iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Allen @allenriley.com · 11/09/2026

I’m an eyewitness to the moment Flight 175 crashed into the second tower. My mom called me repeatedly before 9am, eventually waking me up saying, “Allen, the building outside your window is on fire” into the answering machine, and I got up and watched the explosion from my dorm window

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Allen @allenriley.com · 09/09/2026

When I see "hybrid theory/practice" in academic art: hybrid theory mentioned

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Allen @allenriley.com · 02/09/2026

There should be an artist residency that is entirely devoted to organizing hard drives

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Allen @allenriley.com · 27/08/2026

The new game at @wonderville.nyc was produced through an @arcadecommons.org open call I wrote called "Infinite Continues: Collective Achievement Arcade Cabinet" seeking designs for a game progressed by many players over time. I was very surprised and delighted by the proposal for "Step Right Up"!

killscreen.com

Step Right Up, Wonderville's new fortune-teller cabinet

Vector graphics, an animatronic barker and a custom trackball, playable now in Bushwick.

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AndyMakes @andymakes.itch.io · 15/08/2026

Speaking of Hypnogenesis, @allenriley.com brought it all the way to the Games & Demos Session at Foundations of Digital Games 2026 in Copenhagen this past week! Thank you to Dooley Murphy for curating!

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AndyMakes @andymakes.itch.io · 02/07/2026

If you're curious about Hypnogenesis, a video feedback space shooter, @allenriley.com edited our @exgs.bsky.social talk from @officialgdc.bsky.social into a clean video with lots of game footage! #indiegames #videofeedback www.youtube.com/watch?v=n38C...

youtube.com

Hypnogenesis by Allen Riley and Andy Wallace

YouTube video by Allen Riley

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Allen @allenriley.com · 15/06/2026

I once again consult my Triangle of Despair® life improvement model first established in 2012: Instructions: Each of the three corners (Confused, Discouraged, Unhealthy) leads to the others. Remove one corner to break the triangle.

A close-up photograph of a crumpled thermal receipt paper print-out of a diagram labeled "Triangle of Despair." The diagram is a faint grey triangle with a skull emoji in the center. The three points of the triangle are labeled: Confused, Discouraged, Unhealthy.

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Allen @allenriley.com · 28/05/2026

I apparently made this MS Paint illustration of the Dream House by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela which I emailed to myself on February 12, 2010 (dh.bmp)

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Allen @allenriley.com · 28/05/2026

I pretty much had zero or negative interest in the idea of art before seeing the Dream House in 2002 and I still don’t really understand or make art that isn’t somehow like the Dream House

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Allen @allenriley.com · 18/05/2026

There was a lot more crowd footage of my 2022 Smashing Pumpkins cover show than I realized. I learned a lot about performing live music doing this!

youtu.be

Infinite Pumpkins: Songs by The Smashing Pumpkins – Wonderville, October 8, 2022

YouTube video by Allen Riley

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Allen @allenriley.com · 14/04/2026

"I AM THE BEST ARTIST René" by René Moncada on West Broadway between Spring and Broome Street circa 1986 appears in the 1988 Superman arcade game by Taito

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Allen @allenriley.com · 14/04/2026

I saw Mindflayer, Action Trio, Noise Nomads, Kites/Can't, and Shadowmaps at an on-campus apartment at Hampshire College in 2003

mindflayer1.bandcamp.com

IT'S ALWAYS 1999, by MINDFLAYER

21 track album

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AndyMakes @andymakes.itch.io · 07/04/2026

Hypnogenesis has a wishlist page on Steam! After the response that @allenriley.com and I got at GDC we decided to make a home version! I think we're the only game on Steam that mentions Nam Jun Paik in the description. store.steampowered.com/app/4545390 #indiedev #videofeedback #indiegames

store.steampowered.com

Hypnogenesis on Steam

Hypnogenesis is an experimental video feedback bullet hell game in which arcade gameplay is integrated with the controls of a video synthesizer.

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Carol Mertz @carolmertz.itch.io · 14/03/2026

This year’s @exgs.bsky.social Experimental Games Showcase at @officialgdc.bsky.social was such a joy to help organize and be a part of. Thank you so much to everyone who presented, organized, showed up to pack the room, and came to demo. What an absolute honor to work with these people. ♥️

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Allen @allenriley.com · 29/03/2026

I discussed the “Oddly Satisfying” video/performance program I curated for @anindexof.bsky.social at the 2026 Society for Cinema and Media Studies featuring Erma Fiend, Blake Andrews and Nina Sobell

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AndyMakes @andymakes.itch.io · 24/03/2026

I nearly forgot: @allenriley.com did something very important at GDC

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Allen @allenriley.com · 20/03/2026

I like to think that if Kurt Cobain lived longer he would have started a post-Nirvana techno grunge band inspired by PIL in 1997 called Transcendence Inc.

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AndyMakes @andymakes.itch.io · 16/03/2026

What an amazing GDC! @allenriley.com and I got to present Hypnogenesis to a huge room of people at the @exgs.bsky.social! At the demo session, the Little Raven Gallery & the @boshis.place x @syzygysf.com party, we had 244 play sessions on the machine! (photo by @jakeweidner.bsky.social)

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Allen @allenriley.com · 14/03/2026

Got lunch in a ramen place in SF and every song on the radio was by the exact same Jack Johnson style singer with lyrics like “transactions smooth as butter”, I asked and it was indeed AI

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Allen @allenriley.com · 13/03/2026

Andy Wallace and I showed and discussed Hypnogenesis at a video game concept art exhibition curated by Steph Ng and Meha Murthy at Little Raven Gallery in San Francisco on March 12, 2026. The show also featured microtalks by game designers including Richard Lemarchand and Bridget Winn.

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Allen @allenriley.com · 12/03/2026

@andymakes.itch.io and I presented Hypnogenesis at The Intersection of Art and Technology on March 10, 2026. The game is on display until March 14.

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Allen @allenriley.com · 09/03/2026

Hypnogenesis, the video feedback arcade game I made with @andymakes.itch.io is going on a San Francisco tour from March 10-14, 2026 with events at the Intersection of Art & Technology, Little Raven, Experimental Games Showcase at GDC, and boshi's place x Syzygy!

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Allen @allenriley.com · 22/02/2026

Allen Learns Video Synthesis, 2010/2026 (cutting some multichannel edits of work that has never been displayed)

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AndyMakes @andymakes.itch.io · 18/02/2026

Exciting news: @allenriley.com and I will be showing Hypnogenesis at the Experimental Games Showcase at @officialgdc.bsky.social We'll be talking about using video synthesis techniques to make video feedback a core gameplay mechanic. We'd love to show the game at your GDC party! Drop us a line!

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Allen @allenriley.com · 12/02/2026

I made a series of cell phone landscape videos processed with the Sandin Image Processor in 2010

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Allen @allenriley.com · 03/02/2026

Here's a site with info about Hypnogenesis, the new psychedelic space shooter that I am making with @andymakes.itch.io. The game uses video feedback as a core gameplay mechanic via Andrei Jay's Video Waaaves library. www.hypnogenesis.xyz

hypnogenesis.xyz

Hypnogenesis

Hypnogenesis by Allen Riley and Andy Wallace

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Allen @allenriley.com · 19/01/2026

I do miss having a Volvo 240 station wagon but the van rules

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Allen @allenriley.com · 18/01/2026

I have had to move my studio so many times since moving to Santa Cruz that I feel like I work for an eccentric artist who never makes anything and who I never see

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Arcade Commons @arcadecommons.org · 06/01/2026

HYPNOGENESIS, a psychedelic space shooter by @andymakes.itch.io and @allenriley.bsky.social , created using video waaaves by Andrei Jay! An analogue visual feast, and yes, we'll have a CRT for display :)

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AndyMakes @andymakes.itch.io · 29/12/2025

Over at Wonderville doing some more CRT work with @kleeb.bsky.social to get Hypnogenesis (my video feedback game with @allenriley.bsky.social) ready for @magfest.org!!! It's been a minute since I played through the whole game!

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Allen @allenriley.com · 12/12/2025

I presented "Video Feedback as a Model for Emergent Narrative" at ICIDS 2025 – 18th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling. Thinking about how to approach AI as a live signal medium like electronic music or video synthesis (and not as a source of content).

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Allen @allenriley.com · 18/11/2025

Just read my PhD application from 2021 and it is heartening to see that I either have done, or have concrete plans to do, pretty much everything I said I would do, although I have not necessarily made anyone aware of these things outside my immediate community

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Allen @allenriley.com · 17/11/2025

I participated in this song-a-week challenge this fall at the encouragement of my friend Maggie Carson, and at the end you're supposed to go back and re-record one of the songs. Here is mine!

musiceveryweek.bandcamp.com

Allen Riley - Mousetrap, by Music Every Week

from the album MEW fall/winter 2025 compilation

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Allen @allenriley.com · 16/11/2025

I spent so much time sifting through VHS rips on the Internet Archive looking for this previously-lost Rhode Island TV commercial, but it was impossible to find because it presumably aired during times when nobody was taping. Thankfully someone finally found Super Credit Man, and I am at peace.

youtube.com

FOUND!!! SUPER CREDIT MAN COMMERCIAL!!! Express Cars and Credit. Rhode Island commercial.

YouTube video by Live Laugh Love

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Allen @allenriley.com · 10/11/2025

U2's The Edge has truly had a singular impact on the composition and style of hold music

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Allen @allenriley.com · 10/11/2025

The day after his screening at @anindexof.bsky.social, Larry Gottheim met with filmmakers in Santa Cruz on Nov 9, 2025 to view and discuss works in progress. We looked at my work, as well as projects by Nena Hedrick, Matte Hewitt, and Alanna Nickles.

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Indexical @anindexof.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Saturday Nov 8: We're very excited to be hosting Larry Gottheim as part of the filmmaker's California tour celebrating his 2024 book "The Red Thread: Larry Gottheim and His Films." Q&A with guest curator @allenriley.bsky.social to follow the film screening. www.indexical.org/events/2025-...

indexical.org

An Evening with Larry Gottheim

<div>Join us for an evening with avant-garde luminary Larry Gottheim. Q&A with guest curator Allen Riley (PhD candidate in Film & Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz) to follow the program. <br><b...

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Allen @allenriley.com · 05/11/2025

I know he is making a point about the cost of living, but as a person living in California who listens to the Brian Lehrer Show every day, I appreciate Mamdani's coinage of "a New Yorker who lives elsewhere"

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Allen @allenriley.com · 04/11/2025

Here's the recording of my talk "Arcade Games as Public Art" at MAGWest 2025 in San Jose, CA on August 8, 2025. @arcadecommons.org

youtube.com

MAGWest 2025: Arcade Games as Public Art

YouTube video by MAGFest

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Allen @allenriley.com · 22/10/2025

"The limits of my cables are the limits of my world." (Wittgenstein, video art version)

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Allen @allenriley.com · 04/10/2025

“It’s about the history and future of socially interactive video”

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Allen @allenriley.com · 29/09/2025

Have you seen every possible time on the clock? Are there rare times?

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Allen @allenriley.com · 16/09/2025

I performed scenes from my as-yet-unproduced science fiction film Earth’s Basement with my collaborator Shannon Kerrigan as a video synthesis performance that also utilized a live musical scoring system I made that uses an LLM and MaxMSP to categorize dialogue and select musical cues

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Allen @allenriley.com · 03/09/2025

My favorite film at Telluride was “It Was Just An Accident” by Jafar Panahi

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Allen @allenriley.com · 01/09/2025

Dream work and meditation is very hip; the unconscious is Hollywood’s answer to AI

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Allen @allenriley.com · 27/08/2025

Noticing the word “align” or “alignment” newly all over the place ways that seem transferred over from AI jargon

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