code. art. question everything.

I'm Marco. By trade, I'm an engineer & innovator. But I'm also much more.

Currently I work for myself, as I co-founded Transient Labs with my best friend, Ben. I'm lucky enough to be able to use my unique skillset daily.

Previously, I was an aerospace engineer for a small company in Colorado and before that, I was an automotive engine research engineer for Honda R&D.

Alright, now that we got the small talk out of the way, let's get into the good stuff.

code

I've been coding for over 10 years, starting in high school. Started with Java (ew), then Matlab & Simulink in college (ew), and then Python in the workforce (based).

It was only after Ben and I wanted to do something interesting with his artwork in 2021 that I dove headfirst into the rabbit hole that I find myself in now.

Creative coding was probably the first instance where I thought, “hey, I can actually be somewhat artistic”. Of course, I needed Ben to actually take and edit photos, but that's just a minor point. I was hooked. I learned Javascript and it was off to the races with creating dynamic art (more on this later).

Ben really urged me to take a look at these things called smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. I was hesitant at first. I'm not a finance guy, I didn't necessarily “get” Bitcoin, but that all changed when I read through the Ethereum docs and saw what could be accomplished with smart contracts.

Of course now, I understand Bitcoin much more, but still my true love in web3 is decentralized computation, provenance, ownership, and smart contracts. I use Solidity, of course, but have also been getting into Vyper and I gotta say, don't sleep on Vyper.

And that brings us to today - I use software to create, experiment, and much more.

art

As I mentioned before, the only way I can really create art is with code. It's my paintbrush. My fingers are only good for typing, not anything like drawing a straight line even.

I started off making dynamic art with Ben, where the displayed image would change over the course of a day. This was the moment. I dove in and kept on helping creators expand their art with code. This is really what got us traction and helped us found Transient Labs.

From there, I got deeper and deeper into smart contracts. I started seeing them not only as the code behind NFTs but also that they can be part of the art themselves. I've found many ways to use the blockchain as a paintbrush and I keep coming up with more ideas :)

Recently, I've gotten into tinkering around with generative algorithms and applying them to some ideas I have. The first project I'm embarking on is called Lines. The project is all about human connection - something we all seem to lack a bit right now. You can read more about it here.

question everything

I questioned even writing this section, let alone make this website.

you made it all the way down here?

I was somewhat verbose, so I'm surprised you're reading this.

Well, as a reward, try typing in 'cntrl + shift + T' or tapping with three fingers.