iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 04/02/2026

I certainly don't mind that it looks a bit like a Van de Graaff generator or a Tesla coil! But sorry to say that the destruction is fictional—and cyclical...

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Reposted by Chris Combs

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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Exhibitions — The Center for Emerging Visual Artists

CFEVA at The Science Center @ 3600 Market Street Future Continuous Guest Juried by Lauren Sandler, CFEVA Visual Artist Fellow On View January 22-March 20, 2026 Opening Reception: Thursday, January 22, 5-7 PM 3600 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104

cfeva.org

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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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They will debut in "Future Finds" at Bathers Library in Oakland CA, opening 1/17 5-8PM.

futurefinds.cargo.site

Future Finds

cargo.site

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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 05/11/2025

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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Reposted by Chris Combs

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

jjbruns.com

ACO Artist Discussion with Chris Combs - JJ Bruns

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Reposted by Chris Combs

Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 27/09/2025

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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of course--children can step on the ledge to view the shorter one

Here's a video view that gives you a sense of what it's like to peer in the screen. The scenes are fairly still, changing every 30-60 seconds; not dynamic enough to watch like a video per se, but more like an ever-changing picture frame. Permalink with more videos: chriscombs.net/2025/09/24/p...

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I worked with a team to install this artwork at "The Stacks" on Wednesday. Steelwork by Steven R. Jones.

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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 13/09/2025

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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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it's eel-ectric! boogawoogawooga

Reposted by Chris Combs

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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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 · 20/08/2025

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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"Apps slated for deep sleep" is so annoying. When do I get to be slated for deep sleep

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Reposted by Chris Combs

Count Draugula @artd.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Someone needs to update this

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Reposted by Chris Combs

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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Reposted by Chris Combs

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

@cmzparker5.bsky.social Are you still going on "public safety" strolls with MPD? Here's our biggest safety concern right now: MPD (and the random feds and guardsmen) assaulting our neighbors for no reason whatsoever

Eckington Public Safety Walk
We will continue our community walks and multi-agency coordination with neighbors on Monday, August 25 with a walk in Eckington along T St NE. Here are the details:
Public Safety Walk - August 25 @ 6:30 p.m.
Meet at T St and Summit Pl NE
We will join MPD's Community Safety Walk to address quality-of-life concerns in the T St NE area of Eckington. This is a great chance to connect with neighbors and share any safety concerns you have.

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Chris Combs @chriscombs.net · 18/08/2025

is codemash in OH a fun time?

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Reposted by Chris Combs

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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eagerly awaiting the inevitable demise of the share.google link shortener

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You don't need to do SOMETHING; you need to do EVERYTHING. Get out there and make things happen. I was so proud to vote for you. Use the urgency that this desperate moment requires.

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The best I am hearing from our local leadership is some weak tussling about who is in charge of the horribleness. Nobody is stopping it.

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Alex Koma @alexkoma.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

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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Reposted by Chris Combs

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 · 30/07/2025

Here's what AOL had to say about "Netiquette" in July 1994. "Online, no one can hear your voice. What you would have said hesitantly, or ironically, or with a shrug, appears online as words alone, usually with more force than you intend."

A scanned document with the following text:

Online Etiquette — "Netiquette"

Every community has its codes of behavior, and the electronic community is
no exception. America Online defines what is unacceptable with its Terms of
Service, but what is acceptable is not the same as what is desirable.

To enjoy your time online, and to get a good response from other members of
the community, you should have a basic understanding of netiquette. Most of
it is common sense, or the same good manners you use in the real world.
Some fundamental rules of netiquette are:

Be polite, or at least civil. Beyond the tenets of good manners, and the
common-sense wisdom that civility works better than hostility, it is
particularly important to watch your words. Online, no one can hear your
voice. What you would have said hesitantly, or ironically, or with a shrug,
appears online as words alone, usually with more force than you intend. Make
sure that you always ask yourself if you would like to receive from a stranger
what you are about to send.

Be brief. It costs money to read online. Also, reading online is more tiring
than reading a book. Long-winded, clause-filled passages, elegant though
they may be, get skipped.

A scanned document with the following text:

Don't contribute unless you have something to say. Online users resent
wading through messages that simply say "I agree with Bob" or that merely
repeat what Bob or anyone else already said. The online community is smart
and impatient; if you want to say something, say something new.

Make sure you are fully up-to-date on the discussion. Online users reserve
particular venom for people who enter discussions and voice their opinions
without reading what has already been posted.

Get quotes right. If you quote another person's message in order to argue
with it, and your quote is not what the other person actually said, you appear
lazy or dishonest. Paraphrasing a long passage is of course acceptable, but
since copying and pasting text is relatively easy with a computer, you will be
faulted in strident terms for incorrectly stating what someone else said.

Avoid capitalizing whole words. CAPITAL LETTERS SHOUT, and
messages full of them are hard to read. To emphasize words, mark them off
with asterisks (for example, *amazing*). For italics, such as a book title,
mark the phrase off with underscores (for example, Moby Dick_).