Kim Asendorf

Kim Asendorf is a Berlin based artist who works with code. His practise has roots in Net Art, and he attended art school before establishing himself through works shared on early online platforms. His engagement with digital media precedes current forms of distribution, and he is recognised as a prominent figure in the contemporary field of generative art. His work has received institutional acknowledgement, including his participation in the MoMA Postcard project.

Asendorf builds complex visual systems by writing his own software. This often involves developing open source tools, such as a widely adopted pixel sorting algorithm. In series like monogrid, he constructs a work from a foundational grid of rectangles. This grid is then subjected to multiple, overlapping animations running in parallel. These algorithms, which include noise, shifting, and modulo based functions, continually edit pixels within selected areas, producing a chaotic and organic result. Similarly, NAZCA features figures composed of oscillating pixels, or seeds, which travel along defined paths. This method reduces the forms to their essential animated state, a movement of light on the screen.

The artist's self described “digital expressionism” points to a concern with the affective potential of computational processes. His work explores the fundamental components of the digital image, treating the pixel not as a static unit but as a dynamic, malleable element. By creating systems that appear to operate with a degree of autonomy, his animations take on qualities of living organisms. The visual output often references glitch aesthetics and a logic of controlled malfunction, foregrounding the behaviour of the software itself. The resulting works are studies in perpetual motion and transformation, offering a direct experience of algorithms generating form and colour in real time.