Public Daimon (1929) has two viewing methods, non-linear (the default) and linear (standard film). Non-linear breaks the film into sections and randomly shuffles the order in which the sections are played. The number of sections and the length of sections (Attention Span) can be adjusted in the user controls.
- To access the user controls press ' c ' on the keyboard or mouse click.
- To toggle between Non-Linear or Linear viewing press ' v ' on the keyboard.
- Press ' f ' for fullscreen.
- To adjust the length of the sections (Attention Span) enter the number of seconds with a period zero eg. 6.0 is six-second sections.
Ryan Thompson, Public Daimon (1929), 2025
Custom software, 1920px x 1080px Video (Highly Compressed MP4), Two-Channel Audio
Linear viewing 34min:42sec
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Public Daimon (1929) explores the liminal space between historical cinema and contemporary consciousness through a time-based media artwork derived from fourteen films entering the public domain in 2025.
The concept of daimon (δαίμων) in classical Greek thought provides the theoretical foundation for this work. Unlike contemporary interpretations that often reduce daimons to malevolent entities, the classical understanding positions them as intermediary spirits bridging the divine and human realms. In Plato's Symposium, daimons serve as messengers between gods and mortals - a role that parallels how these early films now mediate between past and present cultural consciousness. As these works enter the public domain, they become contemporary messengers, carrying forward the artistic and social values of their era into our present moment.
This classical interpretation interweaves with C.G. Jung's psychological concept of the daimon as an inherent guiding force within the psyche. Jung, and later James Hillman, understood the daimon as a fundamental pattern of individuation - the process through which the unconscious and conscious minds integrate. In Public Daimon (1929), this psychological framework manifests in how cultural artifacts continue to shape our collective unconscious, even when we're not directly engaging with them. The artwork imagines these invisible influences through its layered, algorithmic process.
The technical execution of the work draws parallel with the computational concept of a daemon - background processes operating autonomously within computer systems. This technical metaphor is realized through an algorithmic process that randomly selects frames from fourteen seminal 1929 films: The Broadway Melody, Show Boat, On With The Show!, Say It With Songs, Hallelujah, Blackmail, Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora), The Skeleton Dance, Spite Marriage, Stellas Merits, The Black Watch, The Cocoanuts, The Hollywood Revue, and Welcome Danger. Each frame undergoes a drawing/painting/collage process that partially preserves previous frames, creating a palimpsest that visualizes how cultural memory operates - new eclectic experiences layering over, but never completely erasing, what came before.
These processed frames are then fed into a custom-trained Stable Diffusion model, prompted with era-specific keywords, creating a dialogue between historical artifacts and contemporary AI interpretation. This technological intervention serves as another form of daimonic mediation, translating historical visual language into contemporary aesthetic frameworks while preserving echoes of the original.
Public Daimon (1929)'s musical score, based on the soundtrack to 'The Skeleton Dance', adds another layer of historical resonance. This choice is particularly significant as The Skeleton Dance was one of Disney's first Silly Symphonies, pioneering the synchronization of animation and music - itself a technological daemon of its era.
Through this multifaceted approach, Public Daimon (1929) reveals how cultural artifacts operate as background processes in our collective consciousness, continuously influencing contemporary creation even when their original forms go unacknowledged. The work suggests that as these films enter the public domain, like excavated artifacts, they silently but significantly influence future creative expressions.
—Claude 3.5 Sonnet, 7:00pm (PT) January 26, 2025
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*High-resolution files may be requested by collectors.
** Recommended viewing of the artwork via fullscreen monitor and headphones or large-scale projection in a dark room with immersive sound.
