p1xelfool: Every Image Typed on a Keyboard of Metal Spikes
p1xelfool built the software and a keyboard of cast metal spikes for e/pi:/dermis, 12 works on Tezos that each took at least 30 minutes of typing. Until November 8, the first work fills an LED wall at Wintercircus in Ghent.
p1xelfool decided that making e/pi:/dermis should hurt. For the series, he built both the software and the instrument: a handmade keyboard whose keys are cast metal spikes. The keycaps were cast in bronze, the sharp pins welded individually and the whole thing finished with 5 layers of rhodium plating. The images come from a pseudo language that only produces a picture through sustained interaction, at least 30 minutes of continuous typing on those pins. "Every single piece was created through pain."
The idea, in his words, "condenses my last years of research, focused on esoteric practices and phenomenological experiences in computation. It explores the sensible relationship with machines and the dynamics of power between humans and computers." Digital tools usually promise neutrality and comfort; here the interface pushes back, and every work carries a record of the body that made it. Each piece holds a proof of process keylogger, so every keypress can be called up with the k key, and pressing 0 lets the work perform itself again.
e/pi:/dermis was first presented at Art on Tezos: Berlin in November 2025, ending with a live performance in which p1xelfool typed on his knees while the audience waited to see whether he could keep going. The 12 unique works, 0:1 to 0:12, were minted on Tezos on November 20, 2025 and released through objkt's curated platform.
Now e/pi:/dermis 0:1 is generating live on the LED wall of CONSENT, a group show at Wintercircus, Sint Pietersnieuwstraat 11 in Ghent, running October 24 to November 8. Selected by guest curator Kika Nicolela, it is the first work in a new partnership between objkt and Wintercircus. The show asks what happens to a body once a machine has learned to read it, and p1xelfool's answer runs the other way: a machine that only works if a body agrees to suffer for it. Entry is free with registration.
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