveness to sheer presence, in deep alignment with Buddhist postulates.

Becoming self-sufficient and lowering your impact on the environment whilst still being an active agent of the contemporary art world, calls for alternative modes of distribution, production and consumption. Biota, his on-going project with David Ainley, is an example of where his energies are at the moment. Biota works as a newsletter focusing on ecology and practical solutions for a more sustainable life. Late 2019 Lars confessed to us: “The last month I just picked mushrooms”. Maybe, the answer is in mushrooms.

In this podcast, Lars Holdhus advocates for presence and awareness. Between tea sips, he reflects on toolmaking and impact, A.I. and the obsession with flesh, human time and machine time. He also points out how boring technology becomes when you are 70% Buddhist, while introducing us to his latest projects: a virtual touring software teasing the limits of the live music industry and a random processing tool that he feeds and confronts to compose and create images.