Tom Joyes returns with a comic book “technodrama”

One of It’s Nice That’s graduate class of 2016, Tom Joyes finds his feet somewhere between graphic design, research and film. “I’m originally from Glasgow and graduated from BA Communication Design at the Glasgow School of Art in 2016,” he says. “My practice spans design research, graphics, film and performance. Since The Graduates, I’ve continued developing my work, moving to the Netherlands in February 2017 to work on the Checkpoints and Chokepoints design programme at ArtEZ Arnhem.”

Tom’s latest work comes in the form of a comic book. Fuzzy Logic Vol.83 according to Tom, can be considered “a ‘technodrama’ about bodies, borders and surveillance.”

“Taking place between the layers of global infrastructure, a vegetable processing unit in southern Italy and a data-storage fortification in northern France, Fuzzy Logic Vol.83 follows the journey of two animal protagonists that are unsuspecting subjects of a biometric profiling report,” Tom says. “The storyline documents the encounters of ‘Sheep’ and ‘Wolf’ who become examples of how infrastructure and technology are active agents that police migrating bodies. A hybrid of non-fiction-science-fiction, Fuzzy Logic Vol.83 combines academic essay form with video game references, and journalistic reportage with manga novel aesthetics; framing the subject of migration as a piece of fragmented, genre-fusing popular culture.”

So how did Tom go about coming up with this non-fiction-science-fiction hybrid? “It’s the product of a four-month intensive research programme Checkpoints and Chokepoints at ArtEZ Arnhem,” Tom explains. “Initiated by Vinca Kruk (Metahaven), Thomas Castro (LUST) and Simone C. Niquille, the ‘post-studio model’ investigates the topic of migration in the scope of design, structured around field research trips to crucial zones within the EU such as locations in France, Belgium and Italy.”

Fuzzy Logic vol.83 will be exhibited alongside the work of the four participating designers — Loukie van Hasselt, Tom Joyes, Isabel Mager and Hanna Rullman — at the Rietveld building of ArtEZ Arnhem, 28 June. The show and comic book will then tour to a Glasgow venue in late July.