The Concept

Ollie / Ali is a wearable performance work that rejects the social pressure to pass for normal. It is a direct reaction to the friction between a neurodivergent body and a world built for cognitive and physical silence.

The title honors two figures who rebelled against the status quo. Ollie refers to Oliver Sacks, who fought the clinical rigidity of neurology by reframing conditions like Tourette syndrome as a state of overactivity rather than a mere deficit. Ali refers to Muhammad Ali, who fought to define himself on his own terms—from his transition to his new name to his advocacy for disability.

Drawing on my own experience with Tourette’s and learning disabilities, I built this work to serve as my ring. As Lisa Pollak noted, “A boxer without a boxing ring is just a guy punching people.” This machine provides the context where my specific energy is a force to be harnessed rather than a problem to be managed.
In character, I navigate high-friction public spaces while struggling to control a massive robotic appendage. My hands are stuffed inside boxing gloves that I tore the thumbs off, stripping away fine motor skills. I steer the arm with my thumbs on analog joysticks mounted in little scale-model fingers gripped inside each glove.

The large finger protruding from my chest can be an adversary. It often whips back to attack me, especially when I attempt to read signs or decipher symbols. I am forced to physically box the arm back into submission, turning the private labor of neurodivergent focus into a visible struggle for control.


Technical Architecture

The mechanical and digital infrastructure of Ollie / Ali was developed over several years to solve the specific challenges of large-scale wearable robotics.

The heart of the work is Powder of Life, a proprietary software framework I developed to manage real-time motor control and sensor interpretation. The software is designed to bridge the gap between human kinetic intent and robotic actuation, allowing the machine to exhibit the specific overactive behaviors—jitter, drift, and resistance—central to the performance.

To achieve precise positioning without industrial overhead, I built custom servos utilizing a unique absolute positioning system. I use infrared reflectance sensors to read a grayscale gradient laser-printed on cardstock, which is glued into a 3D-printed PLA hub. This data is processed through the Powder of Life software to achieve positioning while retaining an organic, non-linear jitter.

To manage the mass of the 3D-printed appendage, I implemented a cable-driven transmission. Mass is centralized on a plywood backplate mounted to a modified GoPro chest harness, with power transmitted through custom-built wiring and stainless steel cables over oversized sheave wheels.

The logic is handled by an Arduino Nano mounted on a custom-designed PCB. Every power and signal cable was custom-built for this specific architecture. The system is powered by high-capacity NiMH hobby RC batteries, allowing for untethered performance in the public sphere.
The Digital Lobotomy

The modern digital landscape often performs a kind of lobotomy on complex works of art. In the comment sections of the internet, the nuance of a performance is frequently reduced to a joke or a clinical curiosity. This project stands in defiance of that reduction. By taking a freakish aesthetic and a massive physical burden into the public eye, I am reclaiming the gaze. I am moving away from being a specimen to be studied and toward a performer who defines his own space and mechanical reality.


... and here's that quote...
Lisa Pollak, This American Life, 326: Quiz Show