ben dexter cooley

a 2024 recap

finally getting some time to reflect on the past year. before diving into the next, i wanted to document some things i completed, for which i am proud and thankful to have been part of. but first, a few reflections.

last year felt like the first time my various interests truly converged. it was a year of experimentation and growth. a year of play.

for a long time it has felt like two of my worlds were separate: in one, the world of data visualization, technology, programming, tinkering. in another world, music, songwriting, art, composition. the worlds seldom touched, and historically i think that was intentional—i didn't want my "work" life to bleed into my "art" life.

2024 was different. i started and finished multiple projects that blurred the lines between my professional experience and my creative explorations. so much so, that i am beginning to feel that the worlds aren't so different after all. the end result and utility may differ. but fundamentally, i feel my work transforming into a practice of re-translation or re-contextualization. creating new ways of seeing, ways of listening, ways of being.

data becomes visual. patterns become sounds. movement becomes music.

i am endlessly fascinated by the ways that, simply by changing our contextual experience, an object or idea or place becomes new again. i so often move through the world taking for granted the wonderful and beautiful. hidden information passing directly in front of me, and i can't see it because i have grown familiar with its original form. if we change the ways that we look at, hear, experience, interact with the world, maybe the wonder will strike us again.

now, in no particular order, here are some things i did in 2024: