‘Rule XIII’ by Brigita Ozolins | Binary Artwork
Brigita Ozolins is a Hobart-based artist and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the School of Creative Arts and Media at the University of Tasmania, where she has taught since 2000. Born of Latvian heritage, she moved from Melbourne to Hobart in 1983 and has built a practice over four decades that sits at the intersection of conceptual art, digital culture, language, and the philosophy of communication. Her work examines the systems through which meaning is made — written language, binary code, codification, and the transformation of thought from analogue to digital form.
Her practice includes photography, digital print, and installation. Previous major works include Kryptos (2011) and Codex (2009) — both exploring humanity's complex relationship to language and the act of recording thought. 'Rule XIII' emerges from that same sustained inquiry and represents the mature expression of a conceptual territory Ozolins has explored across more than a decade of exhibition and research.
About 'Rule XIII'
Artwork: Rule XIII Year: 2015 Medium: Digital print Series: Unity — exhibited at Bett Gallery, Hobart, 29 April – 16 May 2016 Companion work: 'Rule XII' — displayed alongside 'Rule XIII' at The Royale Displayed at: The Royale, Hobart CBD
'Rule XIII' is one of two works from Ozolins' Unity series in The Island Collective collection the other being 'Rule XII', which hangs alongside it at The Royale. The two works sit in direct conversation with each other across the space.
Unity is a visual exploration of binary code the system of zeros and ones that underpins all digital information. Ozolins traces binary code back through its history: from the prosody of ancient Indian Vedic chanting described by the scholar Pingala, through the hexagrams of the Chinese I Ching, to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), the German polymath generally credited as the father of modern binary code. Leibniz was himself inspired by the I Ching when he developed the binary number system that forms the basis of all digital computing today.
The series juxtaposes opposites numbers and letters, philosophy and mathematics, nature and culture, the organic and the inorganic, the old and the new — and incorporates philosophical text from Leibniz alongside quotes from Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan, French writer Marguerite Duras, and philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The work asks what it means to record thought, and what is lost or transformed when language moves from analogue to digital form.
'Rule XIII' carries that inquiry in concentrated form. It rewards close reading — both visually and intellectually and it sits at The Royale alongside works by Pat Brassington and Blair Waterfield as part of a collection that treats conceptual depth and aesthetic presence as equally essential.
Experience 'Rule XIII' During Your Stay
'Rule XIII' and its companion work 'Rule XII' both hang at The Royale — a 125 sqm dual-level luxury apartment in Hobart CBD, 450 metres from Constitution Dock and Salamanca Place. Staying at The Royale gives you both Ozolins works in the same space, alongside 'Breaking Bread' by Pat Brassington and three works by Blair Waterfield.
Want to explore the full Island Collective art collection before booking? The District in Hobart CBD displays original works by Louise De Weger. The Tempo and The Helm in Sandy Bay carry original Tasmanian paintings by Stacey Rees and Mindy Doré. Browse every artwork across the collection on The Artists page, or contact the team with any questions before you book.
