I EXIST / I RESIST is an LED installation that reclaims the language of identity and defiance within systems of control and visibility. Using minimalist text in a format traditionally associated with advertising, alert messages, and digital authority, the work subverts function with meaning. It asserts that even bare presence can be a radical act.

The message “I EXIST / I RESIST” loops continuously, rhythmically, becoming a public mantra: persistent, embodied, unavoidable. It resists the spectacle of image and instead foregrounds the urgency of text, repetition, and rhythm. The binary speaks not of separation, but of simultaneity – existence is resistance, resistance is existence.

Set within a world shaped by algorithmic perception, surveillance culture, and the erosion of nuance, the work refuses simplification. It challenges categorization and demands the right to opacity – to Otherness without translation. The piece does not explain itself, nor does it entertain. It stands, glowing, repeating.

This is not information.
This is a confirmation: I’m here.

The LED sign, often a symbol of public control, becomes a site of poetic interruption. Instead of instructions or data, it offers presence. It acts as a body: a flickering trace of a voice, a signal that does not fade. It draws from traditions of protest and minimalism, but does not illustrate either. It performs a stance.

In some iterations, small printed cards with the phrases “I EXIST” and “I RESIST” are offered nearby. Viewers may take one – a gesture that invites reflection, movement, and shared ownership of the statement. This subtle extension allows the message to leave the gallery space and enter the personal space of the public – a soft transmission of solidarity.

I EXIST / I RESIST functions not only as a visual statement, but also as a temporal one. It refuses to disappear. It marks time with each pulse. It reminds us that to remain visible, to insist on one's space and voice – even in silence – is an act of defiance in itself.