Ada

2019
Cotton, linen, and wool on canvas
22 x 12 inches

In Ada, two rectangular shapes are roughly the size and proportion of 1960s-era IBM punch cards, with black yarn marking spots that correspond to punched holes. In the 19th century Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer program in history, for the Analytical Engine, a computer that had been designed but had yet to be built. Encoded in the punch card pattern in Ada is Lovelace's prescient speculation on the potential of computers, “the Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.”

The contrast between the idiosyncrasies of the handwoven textile and the machine-made form of the punch card highlight the differences between what people do well and what machines do well. Technology enables us to do things faster, cheaper, and more, but along with that is “same.” Humans are slow, expensive, and limited, but also varied, nuanced, and unexpected — qualities often lacking in our technological tools.