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Tim Minter

Playing with light & data

2026 Exhibition. Gallery 19a. Brighton. BN1 7HB. 9-20 January

I create systems that run without my control, and that lack of control is what makes them compelling. My practice grew out of playing with making data understandable and a curiosity in the unpredictable nature of algorithms when chaos is injected. Many of my pieces are generative, built on simple code rather than AI, yet they echo the spirit of early artificial intelligence experiments. I’m fascinated by how people respond to randomness and connection, how we instinctively look for meaning and pattern even when none exists. My interactive works invite you into that process: sometimes through direct engagement, like pressing a button, and sometimes through subtle triggers, like movement. These pieces are not just objects; they’re conversations between code, light, motion, and human perception.

Image of the artist Tim Minter

What happens when you push the button on a perfectly behaved system? Brighton artist Tim Minter invites you to find out. This January, come and visit a playground of light, movement and gentle chaos. Expect spinning objects, glowing lights and a computer endlessly trying and failing to write the perfect sentence. Tim takes big concepts like AI, data and randomness and turns them into artworks you can play with

Digital Flier for 2026 Exhibition

Sentimentometers

September 2018 | Kinetic Acrylic & Diecast Aluminium

An analogue view of the digital world. The complexity of social media analysed and distilled down into a single number represented on a dial. Originally conceived as a live barometer of Twitter sentiment in a geographic location, while I was working at IBM. Over time the piece has been significantly modified and added to. The version here is a statement about the human need to both find patterns and reinforce preconceptions or beliefs already held. This version was forced into existence in 2019 when I had to rethink the piece to work with no internet connection. Instead of real data, random data was used. The audience made their own minds up, seeing patterns that just were not there.

Random Dot Machine Number 1

Random Dot Machine
No 1

May 2019 | Light Mixed Media Acrylic & Wood

First in a series exploring randomness in computing. Light is projected onto an acrylic medium. A computer chooses a space, starts a cycle through 256 colours, rolls a virtual dice and lands on a chosen colour. Hard digital logic turned into something soothing.

Random Dot Machine Number 1

16 Bit Group

November 2021-August 2024 | Kinetic Mixed Media

An exploration of the effect of chaos on a system. In the world, the chaos that erupts has a daily impact. This exhibit minimises society into a 16 bit system and invites the viewer to add chaos. Some chaos is expected and the system is designed to handle it. Some chaos is too much, or the wrong kind, and the system fails. In this case the system resets and it lives on.

Image of some of the spinning elements of the 16 part group

Experiment 6

September 2025 | Mixed Media

An experiment in language. If a machine follows only basic rules for building words and sentences, without knowing their meaning, then repeated generation will create text that looks like language, showing that structure alone can make things feel readable. Can a system that uses only simple grammar rules, without real words or meaning, produce text that people see as “word-like” or “sentence-like”? And which patterns make it seem that way?

Croped image of green simgle line display screens with incorrect words displayed

Contact

Please send a message via Instagram

@timminterart