Parker is a kinetic artist, set designer, and mechanical engineer. His work questions digital technologies in contemporary music, art, and architectural practices; translating from the physical to the virtual. He believes these translations are not lossless, that what is vanished is a sense of presence, or what Walter Benjamin defines as object aura. The physical object is slowly tranquilized and replaced with less potent simulacra of itself.
Cybernetic algorithms have largely informed modern conceptions of intelligence, thus ignoring the ways in which naturally-occurring physical systems also form networks encoded with complex information. The quantization of analog information, from complex continuous data to discrete digital data, from unfiltered information to 1’s and 0’s, is a process which intentionally simplifies and restructures the natural world in order to increase accuracy and control. Parker's work seeks to voluntarily relinquish this computerized regulation in favor of an analog aesthetic.
Parker teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, on the Design for Performance and Interaction MArch.
Exhibitions
August 2023
Field Maneuvers Festival, UK
Kinetic stage design, lighting, and build of the FM outdoor stage.
July 2023
Frieze No. 9 Cork Street, London, UK
‘I’d search forever, I want to remember’ multidisciplinary exhibition with Tamara Al-Mashouk for Refugee Week UK.
June 2023
The Citadel, Dover, UK
‘I’d search forever, I want to remember’ multidisciplinary exhibition with Tamara Al-Mashouk for Refugee Week UK.
January 2023
I Light U, Utrecht, Netherlands
‘Office Party’ kinetic lighting installation.
November 2022
Four Tet at The Baths, London, UK
Lighting and set design for “Playground Jam” fundraiser, 20 Nov.
November 2022
Total Refreshment Centre, London, UK
Installation artwork and immersive environment, featuring Melissa Weikart, directed by Alfie Johnson.
November 2022
OXO Tower Wharf, London, UK
‘Ghost’, kinetic sculpture and sound artwork, collaboration with Melissa Weikart, commissioned by Cluster Contemporary.
October 2022
Arad Contemporary Art Center, Israel
’Gathering Dust’, collaboration with Sivan Kidron.
September 2022
FOLD, London, UK
Kinetic sculpture for the daytime rave ‘UNFOLD’, 29 Sept.
August 2022
M.A.D. Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
’Cosmobloom Silver’ collaboration with Mac Van Dam.
July 2022
Floating Points + Daphni, The Baths, London, UK
Lighting and stage design for “Playground Jam” fundraiser, 10 July.
April 2022
Coachella Music Festival, California, USA
Set Design for the band ‘Crumb’ at Sonora Tent.
March 2022
Bristol Light Festival, UK
‘Office Party’ kinetic lighting installation.
October 2021
Crumb, Ice Melt Tour, USA
Set design for the rock band Crumb, touring 33 shows in USA and Europe between Oct 2021 and March 2022.
August 2021
Vilnius Light Festival, Lithuania
‘Jacob’s Wall’ public artwork, kinetic installation.
January 2021
Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival, London, UK
‘The Epiphany’ public artwork, collaboration with Mobstr.
July 2020
It’s Nice That Magazine, London, UK
‘Creativity for Humanity’, kinetic sculpture and video ident.
May 2020
Venice Biennale of Architecture, Venice, Italy
‘Syntony’, Montenegrin Pavilion, with Vasilija Abramovic and Ruairi Glynn (cancelled due to Covid-19).
April 2020
Salon del Mobile, Milan, Italy
‘Feltscape’ systems design for Salvatore Cicero and Theophile Peju (nominated for the Lexus Design Award).
February 2020
CentroCentro, Madrid, Spain
‘A Golden Age’, kinetic sculpture with Rosana Antolí.
January 2020
Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival, London, UK
‘16 Bits’, interactive kinetic sculpture.
December 2019
The Dome, Tufnell Park, London, UK
Set Design for the band ‘Crumb’.
November 2019
Tate Britain, London, UK
‘Bauhaus Recoded’ with Interactive Architecture Lab for ‘Late at Tate Britain’.
October 2019
Signal Festival, Prague, Czech Republic
‘Jacob’s Wall’, kinetic sculpture.
July 2019
Nesta FutureFest, London, UK
Installation for ‘Hard Things to Talk About’ Immersive Dinner Series.
July 2019
Arup Global Headquarters, London, UK
‘Drivers of Change: New Forms of Practice’, exhibition designer.
June 2019
FOLD, London, UK
‘Introduction to Interactive Sound Design’, workshop.
May 2019
Ugly Duck Gallery, London, UK
‘Analog Future’, kinetic sculpture.
April 2019
wndr Museum, Chicago, USA
‘Jacob’s Wall’, kinetic sculpture, permanent install.
December 2018
Grow Hackney, London, UK
‘As You Sense’, stage design and live musical performance.