Jeff Maki

I am an artist and researcher. Formally educated as an information technology professional in a liberal arts context, my work continues to exist in the arts, centered around technical and social systems. My tools and experience range from computer programming to spatial data analysis; photography to ethnography.

My art practice explores what I call “supportive structures”: the intersection of infrastructure and the ephemeral. I tell human stories, but see human activity aggregated through, and recorded in infrastructure. I am an “explorer” of the John Stilgoe type: I believe there is a hidden world outside and, through my work, I wish to give others the tools to see, understand and interpret the systems around them. In broad terms, my interests include: workplaces, rituals, standards, identity, language and history.

I’m proud to say that I consider myself a candidate for what Susan Leigh Star calls “The Society of People Interested In Boring Things”.

homepage at www.webopticon.com