The name 404.zero refers to “error code without threshold. An ultimatum to ourselves - there will be no other attempt.” These are the words of the Russian duo Kristina Karpysheva and Alexandr Letsius, who have been working under 404.zero since they met at Moscow Mars Contemporary Art Centre in 2016. The two are widely known for conjuring up large-scale installations and performing mind-altering live audio visual shows that put together generative art and electronic sounds. Maths and coding act as their brush and canvas, and their command of the modern, innovative generative art tools pushes the limit of synergies between the two art forms.

The pair’s backgrounds allow them to explore beyond what is thought to be possible in the field. Kristina has studied generative graphics with special interests in the mental side of art creation and engagement. Meanwhile, Alexandr did programming and was deeply involved in architecture and also had an extended curiosity about the impact of lights and sounds. The two share frustrations in the creative processes and as 404.zero, they seek to constantly search for and create something new amidst a world full of recreations, copies and patterns through nihilistic approaches. Their resolute pursuit of creation brings forth materialisation of their boundless ideas that often exceeds our imagination.
‘Dark Mofo’, ‘Annihilation’ and ‘Black Sunday’ are examples of the duo’s creations of ethereal voids, accompanied by out-of-this-world visuals that leave the audience fully immersed in their sonic realm. As musicians, they explore territories of analog sounds through various intelligent music genres from hypnotising, dark ambient with multilayers of sound textures to IDM using analog gears. In their live performance, the use of modular synthesizers and the tools they created for controlling visuals using TouchDesigner are mediums that allow them to have full control over every aspect of the show. They have performed at festivals such as Mutek Montreal in 2019 and Lunchmeat festival in 2020 and have their installations displayed at Dark Mofo Festival, Avant Gardner, LACMA Barcelona and Moscow Planetarium. Their works were also selected by Japan Media Arts Festival and awarded by Genius Loci Weimar Festival and IMAP Festival.