Bio

Reuben Son (born 1986, lives in New York) makes software, sound, and ceramics.

Reuben Son studio portrait
Studio self-portrait, 2019

Software

As a software developer, his experience began when learning how to write code in various research science environments before working as a full-stack engineer and engineering manager at New York Magazine. The bulk of his tenure there was devoted to the development of The Strategist, with responsibilities spanning from implementing the full site redesign, and developing tools and services that power editorial, data, and business-development workflows in addition to the primary reader-experience across a number of distribution platforms (e.g. web, AMP, and Apple News).

He has also built out a number of projects for creative purposes. He developed custom software for the Hobo UFO project with artist James Hoff, which programmatically détourns Google Maps Street View into an audio-reactive cinematography reminiscent of Michael Snow's La Région Centrale.

Sound

As a sound artist, he explores the notion of composition as the deployment of strategies for dealing with the propositional materiality of sound. Drawing from the origins of computing within the history of textile production, his forthcoming work attempts to formalize this idea of sonic materiality by abstracting principles of weaving and textile design into a generative framework for electronic music production.

Selected Performances

Selected Discography

Ceramics

A selection of Reuben's ceramics are currently available for sale on Etsy.

mug in shape of a dwelling
From a series of "casa mugs", produced with a kurinuki carving technique, in which the vessel and door-like handle is carved out, and the surface is left jagged and rough, largely untouched by any surface intervention.