Wabi-Sabi meets cyber repair – a fine art composition of broken motherboard fragments, fused glass, golden mica inclusions, and silver solder. Kintsugi golden joining and Gintsugi silver traces restore beauty through imperfection and technological rebirth.
Artist’s Statement
My work “Wabi-Cyber-Sabi” explores the meeting of art and science through the language of repair. Drawing from the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi‑Sabi and the traditions of Kintsugi (golden repair) and Gintsugi (silver repair), a broken motherboard is reimagined as the site of renewal. By integrating fused glass, golden mica inclusions, and silver solder with the engineered geometries of computer hardware, a hybrid artwork emerges that honors both organic imperfection and cybernetic precision.
Science enters the work through the materials themselves and the systems they once powered. Circuitry, data pathways, and soldered joints are metaphors for connection and memory. The Kintsugi repair of a broken motherboard is a meditation on fragility and resilience: a technological organism restored through artistic intervention.
As artificial intelligence increasingly engages society, relationships between humans and machines fracture through misalignment, distortion, or the psychological strain caused when AI mirrors us too eagerly. My work treats these breaks as opportunities for reflection. The golden seams of Kintsugi and the silver solder of Gintsugi are metaphors for mending the cyber‑human bond, suggesting that our tools require technical refinement and ethical alignment.
Glass fusing and copper foil soldering techniques allow me to merge aesthetic intuition with scientific process. Heat, conductivity, and material stress all play active roles in shaping the final form. The golden mica fragments refract light like micro‑landscapes, while the motherboard’s architecture provides a structural logic that guides the composition.
By combining Wabi-Sabi repair arts with computer hardware, I aim to reveal the beauty within the decay of computer systems and the possibility of a more humane technological future. The work invites viewers to consider that our digital systems, like ourselves, can break, adapt, and be repaired with intention, humility, and imagination.
Gallery Including Process Photos
Muscavite Mica Fused Glass Inclusions
Golden Seams of Kintsugi
In this piece, muscovite mica becomes a quiet collaborator — a layered memory‑mineral carrying trapped ancient air, primordial water, and the slow intelligence of geological time. When fused into glass, it releases these hidden archives in a brief alchemical exhalation, shifting from translucent gray to a radiant gold that feels both earned and inevitable. The bubbles formed around each flake are not flaws but breath marks, evidence of a mineral revealing its inner history. In the context of Wabi‑Cyber‑Sabi Kintsugi, muscovite becomes a symbol of repair through revelation: the past speaking upward through fracture, light, and transformation.
Thomas J. Greenbaum Resume
Interdisciplinary Artist | Sci-Art | Data, Light & Material Systems
ARTISTIC PRACTICE
I am an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of material process, data, light, and systems thinking. My practice integrates fused glass, digital media, visualization, and interactive technologies to explore impermanence, entropy, and the quiet poetics of complex systems.
Drawing from decades of experience in computing infrastructure, architectural design, and visualization, my work reveals the aesthetic traces of invisible systems: energy flows, information structures, and technological decay.
Conceptually aligned with Wabi-Cyber-Sabi, my work embraces imperfection, transience, and the tension between digital precision and material fragility. I am particularly interested in moments where systems falter, adapt, or reveal unintended beauty.
My work explores the beauty of imperfect systems, where digital precision meets material unpredictability. Through glass, light, and data-informed forms, I examine transient states, infrastructural invisibility, and the poetic residue of complex technological worlds.
PROFESSIONAL & ARTISTIC EXPERIENCE
Interdisciplinary Artist & Technologist
Independent Practice — Albuquerque, NM
Ongoing
Develop and exhibit fused glass, kinetic light, and interactive works informed by data visualization, computational processes, and material experimentation. Projects include gallery installations, immersive environments, and public‑facing sci‑art experiences that bridge scientific inquiry and poetic expression.
Board Member
STEMarts Lab — Taos, NM
2022–2023
Provided artistic, technical, and strategic leadership for a nonprofit dedicated to immersive sci‑art education. Supported the development of large‑scale projection installations, mixed‑reality environments, and data‑driven storytelling platforms integrating art, science, and emerging technologies.
Board Member
CURRENTS / Parallel Studios Inc. — Santa Fe, NM
2019–2022
Served on the board of a 501(c)(3) organization producing international new‑media art exhibitions and festivals. Contributed curatorial insight and governance support for exhibitions featuring interactive installations, experimental media, VR/AR, and digital performance, as well as youth media education programs.
Renaissance Man (Intel Encore Fellow)
Keshet Dance & Center for the Arts — Albuquerque, NM
2016–2017
Supported IT systems, facility planning, and infrastructure development for a multidisciplinary arts organization. Contributed to sustainable operational systems supporting long‑term growth, safety, and creative capacity.
Innovation Center Executive Director / Senior Software Engineer
Intel Corporation — Rio Rancho, NM
2000–2008
Founded and directed the Intel Innovation Center, a cross‑disciplinary laboratory focused on creativity, visualization, and experimental technologies. Led initiatives in immersive environments, 3D visualization, and novel metaphors for understanding complex data while fostering collaboration between technologists, artists, educators, and community partners.
Data Center Operations Manager / ITIL Problem Manager
Intel Corporation — Rio Rancho, NM
2008–2016
Managed large‑scale data center systems while developing visualization approaches to reveal energy use, infrastructure states, and operational flows. Led globally recognized energy‑efficiency initiatives and operational innovations that continue to inform my artistic investigation of hidden systems and infrastructural aesthetics.
EARLIER CAREER (SELECTED)
Background includes architectural design, mechanical and HVAC systems, CAD, software quality engineering, security testing, and 3D visualization. Early professional experience in spatial design, fabrication logic, and technical documentation continues to influence my material sensibility and structural approach to art‑making.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS, LECTURES & PROJECTS
- Interactive kinetic light and fused‑glass artworks exhibited in galleries, museums, and maker spaces
- Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks on creative thinking, innovation, and art‑science convergence
- International Symposium on Electronic Arts (ISEA): exhibitions, residencies, workshops, and curatorial projects
- Development of immersive digital domes, projection systems, and data‑driven environments
CONCEPTUAL THEMES & MATERIALS
Themes: Impermanence and entropy; imperfect systems; emergent order; invisible infrastructures; human presence within data‑driven environments
Materials & Methods: Fused glass, light, digital and data‑driven visualization, interactive systems, physical–digital hybrids
SELECTED HONORS & RECOGNITION
- Intel Environmental Excellence Gold Award
- Intel Innovation Award
- New Mexico Technology Excellence (TechEx) Award
- International recognition for visualization and systems‑based innovation
Karmatetra 