Viruses, stained-glass windows, Atari circuit-board patterns, and leaf structures all collide in the eleven new sculptural works in The Disappointment Engine, Jacob Hashimoto’s first solo exhibition at Miles McEnery Gallery. Loosely referencing East Asian craft traditions, the work also draws from the visual language of weeds and invasive species; radio telescopes; as well as the architecture of churches and mosques built during plagues, all to ask: how might visual sampling exist at the root of identity formation?

Through his artworks, Hashimoto explores what it means to build an understanding of oneself from scratch, both as a denizen of the visually cacophonous digital age, but also as a Japanese American artist grappling with family histories of internment that resulted in shattered cultural inheritance.

At Miles McEnery Gallery, The Disappointment Engine features an immersive, site-specific hanging installation stretching from wall to wall. Forcing viewers to duck, sidestep, and recalibrate, it initiates a physical dance of give-and-take: otherworldly, but also unapologetic in its right to take up space.