‘I became an artist accidentally. I had always wanted to be a filmmaker.

‘My first solo exhibition, “Color Schemes”, at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1990 paved my way to “becoming” an artist, and I was very much supported by curators like John Hanhardt, Cindy Furlong of the Whitney, Jeanette Ingberman, and Papo Colo of Exit Art, who gave me a solo show for Those Fluttering Objects of Desire (1992), which was then included in the Whitney Biennial in 1993. With my early works, I developed a collaborative mode with performers of diverse racial and gender identities. My first artwork, Color Schemes (1989), was a mixed-media installation that featured three industrial washing machines and 12 performers of diverse racial backgrounds.

‘As a filmmaker, I premiered my first feature film, Fresh Kill (1994), which I coined as eco-cybernoia, at Berlinale, Berlin International Film Festival in 1994. I migrated to cyberspace soon after the release of the film. Bowling Alley (1995) at the Walker Art Center marked my entry to the World Wide Web, connecting an actual bowling lane in downtown Minneapolis with a gallery at the Walker and a website. Brandon (1998­–1999), commissioned and acquired by the Guggenheim Museum, New York, which later bestowed on me the title of Net Art Pioneer. Both works brought together teams of technical engineers, designers, and performers. I retreated into underground filmmaking following Brandon. My second feature film, I.K.U. (2000), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000 and brought me notoriety as a cyberpunk cult filmmaker.

‘In 2001, I conceived a three-edition series titled “Locker Baby Project” (2001–2012), working with ME (memory and emotion data). By 2002, I had started drafting a post-Net-crash scenario for my works, such as Garlic=Rich Air (2002–2003). By then Net Art was declared dead. In 2012, I released a double feature – Composting the City / Composting the Net ­– where food trash and data trash were regenerated. Programming languages can be updated, digital mediums can be upgraded, yet I am caught in my own entanglement with the seemingly forever-looping social, political, and economic issues.

‘I continue to explore hacking tactics, virus as tactical resistance, and geek farming as a way to resource the land, calling for nature in revolt. I have to be very focused. I have my own trajectories to follow, my own cycles to pursue. I have never been part of the art world, yet I am in the circle.

‘I have been accepted as a multi-faceted artist, a badass of gender hacking and genre bending. I am blessed by the curators who have trusted me to dive into the “unknown.” When I’m asked what piece of advice I would give to a young artist, I always say: I keep six pots cooking on the stove. Out of these six pots, some can definitely be presented on the dining table with guests present to enjoy.’