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Chris Combs

@chriscombs.net
620 followers 1.4K following 313 posts

Artist in Washington, DC and Mount Rainier, MD. My art both incorporates and questions technologies. chriscombs.net

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Reposted by Chris Combs
Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 28/08/2026
Spotted a @chriscombs.net sculpture at Harmony Hall Arts Center yesterday
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Extinct, not dead @flightless.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Insert 25 cents to Feel Something (brilliant title!) @chriscombs.net www.instagram.com/p/DXKDrJWkUvZ
Screencap from instagram re: Earth Day event at Finders Keepers show
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Jackson Art Center @jacksonartcenter.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
“Finders Keepers” @thedcarts.bsky.social “Elysium” @chriscombs.net
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 03/04/2026
Sculpture by @chriscombs.net Evokes the early days of the internet
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 05/03/2026
A nice review of the Athenaeum sculpture show in Alexandria with work by @chriscombs.net and @jackiehoysted.bsky.social You can visit until Sunday 3/8
open.substack.com
Systems Management
Sculpture in a diverse “Continuum.” Also: Tawny Chatmon’s exaltations; Rosemary Feit Covey’s excavations; Matthew Curry’s gestures; Eric Johnson chronicles a disappearance; and Scott Davis disorients
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 25/02/2026
Hammond GEODE by @chriscombs.net at the AU Museum #art #sciart
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 02/02/2026
The Orb is an art installation by @chriscombs.net . When you press and hold the red button, it slowly destroys a chatbot 😈
Art installation mostly made of metal with a large shiny orb and a control panel with a red button
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 12/01/2026
Philly, my cat machine is coming to you! "Insert 25 Cents to Feel Something" is in a CFEVA show opening January 22. (I'm sorry to miss the reception!)
A radiant cat looks upwards against a blue sky backdrop, as seen in a bulbous lens. The lens is set in a metal ring in a decrept blue-painted machine.The decrepit machine turns out to be a sort of vending machine, hand-lettered with "Tired? No pep? Feet hurt? Insert 25 Cents to Feel Something."
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 12/01/2026
Styrofoam peanuts never do seem to go away, do they? So I thought it would be nice to make them even more permanent. I melted E-waste hard drive cases and household waste to make these lost-foam "Forever Peanuts" during our last Otis Street Arts Project aluminum pour.
A shiny aluminum peanut, a cast of a styrofoam peanut, rests on black fabric. It is S-shaped and a lot of its textural detail is captured in the casting.Four metal peanuts on fabric. Slight variations are visible in them, such as a tighter or looser "grain" from the original foam; so, too, can you see a cleanly cut metallic edge where each peanut was cut from sprues during finishing (a hand done process)Nine small jewelry boxes hold one peanut each, along with paper slips reading "FOREVER PEANUT, CHRISCOMBS.NET"
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 05/11/2025
I'm doing a fun zoom convo about my artwork and methods on Saturday morning (U.S. East Coast time). It's about 40 mins of me showing images and then a good 20 mins of open q&a. www.jjbruns.com/aco-chris-co...
jjbruns.com
ACO Artist Discussion with Chris Combs - JJ Bruns
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 05/11/2025
I'm doing a fun zoom convo about my artwork and methods on Saturday morning (U.S. East Coast time). It's about 40 mins of me showing images and then a good 20 mins of open q&a. www.jjbruns.com/aco-chris-co...
jjbruns.com
ACO Artist Discussion with Chris Combs - JJ Bruns
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 26/09/2025
Here's my first permanent public artwork, "Periscopes." When you look through its bulbous lenses, you see scenes that might seem faraway, such as heron stalking their prey; but all of the footage was filmed (by me) within 10mi of its site at Buzzard Point in southwest Washington, D.C., USA.
In a brick-lined planter along a quiet breezeway, two periscope-like grey pipes erupt from the ground like brontosauruses. They each are painted industrial grey and are roughly person-sized. From this angle, the closer "Periscope" reveals a bulbous screen that is displaying a watery natural scene.From a few feet away, their setting is more apparent. They are at two different heights, pointed, as if curious creatures, in two different directions.A close-up view shows another natural scene, this time showing a swamp. There is a hood over the end of the artwork, akin to a traffic light or signal. It has big chunky bolts.A side view shows the artwork's proximity to a central square within its host development.
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 26/09/2025
Here's my first permanent public artwork, "Periscopes." When you look through its bulbous lenses, you see scenes that might seem faraway, such as heron stalking their prey; but all of the footage was filmed (by me) within 10mi of its site at Buzzard Point in southwest Washington, D.C., USA.
In a brick-lined planter along a quiet breezeway, two periscope-like grey pipes erupt from the ground like brontosauruses. They each are painted industrial grey and are roughly person-sized. From this angle, the closer "Periscope" reveals a bulbous screen that is displaying a watery natural scene.From a few feet away, their setting is more apparent. They are at two different heights, pointed, as if curious creatures, in two different directions.A close-up view shows another natural scene, this time showing a swamp. There is a hood over the end of the artwork, akin to a traffic light or signal. It has big chunky bolts.A side view shows the artwork's proximity to a central square within its host development.
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 13/09/2025
dismayed by recent moderation decisions on this platform and will be cooling down my participation here for a while. atproto/bsky is about as decentralized as my nervous system. and there is clearly a right side of history and these mod calls are not on it Find me on masto, mastodon.art/@combs
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hannah draper @jankypants.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Why is a U.S. park police helicopter doing circles over my house at 0315 @cmzparker5.bsky.social @freedcproject.bsky.social
Copter spotter screenshot of USPP helicopter doing very loud loop de loops over my neighborhood
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 25/08/2025
Today's mood
A child balances a log while crossing a river against a backdrop of smokestacks, trash, rusting machine carcasses, and pollution as a few wild plants and creatures try to flee on the illustrated cover of the "How and Why Wonder Book of the Spoilt Earth," a 1972 science book for kids with a slightly discordant title.
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 22/08/2025
Sharing with the #SciArt feed
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 22/08/2025
ahhh yes the printer is the perfect model and position for each page to fly overhead, operator giving chase like a cat with a feather
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 22/08/2025
SO wonderful as a sole proprietor to be paying 55% tariffs on my own circuit board designs
SUMMARY:
Merchandise Total $320.20
Shipping Estimate $48.71
Customs duties & taxes $176.11
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 20/08/2025
"Apps slated for deep sleep" is so annoying. When do I get to be slated for deep sleep
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Count Draugula @artd.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Someone needs to update this
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Jake Berg @jacobsberg.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Heads up, Brookland
That moment when DHS and ICE arrive in your neighborhood and you find out the Fire Department probably aren't your friends. In the Brookland neighborhood of Washington DC.
Brookland now
ENGINE Co.
No. 17
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Neighbors United for DC Statehood @51stdc.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Here are the House Dems NOT cosponsoring the #DCStatehood bill: Cuellar Don Davis Gillen Gluesenkamp Perez Golden Goodlander V. Gonzalez Gray Harder Kaptur Susie Lee Liccardo McDonald Rivet Pappas Pou Riley Sherrill Titus Vasquez Whitesides
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 18/08/2025
is codemash in OH a fun time?
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Tom Bridge @tombridge.com · 17/08/2025
The thing about the occupation of DC that you're probably not hearing about as much as the checkpoints and the troops on the streets: our evenings are full of helicopters circling. It's 10:25pm, and the police copter has been circling for half an hour. It's like this every night now. It sucks.
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 16/08/2025
eagerly awaiting the inevitable demise of the share.google link shortener
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 16/08/2025
Dear @cmzparker5.bsky.social, From a Ward 5 constituent: What are you doing about the violent, armed occupation of our city by ICE and federal officials? They are destroying the lives of DC residents, citizens, and taxpayers.
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Alex Koma @alexkoma.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
As if this week were not bizarre enough: Mount Pleasant residents tell me a group of federal agents gathered for a photo-op near a pro-immigrant banner, pictured below, then tore it down. In its place, they left a dildo. A neighbor's Ring camera captured the whole thing...
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 07/08/2025
What???
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 30/07/2025
Possums don't eat ticks! Sorry!!!
outdoor.wildlifeillinois.org
Debunking the Myth: Opossums Don’t Eat Ticks
<p>Researchers have debunked a popular meme about Virginia opossums eating ticks. Careful analysis of opossum stomach contents (yes, the work of some researchers!) revealed many items, including worms...
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 30/07/2025
Also, truly a gem in my collection of Ancient Paper Artifacts—I just scanned and uploaded the AOL guide for "Information Providers." This document was heavily NDA-ed back when AOL existed. archive.org/details/amer...
The cover and intro page from a scanned AOL "Information Provider's Guide." The cover is a SUPER 90's "jazz cup" style design with three superimposed copies of the AOL logo in teal, purple, and blue. It is labeled "Revision 1.0, July 1994."
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 30/07/2025
I digitized a lovely old 1989 paper datasheet for the IEE "Daystar Nova" LCDs, part numbers 03857-21 and 03857-22. 4x40 LCDs with a cool green EL backlight.
archive.org
Industrial Electronic Engineers, Inc., Liquid Crystal Display Module 4x 40 Characters Daystar Nova 03857 21 And 03857 22 : Industrial Electronic Engineers, Inc. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming ...
This specification describes the Daystar Nova modules 03857-21 and 03857-22, 4-line liquid crystal displays (LCD's) with 40 characters per line and green EL...
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 25/07/2025
Hey! I made a couple more of those USE YOUR OWN BRAIN paintings #sciart One in rainbow watercolor artologica.etsy.com/listing/4341...
watercolor painting with rainbow stripes and brain
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Jerad Walker @jeradwalker.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 22/07/2025
ok this is probably just me being a weirdo but I am completely obsessed with the phrase "snorkel the shavers fork" www.wvhighlands.org/event/snorke...
wvhighlands.org
Snorkel the Shavers Fork! - West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
Trade the trail for the river and spend a couple of hours face-to-face with the underwater life of the Cheat.
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John Terry @johntrterry.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
hell yeah @williamfleitch.bsky.social
9. If you use Al to write something for you, it is meaningless and we'd all be better off if you had never said anything in the first place.

This is the thing: Writing is meaning. The reason we write things is to express some sort of meaning, to pass along important information, to convey a human emotion or sensation. It doesn't matter whether the writing is grammatically correct, or vividly expressed. It matters that it came from you. That is the point of writing. If you ask a Chatbot to write something for you, you are being fundamentally unhuman and foundationally dishonest. I am not going to bend on this one. If it requires an Al bot for you to express something to me, you and I are probably not actually friends.
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 21/07/2025
pleased to report there is a fast food chain named Wienerschnitzels. They do not sell them. They sell hotdogs en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieners...
en.m.wikipedia.org
Wienerschnitzel - Wikipedia
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Chris Franklin @errant-signal.com · 20/07/2025
And I guess that's the answer as to who uses this tech. It emulates a power dynamic where you're the person in charge. It's Guitar Hero for middle management. It's incredibly flattering to use. "It saw my vision immediately!" is such a giveaway to that mindset. Affirming your input is what it does!
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Rob Cruickshank @robcruickshank.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
This is where I post from
series of photos of a prototype of Micheal Webb's "suitaloon" which is essential a bubble that can be crried with a persion ,and inflated around them as needed. in the final image a man is shown lying on a cusion inside a clear bubble and wearing conceptional VR eyepieces which are wired to a device he is holding. he is wearing only shorts
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 01/07/2025
my first Name That Ware submission! www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2025/na...
bunniestudios.com
Name that Ware, June 2025 « bunnie's blog
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 29/06/2025
Post an unusual sign if you feel like it
a worn sign reading, "DANGER: SLUSHING"
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 28/06/2025
Guess that Valnet acquisition is going just great. Look what I found in my spam box... And yes this is signed by polygon.com
An email from Polygon, newsletter@polygon.com, titled "rrrrr" with the email body "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

Also, the footer says "You are subscribed to Moms.com newsletters" but the logo is Polygon and so is the email domain
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 25/06/2025
who needs to see an uwu solar sail rn www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/topics/00...
isas.jaxa.jp
End of 15 year operation of the Small Scale Solar Powered Sail Demonstration Satellite, IKAROS | ISAS
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 17/06/2025
ope, slapping a #SciArt on here too, my mistake
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 17/06/2025
Today was my first day underground as the 2025 artist in residence at the Sanford Underground Research Facility! I'm still coming down from the high (or coming up from the depths?) but here are a few quick views from 4,850 feet under the surface of Lead, SD, USA.
I look at the camera, wearing a hard hat, high-vis coveralls, and a headlamp. I'm in a rough-hewn drift, or tunnel, with other similarly dressed folks behind me. There is rail on the ground, with ladders, fencing, and industrial fittings everywhere.A tour group wearing lit headlamps approaches the camera from within a dark cavern. The walls have netting and rock bolts to secure the rock.A large, red blast door with a guide from Fermilab standing next to it; he is holding open a much smaller person-sized door for us to enter. The room is dark beyond. A dramatic view of a rail line leading into a dark tunnel, with a distant pool of light. The walls are particularly rough here. LED rope light and other bulbs provide a bit of ambient lighting in the closest portions of the photo.
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 14/06/2025
it'd be fun to make a game about the Land of Blemmyes publicdomainreview.org/collection/b...
publicdomainreview.org
Off with Their Heads: Illustrations of Blemmyes (ca. 1175–1724)
Depictions of the mythical creatures known as Blemmyes: humanoids whose eyes, nose, and mouth are embedded in their breast.
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Maybe we can keep telling them what a fucking nightmare this is & they’ll pull out of this google deal? Are they this desperate for money? I understand firsthand how hard it is to keep a resource going when grant funding is hard to come by, I do it every day. Succumbing to AI isn’t the answer.
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🏳️‍🌈Real🛠️Time🧙💛🤍💜🖤 @realtime.crt.video · 07/06/2025
imagine if you will: holding the top bun open with a screwdriver as you take your measurement. a perfect medium rare your hand slips and a wave of hunger washes over you you act quickly to shield your coworkers because it's too late for you you're dead in 2 days. organs char broiled
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707Kat @707kat.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
They are making it impossible to host information online and drying up resources. Stop defending and supporting these malicious entities.
Whether it’s cryptocurrency scammers mining with FOSS compute resources or Google engineers too lazy to design their software properly or Silicon Valley ripping off all the data they can get their hands on at everyone else’s expense… I am sick and tired of having all of these costs externalized directly into my fucking face. Do something productive for society or get the hell away from my servers. Put all of those billions and billions of dollars towards the common good before sysadmins collectively start a revolution to do it for you.

Please stop legitimizing LLMs or AI image generators or GitHub Copilot or any of this garbage. I am begging you to stop using them, stop talking about them, stop making new ones, just stop. If blasting CO2 into the air and ruining all of our freshwater and traumatizing cheap laborers and making every sysadmin you know miserable and ripping off code and books and art at scale and ruining our fucking democracy isn’t enough for you to leave this shit alone, what is?

If you personally work on developing LLMs et al, know this: I will never work with you again, and I will remember which side you picked when the bubble bursts.
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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 02/06/2025
just squeaked in my order!! 💖
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