In a number of senses Tom Mùller is a big picture artist. Globalisation, the environment, space and time all fascinate him. He seems to prefer vast data sets, expansive geographies, sweeping timeframes and sequences of history. And yet, at the same time, Mùller is attentive to fine detail, to the specificities of things local, to the poetry of small, momentary and fleeting things that resonate.
In this big picture sense Mùller is interested in structures, processes and dynamics. He understands the universe as an infinitely complex network of endlessly interconnected systems. In the natural world these systems are manifest everywhere, from the minutest forms of matter through to the grand architecture of the cosmos. In the corresponding human realm these dynamics are expressed through information and communication technologies and other network infrastructures. According to Mùller the natural world buzzes with a God particle zing, while the human world pulses with the transmission and exchange of value, authority and power.
Consistent with this world view, astronomical, geological, meteorological and other natural systems are in constant, ever-shifting interaction, just as human systems in the generic forms of bureaucracy and administration (from the nation state, to secret societies to two-person collaborative art practices) are animated by transactions, processes and protocols. In Mùller's scheme the realms of natural and human-made are not seen as separate, but rather as intrinsically interconnected and in continuous negotiation.
An astute observer, subtle activist and deeply humane artist, Mùller posits far-reaching analytical links and associations between the seemingly distinct but invariably interconnected elements that together comprise the architecture of our world. His work is rich in ironic and sometimes humorous insights into how we grasp and assimilate knowledge and about the dazzlingly complex systems we inhabit. Even as we calculate the chances of eventual worldwide calamity, Mùller's thought-provoking practice offers vantage points from which to imagine optimistically better futures. His diagrams and graphs create rhythms in the chaos and suggest the emergence of other worlds and alternate horizons.

Melissa Keys, Big Picture Artist, Rhythms in the Chaos published by Big City Press, 2010

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