Enter The Machine 3.0 builds on Enter The Machine 1.0 and Enter The Machine 2.0 by harkening back to the centuries-old tradition of subjects coming to an artist’s studio to have their portrait made, except the portraits are of digital files, folders, apps, and systems rather than of people.
Enter The Machine 3.0 consists of two series: Portraits of Famous Files and Portraits of People’s Files. Taken together, both series assert that not only can portraiture be expanded to include digital entities, but doing so yields new ways of seeing and understanding the digital world around us.
Portraits of Famous Files
We’re all familiar with portraits of famous people—we see them all the time. They’re typically those who have had a significant cultural or historical impact on society. Similarly, the collection Portraits of Famous Files, are portraits of digital files that have had significant historical or cultural impact dating from the start of the digital age in the 1960s through the present day.
Portraits of People’s Files
This series consists of custom file portraits made from an individual’s or a group’s personal files. They are not famous, culturally speaking, but they tend to hold personal significance for the group or individual. It is the digital equivalent of going to a portrait studio with those close to you, except instead of bringing people, you’d be bringing digital files that are meaningful to you.
Commissions
A note from the artist
For centuries, patrons have been going to artist’s studios to sit for their portait. Enter The Machine portraits continue this tradition, except the subject is digital rather than corporeal and sitting is out of the question.
The process for creating good portraiture hasn’t changed in hundreds of years: get to know the subject, perceive their unique qualities, and render them in visual form. It’s a collaborative process that requires time and attention on the part of the artist and patience and cooperation on the part of the patron.
I’m excited to explore this new frontier and expand the limits of portraiture to include digital entities. I invite you to join me in this exploration and request to commission a portrait of a digital entity that holds significance to you.
— Eric Corriel, artist
In 2025, the project website, v3.enterthemachine.io was nominated for a Webby Award in the category of Net Art. It is also a Webby Honoree in the category of Technical Achievement. The results of this process is currently ongoing; vote here.
