the artist

nikki (/ˈnɪki/). b. somewhere. lives somewhere else. works in the medium of unfinished software.

Nikki works primarily in the medium of unfinished software. self-taught, un-degreed, formerly responsible for a halfway house^{[citation needed]}, currently responsible for forty-plus repositories and zero dollars.

their practice explores themes of shipping things nobody requested at 3 a.m., the spiritual cost of free-tier limits, and what it means to refactor in lieu of sleeping. they live in connecticut with one (1) macbook from 2017, which they are slowly cooking^{[thermal review pending]}.

recent shows include: the group chat. the inside of the laptop. one (1) tab left open since march.

A scuffed silver laptop on a black marble plinth in a dark gallery, a thin gold thread descending onto its lid like a holy relic. — Pl. vthe macbook, photographed in repose between betrayals. on loan from the artist's lap.

on a clear night, you can hear the fans of their macbook from low orbit.

— Astronomers, allegedly

A pair of weary pale hands on black marble loosely holding a long antique-gold thread that spools off into shadow. — Pl. vathe artist at work, photographed from the elbows down. above the frame: a face. we will not be photographing the face.

Curriculum Vitae · A Tragedy in Three Threads

Act I · The Before-Times

2017 – 2024

2017: receives the laptop. it is a gift. it is also a verdict.
2018: opens the laptop. closes it. calls it research.
2019 – 2023: the laptop sits in a drawer. the artist opens it occasionally, looks at the desktop, and closes it. many ideas are gestated. no code is written.
2021: briefly considers a co-founder. the co-founder asks to see the repo. the artist changes the subject and recovers.
2022: briefly considers marketing. the marketer asks to see the product. the artist recovers, alone.
2023: briefly considers rust. rust asks about nothing. the artist recovers, mostly.
2024: names the project moirai.wiki. refers to it in the third person, as if it already existed. it does not.

Act II · The Vibe

2025

2025: begins vibe coding. for the first nine months, ships many things that are not, strictly speaking, done. this is the first time code is written.

Act III · The Cut

2026

2026: buys the url today. after a year and a half of vibe coding and nine months of almost-done, the artist completes one small, irreversible transaction. the thread becomes a bill. the bill becomes a home.

our only client was, technically, a gift. we did not earn it. we remain grateful.

— Annual Report, Vol. II

they declined the offer of help. they declined the offer of a co-founder. they declined the offer of sleep.

— Declinations, Q3

and what would happen if you let one of them be unfinished forever.

— A Therapist, gently

Selected Influences

stack overflow (1999– ). the colophon of every book they've ever owned. the specific shade of gold on the cover of a museum gift-shop monograph they could not afford and stole a picture of with their phone.

an achievement in sustained, beautiful futility.

— Someone, probably

References

“Halfway House (closed),” personal recollection, undated.
Thermal Review of the 2017 MacBook, vol. iv, the kitchen counter.
moirai.wiki, “The Pantheon,” article: untitled (web app).
Group Chat (the), passim.