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Bruce Willen

@publicmechanics.bsky.social
243 followers 144 following 117 posts

Multi-disciplinary artist, designer, musician Public art + design: Public Mechanics Music: solo, Peals, Double Dagger, Birney-Willen Previously: co-founder @ Post Typography Baltimore

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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Excited to share the release our first Peals albums since 2016! Out now on @thrilljockey.bsky.social peals.bandcamp.com/album/the-co...
peals.bandcamp.com
The Compound 76, by Peals
8 track album
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Grits for Breakfast @gritsforbreakfast.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
@publicmechanics.bsky.social's "Ghost Rivers" in Baltimore ghostrivers.com
ghostrivers.com
Ghost Rivers: public art installation & neighborhood history walk
Rediscovering buried streams and lost histories flowing below the streets of Baltimore
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Brian Boucheron @beardic.us · 12/03/2026
very happy to reconnect with my weirdest friend @albertbirney.bsky.social on here, and to listen to his and @publicmechanics.bsky.social's latest album, which i am quite thoroughly enjoying whilst creating shareholder value today.
birney-willen.bandcamp.com
Landscapes, by Birney-Willen
10 track album
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I'm in a group exhibition at Park School of Baltimore, where I’m also the 2026 Resident Artist. There's a daytime reception this Thursday afternoon — feel free to stop by! This photocopy-based installation piece from 2007 will be on view, feeling somehow more relevant today than when I made it.
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Alex Goldman @agoldman.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Everytime I see the narrative about the violence of the left…what could be more violent than callously, needlessly letting people starve to death? www.propublica.org/article/keny...
propublica.org
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
“Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.
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lordofoverstock @lordofoverstock.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
We're a week out from Christmas, if you're interested in noisy shoegazey takes on old carols, here's an EP I released last winter. lordofoverstock.bandcamp.com/album/in-fie...
lordofoverstock.bandcamp.com
in fields as they lay, by Drail
4 track album
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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
This piece by @jamellebouie.net is so good: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Man Who Rules the Country Presides Over Nothing
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.chantal//RYAN @thoughtrise.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
this field biologist does a great job highlighting the insidiousness of AI editing these one-click AI edit buttons are incredibly appealing to many photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, and are framed as innocuous this is worth sharing and educating people about
screenshot of a post on facebook from Alex Lamoreaux, depicting two versions of the "same" photograph of a bobcat in front of a pine plantation, one labeled original game cam photo, one labeling AI processed

the markings have been altered on the AI photo, and the head changed and resized

text says:

Oh! A neat goose hybrid posted to ‘What’s this Bird?’ but when you zoom in on the photos the bill details have been too manipulated by AI photo editing to be accurately assessed for which species may be involved.
Scroll on… A cool-looking Red-tailed Hawk that someone is wondering which subspecies it might be - right up my alley! But when you zoom in on the photos literally every feather group has been so heavily manipulated and altered by AI editing that it’s impossible to determine subspecies because the photo is essentially fake now; just a mashup of whatever AI thinks parts of a Red-tail should look like. 
Scroll on… WOW! That’s a remarkable trail cam photo of a Bobcat! It almost looks like a painting!… but the head looks oddly small…. hmmmm. After some prodding the original photo is produced and sure enough it had been so heavily altered by AI ‘post processing’ that the photo posted was essentially a digital mock-up with totally different proportions and fur markings. No longer the photo off the trail cam; it may as well have just been ‘created’ by AI from scratch.
This stuff is killing me. My days on social media are becoming very limited. We can’t even trust simple, everyday photos of animals to be real. The wildlife community needs to quit editing with AI, and we need to start calling out photographers that are using it. Our reality is being destroyed all around us.
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more." This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular. pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI (permalink)
Last night, I gave a speech for the University of Washington's "Neuroscience, AI and Society" lecture series, through the university's Computational Neuroscience Center. It was called "The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI," and it's based on the manuscript for my next book, "The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI," which will be out from Farrar, Straus and Giroux next June:
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Baltimore musicians: who do you go to locally if you need an effects pedal repaired?
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I Heart Noise @iheartnoise.bandcamp.com · 06/12/2025
👂
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I Heart Noise @iheartnoise.bandcamp.com · 06/12/2025
Duo of the bass players from Future Islands / Double Dagger bsky.app/profile/publ...
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Hello friends! Birney-Willen here to remind you that Landscapes cassettes make great stocking stuffers. (For analog-agnostics all tapes include digital download codes.) Pick up a copy at @normalsbooksbalto.bsky.social E2-E4 Records, Celebrated Summer, or birney-willen.bandcamp.com/album/landsc...
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Peals’ rare 2015 cassette Seltzer is out digitally for the first time via @thrilljockey.bsky.social — a snapshot of our early ambient experiments, from a performance inside the Bromo Seltzer clock tower to drifting home-recorded collages. On Bandcamp + streaming. peals.bandcamp.com/album/seltzer
peals.bandcamp.com
Seltzer, by Peals
18 track album
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
I finally got around to quitting Spotify earlier this year and haven’t looked back. This is a great guide if you’ve also been wanting to make the switch. TLDR. It’s super easy, sound quality much improved, still able to play 99% of my obscure favorites.
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Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
I wrote about how to "win" the "culture wars," in the sense that once you start playing you have already lost. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/culture-wa...
hamiltonnolan.com
Culture Wars Are For Cowards
And most people don't like bullies.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 26/11/2025
oh this is absolutely what i think. i think they feed him fake polls and outright AI slop
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
This is the scandal. Trump isn’t targeting dangerous people. He’s targeting peaceful immigrants. Almost exclusively.
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vote them out 🗳️🚫🐘🌻 @prowhaledad.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
for the record, this is how the @nytimes.com covered Bloomberg, a man elected to the same office as Katie Wilson with the exact same amount of experience in public office as Katie Wilson, but whom the paper did not view with obvious contempt www.nytimes.com/2001/11/07/n...
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Sarah Goodyear @sgoodyear.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Wild. We always say on the podcast that owning a car is required for effective full enfranchisement in most places of the USA because we are such a car-dependent society, but this is...next level. They say it like it's disqualifying for office.
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Julian Frost @serviceurbanisme.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Terrible to yell racism and then leave out the overtly racial origins of single-family zoning in Baltimore City
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Thanks @baltimoremagazine.com and @llyydddzz.bsky.social for including Birney-Willen in the Big Baltimore Playlist 🤙
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Thrill Jockey Records @thrilljockey.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
The clocktower performance was played in collaboration with multimedia artist Zoe Friedman, and incorporated the chimes, clanks, sparks, and pops of the clock machinery working all around the band and audience. You can hear this live, unfiltered space in harmony on "Believers" from Side A now!
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Thrill Jockey Records @thrilljockey.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Seltzer was a cassette-only release in 2015, and collected Peals' live performance in the Bromo Seltzer Tower clockroom on the A-side and a series of improvised living-room pieces from 2013-2014 on the B-side
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Thrill Jockey Records @thrilljockey.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Peals, the collaborative duo of Future Islands' William Cashion and Double Dagger's Bruce Willen, announce the official digital release of their 2015 SUPER RARE cassette "Seltzer" ! The first single "Believers" is now streaming. Official release date is December 5th.
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Ben Can't @bencant.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Re:lrp Crossword alternative: apps.apple.com/us/app/omni-... Spelling Bee alternative: apps.apple.com/us/app/oh-my... Connections alternative: connections-puzzle.net
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Seeing (and playing with) Stars of the Dogon and Revenge of Nigel Winston helped expand for me what music and performance could be. Thanks Ben and Corey and Brian!
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JOE MACLEOD 666 @joemacleod666.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
👀 The Charles St LED billboard wants to remind you to listen to the new Birney-Willen album Landscapes. Enjoy! birney-willen.bandcamp.com/album/landsc...
Photo of a man in a baseball cap pointing up at a large billboard with the cover of Birney-Willen Landscapes on it.
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ceej @ceej.online · 09/11/2025
no amount of state propaganda will ever convince me this man is my enemy
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Anne Trubek @atrubek.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!
lithub.com
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
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matthew ellis @matthiasellis.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
I've noticed that there isn't much talk here about the current internecine war that is unfolding on the right, spearheaded in large part by Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I know this shit is insane and feels bad. But this is a mistake (1/)
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Looking for one of our Landscapes limited cassettes? Dropped a few at Celebrated Summer Records last weekend. @albertbirney.bsky.social
Photo of landscapes cassettes in front of record store
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Crazy fire in lower Remington right now. Maybe at/near Studios on Sisson building?
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Richard Chambers @newschambers.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.
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Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Fight For What You Actually Want remains the savviest political strategy even though it is the least embraced by the people who consider themselves the most savvy. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/do-what-yo...
hamiltonnolan.com
Do What You Believe In
How to navigate a complex political world.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
No it’s important to listen to this. Because then you understand that many of them will do ANYTHING to keep power. Remember Musk got involved in the 2024 election after saying to Tucker “if she wins” I am definitely going to prison. So we need to move knowing that nothing is off the table for them.
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kate wehwalt @katewagner.wehwalt.net · 06/11/2025
wrote about ai real estate listings for @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/cult...
thenation.com
Your Dream House Might Be a Fantasy
AI has has invaded the real estate industry, dissolving the boundaries between image enhancement and false advertising.
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Looking for one of our Landscapes limited cassettes? Dropped a few at Celebrated Summer Records last weekend. @albertbirney.bsky.social
Photo of landscapes cassettes in front of record store
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Show me a serif that goes harder than Clarendon
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
“Roughly 80-89% of the world’s people want their governments to ‘do more’ to address #ClimateChange, and nearly 2/3rds are on board with that action costing them a bit. Yet most think they are the minority, telling pollsters they believe that only around 30% also want stronger climate action.”
thenation.com
The Media Is Complicit in the Climate Confusion
The vast majority of people want their governments to take climate action—but most wrongly think they’re in the minority. The media is partly to blame.
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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
If AI models are derived from the whole of human recorded knowledge maybe they should be collectively owned by the whole of humanity, not a handful of billionaires.
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
I called and wrote to @repkweisimfume.bsky.social last month to ask him to support Block the Bombs Act H.R. 3565 to limit weapons sales to Israel, and I got these AIPAC talking points in response. 😡
Thank you for writing to me about securing Israel's defense capabilities. I appreciate your outreach on this matter.

Hamas’ barbaric assault on October 7, 2023 was not only an attack on Israel, but an assault on the very principles of humanity and peace. These attacks destabilized the region and hindered progress on peaceful coexistence. They are a stark reminder of the cruelty of terrorism, the need to confront those who deny peace, and the necessity of protecting all civilians, Israeli and Palestinian, from violence.

Since the very start of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, I have called for the release of the hostages, the protection of innocent civilians, and an end to the war. I have personally met with the families of Israeli hostages on several occasions and understand the importance of securing Israel’s defense capabilities against terrorist threats. Iran’s relentless drive towards nuclear weapons represents a direct danger to our regional allies and to global security. That is why I am a cosponsor of H.R. 1229, the United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025, which extends and expands crucial United States-Israel cooperation agreements, and H.R. 1422, the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025, to impose tougher secondary sanctions on foreign entities that support Iran’s oil trade. I am relieved by the recent steps toward implementing the 20-point peace plan, which includes the release of all 20 living hostages and the return of the remains of those who tragically lost their lives. We must continue to work for peace and stability in the region.

I invite you to please stay in touch with me on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), or Instagram, and subscribe to my newsletter for periodic updates. Thank you again for reaching out to me and be well.

     

Sincerely,
 
Kweisi Mfume
Member of Congress
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
“Fireflies Along the Fence” Short film by @albertbirney.bsky.social inspired by track 10 on Landscapes, the new album from Birney-Willen (a.k.a. filmmaker Albert Birney and artist/designer Bruce Willen). www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5NT...
youtube.com
Fireflies Along the Fence
YouTube video by Tux and Fanny
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Bruce Willen @publicmechanics.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Has anyone else noticed that central Baltimore smells like sulphur the last few days?
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Greg Olear @gregolear.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Serious question: What's stopping the State of Illinois from arresting Stephen Miller & charging him with incitement? The Senate didn't confirm him. He's just a guy. At some point, the states MUST use their authority to prosecute, because the federal government certainly will not.
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