Jonathan Rosen has explored, through mixed-media collage and digital technologies, people's hidden desires with the phrase, “I WANT….”. For Rosen’s series extension “CODE”, he’s turned his attention to the once silent masses whose desires in a post-internet world are now unleashed. Now with the ability to cloak one’s identity behind an avatar, strangers are often hidden in plain view. They are our co-workers, our family members, our baristas, or potentially the person laying in bed next to us.

Rosen has created a dark and mysterious installation of seven 48 x 72 glowing light boxes with his signature “I WANT” radiating in white. When viewed up close, thousands of lines of computer code become clear. He uses source code from actual apps, social media and news articles here. Rosen pulls morsels of code and text into the foreground using vivid color, hinting to the strangers that lie beneath. To most of us, these codes are indecipherable, however when Augmented Reality (created in collaboration with Wallplay) is applied, then the true motives of each desire are revealed.