Maia Ruth Lee, Glyphoscope 2024, 2023. Commissioned by Hyundai Artlab, © Maia Ruth Lee
In celebration of 2024, Hyundai Artlab and Maia Ruth Lee created an interactive digital artwork that extends the artist’s physical language of glyphs into a net-native quiz that predicts your future.
Choose your personal glyph to generate your 2024 affirmation
by Maia Ruth Lee.
Artlab Editors:
For the final digital commission of the year, artist and educator Maia Ruth Lee created “Glyphoscope 2024.” Inspired by the CAPTCHA test format and horoscope clickbait ads, the quiz is a net-native extension of Lee’s glyph series, a visual language she debuted in 2016 that has since been on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The quiz takes 15 seconds; to activate the artwork, participants input their name and select three glyphs in exchange for a personalized affirmation for 2024, which the artist has deemed the “Year of Tenderness.”
In “Glyphoscope 2024,” Lee conducts a digital experiment that bridges the seemingly disparate world of deterministic algorithms (logical, expected) and the ancient practice of fortune-telling (mystical, unpredictable), revealing diverse human approaches to understanding the future.
At its core, the quiz is powered by fractal algorithms. These are precise calculations that, in the realm of computer science, guarantee the same output at different scales. This quiz, however, exploits these algorithms not to solve equations or process data, but to produce personal fortunes, a tradition characterized by human intuition and chance, concepts that are inherently unpredictable and abstract. In this sense, the quiz defies the typical purpose of algorithmic logic, applying it not as a solution-oriented tool, but as a device which opens up future possibilities and generates personal significance for its users.
More than this, Lee’s work is a subtle commentary on the human quest to understand and predict the future. While we might see deterministic algorithms as the pinnacle of human logic and scientific achievement, fortune-telling speaks to our deep-rooted and collective desire for guidance, meaning, and control in a world that often feels chaotic.
“Glyphoscope 2024” is more than just a digital diversion. It's a thought-provoking exploration of how technology intersects with human culture.
In Conversation: Maia Ruth Lee and Martine Syms
Maia Ruth Lee and Martine Syms.
Screenshot from Glyphoscope 2024 conversation, 2023.
Earlier this month, after a whirlwind journey from New York to Milan, Lee returned to her studio in Salida, Colorado to finish up her digital commission. In the process, she caught up with fellow artist Martine Syms, who helped test the quiz. The following interview captures the essence of a conversation between two close friends—fluid, random, and filled with moments of introspection, and shared laughter. It's a snapshot of the genuine connection between two artists navigating the complexities of life, art, and the peculiarities of the digital realm. As the friends explore the idea of tenderness, the conversation takes an unexpected turn to fortune-telling. This interview has been edited.
Maia Ruth Lee (MRL): It's been a minute since we've seen each other.
Martine Syms (MS): How are you?
MRL: I'm good. Back in the studio. I was in New York, Paris, then Milan. I thought of you when we went to Carlo Mollino’s house in Turin. We saw all of these artifacts—his house is full of hieroglyphs, mythological references. The rooms had these sculptures and paintings and drawings that were perfectly aligned into this kind of sacred geometry.
MS: I've been to Turin a few times, but for some reason I never made it to the apartment. I went to the Egyptian Museum.
MRL: There is so much symbolism and mysticism around there. We bought a really old homemade deck from an occult shop and did each other's readings. Do you read tarot?
MS: Yeah, I've actually got a deck here next to me. It’s just a classic Rider-Waite. But I have a stack of other decks. I use the Motherpeace a lot, and the Marseilles deck, too.
MRL: I love the Motherpeace.
MS: But for some reason in the last year I've gotten back into the Rider-Waite deck.
MRL: Why do you think?
MS: I read them differently, maybe. There’s something about the uniformity; it’s similar to playing a card deck.
MRL: Do you usually read for yourself or do you read for others?
MS: I read for others mostly. I used to read for myself pretty regularly. Now if I want to know something, I'll ask someone else to pull a card for me. When do you turn to tarot or divination?
MRL: I’m drawn to divination especially when I’m at a crossroad. When there are specific paths I have to choose from, sometimes the fear of doing the wrong thing can paralyze your decision-making skills.
MS: I did your quiz, by the way.
MRL: What was your affirmation?
MS: “This year will bring new challenges where you'll have to use your voice and speak up. When you're able to find the source of each overwhelming emotion, make sure you can identify the wound. Shed a warm, healing red light onto it with intention, and you will experience an unexpected inner war that will soothe your soul.”
I’m putting in my nickname, Teenie. My glyphs are “calibrate,” “truth” and “power” and my acronym is: thrifty, easygoing, exhausted, nonstop, impeccable, exhausted. Oh, exhausted.
MRL: Double exhausted!
MS: I really love the glyphs, and I know you've been using them for a while and in different ways. I’m curious: do those symbols have a special meaning to you?
MRL: The glyph series has its own life—it's continuously evolving, shifting, and changing. I’ve always worked intuitively with this series. For this, I approached the glyphs as if they could activate a certain focus or hope in 2024. Each glyph is assigned a meaning from an emotional response I had to its shape and form. The fortunes are big and small shifts anyone can make to initiate change and growth. In the beginning, it wasn't really associated with fortune telling, but here, it now all makes sense.
MS: How did you actually engineer the quiz?
MRL: We designed an intuitive but logical pathway using fractal algorithms, which reflect the idea of deterministic chaos: very small changes in initial conditions that lead to significantly different outcomes. This dynamic feels aligned with fortune telling, where the slightest actions or decisions can influence one’s destiny in unpredictable ways. Each interaction that leads to a certain fortune is therefore not totally random.
MS: Is that generally how you feel about fate or destiny? It’s funny to think simultaneously about prophecy and algorithms.
MRL: When I look back at all the decisions I’ve made to get me to where I am—the advice I've received over the years—it wasn’t by chance. I've always used my gut instincts and judgment, aided by logical analysis and critical thinking. Nothing is by chance, I think, so the algorithm and logical framework we used for this quiz is interesting to me.
MS: What was the thinking behind a year of tenderness? Tenderness sounds nice.
MRL: It’s a personal yearning. A goal for next year. We are all holding grief and anger as we navigate the injustices and sufferings in the world, and the focus to be tender is perhaps a small reminder to open our eyes to truth and to hold each other close.
MS: Wait, what did your fortune say?
MRL: Generating Maia's fortune…So my three words are “journey,” “creativity,” and “perspective.” And my fortune says “Maia, the wind blows across your face, but you'll only notice the gentle caress when you are still. Tenderness comes with the courage to be still. Like a soreness around an injury, tenderness also comes from a broken heart. Take the time this year to nurture that stillness your heart is yearning for. You cannot be rushed and there is no deadline.” And my name: M for modest; A attentive; I international; A agreeable.
MS: I’ll put in Martine this time. This time I got the glyphs “creativity,” “influence,” and “liberate.” “Tenderness is your armor this year. Tenderness should not be mistaken as weakness. It is sacred and safe. It is your soft place where you can rest your soul as you focus on finding that soft place. It might be in the form of a person, a space, an idea or a dream.” And my acronym is: mysterious, adorable, robust, thoughtful, intelligent, nocturnal, elegant.
MRL: You know what’s weird? When I was writing that fortune, you actually had come to my mind. I was inspired by certain people while I wrote these affirmations.
MS: Well, I do feel like I'm trying to rest my soul. My dreams have been really crazy lately. But there's a lot of material there.
I had another question—or a comment—about CAPTCHA. I honestly feel so resentful of CAPTCHA.
MRL: I always get them wrong!
MS: The ones where there’s some kind of trick, I can hardly ever do. Also, I'm always like, “I can't believe I'm doing this free labor for Google!” We are all digitizing texts on CAPTCHA’s behalf when we try to verify ourselves.
MRL: I hadn't thought about that!
What else is going on for you?
MS: I'm writing a lot. I had a bunch of shows this year and now everything's out in the world. I was gone for a while—it was good to get out of the United States and Los Angeles.
MRL: Do you like traveling for work?
MS: I do—I get very restless. I've only been back a month and I’m already restless. I’m trying to increase my tolerance for restlessness because—although it's served me quite well—there's something else I want to get to right now that requires some routine and stillness. I'm giving myself the space to work something out.
MRL: Totally.
MS: And by that I just mean let it exist. This is sort of corny, but this past year I was really reevaluating what was important to me and what “success” is. I narrowed down to three things: acceptance, trust, and compassion, mostly towards myself. And so I think, as long as those things exist, then what I’m working on is successful. As long as I'm accepting whatever's coming up, I'm trusting that that's the path to go on.
MRL: I can totally relate to that. That's kind of amazing to define it.
MS: What are you excited about right now? What are you thinking about?
MRL: I think I'm in a similar place. I want to be okay with being more still. My fortune was actually what I needed to hear. It’s funny because I am very still here, but I think I’m left to my own devices, so I spiral sometimes. I feel like I have a constellation of ideas, but I don't really know how to connect them yet. I need to use my intuition more. Just accept that we're in the art of witchery, of manifesting. I want to be more playful, more mischievous. I don't need to just play by the book. I think I was so concerned with getting "the thing" done every single time and now I just want to let loose a little bit.
MS: Cool. I like that. The witch.
MRL: I love that writing is a huge part of your practice. Writing was never really a big part of mine, but I would try to do that for myself a lot. I'll pull out a paper and pen almost every day and nothing comes out. I think I need to release a little bit of something. And maybe that connects with the idea of the year of tenderness.
MS: Yeah. Allowing, softening, having it be there. The world has changed so much and I've just been observing and taking a lot in. Not that what I make next is going to be a polemic, or theory, but I feel like it is a good way to process the world around me.
MRL: Something I’ve always admired about you is your ability to integrate your work and your everyday being. You don’t treat it as a separate thing. There's something to be said about the idea of living your art. Of art being just a part of who you are rather than something forced and separate. For some artists, there’s a separation between the art and the person.
MS: I definitely can't work that way. I had this reading a few years ago where the person said that I’m always going to want to be home and gone at the same time. And that's a paradox of...me. They said I just have to leave when I want to leave and come back when I need to come back. Since then, I’ve been a one-way flight person. Because it's going to change. It's almost always going to change. And I like having that flexibility. I can't make a plan. Now I'm just like, we'll figure it out the day before. Staying in flow.
An article about Maia Ruth Lee’s Glyphoscope 2024 was published in Sequitur, a Boston University publication, on January 13, 2025. Read Kim's piece online online , where they discuss Lee's project, the aspects of chance and prediction, and blending algorithmic patterns with ancient divination practices.
