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Raphael Arar

@rarar

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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT 🔥⁠ Raphael Arar⁠
⁠⁠
𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐫 works at the nexus of complex systems, transdisciplinary design and arts-based research. His work highlights the social, political and economic implications of technological acceleration and human-to-machine interaction. ⁠
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𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 currently heads Design at One Project, an organization building infrastructure for a new economy where resources serve people and planet, not profit. He also serves as an Executive Board Member at Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology and a mentor at NEW INC, a museum-led cultural incubator from the NEW Museum. Previously, he led design for learners at Khan Academy, tackled ethical platforms of AI at IBM Research, taught media theory at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and designed over a hundred iOS apps with Apple.⁠
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2026 Artists' Biennial: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵⁠
April 3 – July 5, 2026 by @rarar

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7 months ago

Capitalist Clock, on view through 2026 at Science Gallery Melbourne (@scigallerymel) as part of DISTRACTION. The piece materializes invisible digital labor—pulling real-time tweets that equate time with money and physically “punching in” each one through a solenoid mechanism. It makes visible what platforms profit from while keeping hidden.

📸 Darren Gill by @rarar

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a year ago

Life Force explores the compounding effects of minor environmental disruptions. The artwork consists of two air pumps that alternate to mimic a slow breathing pattern, inflating a solitary balloon. The mechanics of the pumps are directly influenced by the presence of seeds, beans, and grains at the base of the artwork. Even small changes in the quantity of these foods can diminish the inflation patterns, causing the balloon to deflate and lose its shape.

In Life Force, the interdependency of elements mirrors the delicate balance of our ecological environment, highlighting the far-reaching consequences of seemingly insignificant changes. The artwork explores the hidden relationships between minor environmental changes and their broader systemic impacts. It draws inspiration from the works of anthropologist Gregory Bateson and mathematician Edward Lorenz. Bateson emphasizes the interconnectedness within ecological systems in his book Steps to an Ecology of Mind. On the other hand, Lorenz’s concept of the butterfly effect demonstrates how tiny fluctuations in initial conditions can lead to significant and unpredictable outcomes in complex systems.

📷 @mariogalluccistudio by @rarar

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3 years ago

Benevolent Dictator at the 2026 @oregoncontemporary Artists’ Biennial. Anyone could ask a question. Anyone could answer. An LLM answered too, and both answers went up side by side for a blind vote. When the LLM won, the printer documented the exchange.

These photos are from closing night and show the full length of the log. Here’s how Portland participants responded:

137 LLM wins (55%)
113 human wins (45%)

The paper on the floor is a record of every time someone chose the algorithm over a participant’s response.

Grateful to @tksmith106 for including a couple of my pieces in “The Price of the Ticket.” It was an honor to show alongside this group of artists.

📸 @connerenloe by @rarar

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2 months ago

Our Roundtable, "What Is Democratic Economic Planning?," by Raphael Arar @rarar and Eric Meier @graete97 , will start on April 30.

This Roundtable explores Democratic Economic Planning as an alternative to the financialized market-based economy. With neoliberalism in crisis and authoritarian movements on the rise, it takes up the fundamental questions that any proposal for economic planning must answer: how to gather accurate information about needs and resources, what to measure and in what units, where decision-making authority should reside, what role markets might play, and how to handle distribution and motivation. These questions are not new, they emerged in the Socialist Calculation Debate of the 1920s and 30s, but they return with new urgency in proposals that range from participatory economics to algorithmic coordination models that imagine repurposing existing logistics infrastructure for democratic ends.

Drawing on historical experiments, from Soviet central planning to Chile's Cybersyn project to contemporary participatory budgeting initiatives, the Roundtable proceeds by mapping current debates and identifying the conditions under which planning proposals can be considered both genuinely democratic and practically viable.

In partnership with the International Network for Democratic Economic Planning (INDEP).

To learn more and enroll, please visit the link in our bio.

IMAGE: Diego Rivera, Detroit Industry, 1933. by @rarar

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6 months ago

Honored to be part of the 2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial, curated by TK Smith. The exhibition takes its title from James Baldwin’s “The Price of the Ticket,” his essay on citizenship and what America asks of those who want in. Opening April 4th.

@oregoncontemporary @tksmith106 by @rarar

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9 months ago

Benevolent Dictator, 2025
Epson MX80 dot matrix printer, electronics, software

Anyone can pose a question about governance; anyone can answer it. Each human response is paired with an AI response to the same question. The public votes between them. A printer documents the tally, keeping record of which form of authority gets selected when both are available.

📷 Conner Enloe @connerenloe by @rarar

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10 months ago

In this video, Instructors Raphael Arar @rarar and Eric Meier @graete97 introduce their upcoming Roundtable "What Is Democratic Economic Planning?," which begins this Season on April 30.

The Roundtable explores Democratic Economic Planning (DEP) as an alternative to the financialized market economy. With neoliberalism in crisis and authoritarian movements on the rise, it revisits a set of foundational questions that any planning model must confront: how to gather accurate information about needs and resources, what to measure and in what units, who makes decisions and at what scale, and whether markets retain any role. These are not new questions — they surfaced in the Socialist Calculation Debate of the 1920s and 30s, and have been answered differently across historical experiments ranging from Soviet central planning to Chile's Cybersyn project to contemporary participatory budgeting initiatives.

Across two sessions, Participants map the current landscape of planning proposals — from participatory economics to algorithmic coordination models that reimagine digital infrastructure for democratic ends — and develop frameworks for evaluating whether any given proposal is both democratic and practically viable.

To learn more about this Roundtable or to enroll, please visit the link in our bio and story. by @rarar

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6 months ago

2026 blessings by @rarar

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10 months ago

QK, 2025
Acrylic, LEDs, electronics, software
16” × 11.5” × 10”

Participants collectively adjust quantum entropy. As governance becomes computational, do we deliberate outcomes or configure the parameters that generate them?

📷 Conner Enloe @connerenloe by @rarar

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10 months ago

Infinite Meeting, 2025
Acrylic, custom LEGO set, electronics
9” x 9” x 12”

“The trouble with _____ is that it takes up too many evenings.”

📷 Conner Enloe @connerenloe by @rarar

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10 months ago

Chance operation, 2025
Resin, acrylic, magic 8 ball, electronics
48” x 8” x 8”

📷 Conner Enloe @connerenloe by @rarar

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10 months ago