“

In Thinking Contest, the computers are combining words and writing sentences; in effect, they are thinking of things. Influenced by ideas in artificial intelligence and cognitive science and by my study of computer programming, I have become more interested in the possibilities of using the computer as a thinking device than as an imaging device. In my sculptures, I use the computer as a stand-in for the brain, and I allow that computer/brain to activate the ‘body’ of the sculpture in absurd ways. In some pieces the computer is hidden behind a wall, like the Wizard of Oz, putting something in motion by virtue of what it thinks and imagines.” J.Z.

1950	born
1971	B.A. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1981	m.f.a. Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
	Adjunct faculty, The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY; Yale University, New Haven, CT; and Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; lives in Brooklyn, NY