This page gathers together collections of material from various projects that have now found their forever home here at the Universal Wunderkammer (although some may still exist/operate in their place of birth).
Minstrels of the New Epoch
Every once and a while, I turn to a keyboard and the vastness of the Internet to create something auditory and experimental.
The Manifest of the Gagarin Dawn
WRAPPED IN THE HOLD OF HUMANKIND’S LAST SPACE SHIP ARE 52 MEMORIALS—ALL THAT REMAINS OF WHAT WE WERE: OUR GIFT TO THE STARS
What do we remember? What do we want others to know of us, and where we came from? In this gripping collection of vignettes accompanied by original artwork, Peter BG Shoemaker offers a provocative vision of how 26 individuals and 26 territories—in face of total annihilation and scattered across the planet—capture and commemorate what it means to be human. Published in 2020.
La Bucherie in France
Occasional posts vaguely about a 1791 stone house in southern Normandy. There is lots of renovation. And food. And rain. And certainly a garden that is—shall we say—verdant.
The Humanistic Algorithm
With the explosion of generative AI tools, the design community (like most of the rest of the world) is divided about whether or not these represent an aide or an apocalypse. The answer of course, is both. But not necessarily. The Humanistic Algorithm—currently a Substack production, but mirrored here—is about exploring the thin line between the two, and articulating the importance of ensuring that human values, experiences, cultural traditions, aesthetics, and ethics remain central to our role in creating the environment within which we all live.
Dear Machine / @dearmachine
An absolutely bonkers piece of performance art (the place, the doing, the rational), now finished (but still available), on the video-sharing site TikTok. Reminders of creation and resistance.
The Middle Way at Middle Age
Discovering the joys and peace of zen when you’ve lived your life in a hurricane.Real talk, my friends. Long defunct now, as this work has moved elsewhere.