Exploring the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds with Daniel Rozin

By Selva Ozelli Esq, CPA is an international digital asset legal  expert  and author of Sustainably Investing in Digital Assets Globally.  Her  writings are translated into 45 languages and republished in over 200 global publications.  She is recognized as an expert media/TV commentator on global  tax and technology matters.

The MOU issued by the SEC and CFTC during March significantly impacts the NFT collectible market by creating a “token taxonomy” that generally treats digital collectibles as non-securities. Digital collectibles that are fractionalized (providing fractional ownership in one asset) or structured with an expectation of profit from others’ managerial efforts may still be deemed securities.

The SEC’s 2026 interpretation clarifies that standard creator royalties do not, by themselves, transform a digital collectible into a security. However, if an NFT is marketed with promises of passive income or profits derived from the seller’s ongoing management, it could still be considered part of an investment contract (a security).

The era of speculative profile picture NFT hype has subsided with this guidance offering a path to a more stable NFT market for digital artists.   As part of her NFT series  exclusively for Irish Tech News, Selva Ozelli  asks Daniel Rozin , an Interactive Digital Artist about his six month exhibition Interference: The Interactive Art of Daniel Rozin at the Museum of Art + Light | Opening April 15 through September 25, 2026.

Interview with Daniel Rozin, Interactive Digital Artist

Daniel Rozin is an Israeli-American artist and educator based in New York City, renowned for his innovative interactive digital art and kinetic sculptures. He is most famous for his “Mechanical Mirrors”—complex installations that use cameras and sensors to reflect the viewer’s likeness in real-time using non-reflective materials.

Rozin’s work explores the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds, often focusing on the structure and materiality of images.  A central tenet of his work is that the art is incomplete without a person; the viewer’s presence and movement provide the “content” of the piece.  He transforms unexpected, mundane, or natural materials into pixels. Past works such as Wooden Mirror (1999/2014): His seminal piece, consisting of 830 square wooden tiles that tilt to reflect the viewer’s silhouette.

Trash Mirror (2001/2011): Utilizes flattened reflective pieces of garbage to render the silhouette of anyone who approaches.

Twisted Strips (2012)

Pom Pom Mirror (2015): Uses 928 black and white faux fur pom-poms that extend or retract via motors to create a monochromatic reflection.

RGB Peg Mirror No. 5 (2019/22)

Plant Mirror: A more recent exploration using live plants and sensors to respond to human presence through changes in light and CO2 levels.

His work has utilized wooden pegs, trash, hand fans, fur pom-poms, and even ball chains and  relies on advanced algorithms and mechanical engineering, which he often conceals the hardware to maintain a sense of mystery and prioritize the tactile experience.

Daniel Rozin is represented by Bitforms Gallery in New York https://www.bitforms.art/artist/daniel-rozin and is holding a six month exhibition of his work  Interference: The Interactive Art of Daniel Rozin at the Museum of Art + Light | Opening April 15 through September 25, 2026.

Tell us your journey to becoming an interactive digital artist?

I came to interactive art through a combination of craft, curiosity, and technology. I started with a background in industrial design, where I developed a strong relationship to materials and making. Later, at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), I encountered computation as a creative medium.

What interested me was not the screen, but the possibility of behavior, objects that respond, systems that react. That led me to develop works where the viewer is not just observing but actively shaping the piece. Over time, this became the core of my practice.

Tell us about your innovative interactive digital art and kinetic sculptures and why you integrate the viewer in real time?

My work is centered on a core idea: the viewer completes the artwork; the art does not exist without the viewer.

By integrating the viewer in real time, I shift the role of the audience from passive observer to active participant. The system captures their presence, usually through a camera, and translates it into a physical or visual response. The result is a representation of the viewer, but not a literal one. It’s abstracted, mediated, and hopefully surprising.

This creates a moment of recognition: people see themselves, but through a material or algorithmic lens. That tension, between control and interpretation, is where the work lives.

Tell us more about the technical engineering behind your mirror series?

The mirror works convert image data into physical motion or material transformation.

A camera captures the viewer, the image is processed in real time, and that data is mapped onto an array of actuators, motors, servos, or other mechanisms. Each element behaves like a pixel, but instead of emitting light, it moves, reflects, or changes orientation.

The challenge is not just sensing and computation, but choreography: making hundreds or thousands of elements move in a way that feels coherent, responsive, and alive. There’s also a strong emphasis on material, wood, metal, or found objects, so the system remains grounded in physical experience.

It is Earth Month, tell us about your Plant Mirror sculpture and how it responds to changes in CO? levels. Did you use live plants?

The Plant Mirror explores the idea of environmental feedback rather than direct visual reflection. Instead of responding to a viewer’s image, I decided to think like a plant, what would a plant care about,: light, water, CO2 Oxygen, humidity in the environment.

Sensors detect fluctuations, caused by audience presence, and those changes drive the behavior of the piece. The “image” becomes a kind of atmospheric portrait rather than a visual one.

Yes, the work incorporates live plants. The plant is gently actuated by motors that tilt its leaves, it is not harmed by this

Have you shown your Plant Mirror sculpture at the United Nations Climate Change Conferences?

No, it has not been shown at the UN Climate Change Conferences. It has only been exhibited in a gallery in New York so far.

Tell us about your six-month Interference: The Interactive Art of Daniel Rozinexhibition at the Museum of Art + Light?

This exhibition brought together several works that explore interference patterns, both visually and conceptually. It  serves as a homage to Jesús Rafael Soto, whose work with perception, vibration, and layered visual fields has been an important influence on my thinking.

Interference, in this context, refers to overlapping systems: light patterns, motion, perception, and the point of view of the viewer. The works create layered visual experiences where simple rules generate complex, shifting results.

Interference includes 16 works spanning three decades of my practice.

Which other museums have you shown your work at?

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Barbican, and Saatchi Gallery; State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg; Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid; The Israel Museum in Jerusalem; UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing; ICC in Tokyo; National Taiwan Museum; Carnegie Hall, Mass MOCA and Museum of the Moving Image in New York, among others.

Tell us more about the ITP program at NYU Tisch?

ITP is a graduate program, part of Tisch School the arts in NYU that focuses on the creative use of technology. It brings together artists, designers, engineers, and thinkers who are interested in experimentation and invention.

The program emphasizes hands-on making, rapid prototyping, and critical thinking about technology’s role in culture. Students are encouraged to explore widely, fail productively, and develop their own voice.

As a faculty member, I try to support that exploration while grounding it in strong conceptual thinking and the importance of craft.

Do you sell NFTs of your interactive digital work?

No, I have not had NFTs as part of my practice.

Anything else you would like to add?

I’m interested in the space between the digital and the physical, where computation becomes tangible and where systems reveal something about perception, behavior, or ourselves.

Even though my work uses technology, I see it as part of a long tradition of kinetic and perceptual art. The goal is not to showcase technology, but to use it as a means to create engaging, human experiences- Art.

How can people reach you?

The best way to learn more about my work is through my websites:
https://www.smoothware.com

https://url.avanan.click/v2/r01/___https://www.bitforms.art/artist/daniel-rozin___.YXAzOm11c2V1bW9mYXJ0YW5kbGlnaHQ6YTpvOjJiYjVmZDU2NzViYzRmODFmNWE3ZjA0ZDI4YmU3NmQ2Ojc6ZWVmZjpjY2M1NzFhYjA5YjczZjc1ZDUwYTNkNGJjODhjNWMwZDRjMDRlZmQ1MmQzMDM2Njc4MmVhOWYzMzc4MDA3NzhmOnQ6VDpG

Selva Ozelli Esq, CPA is an international digital asset legal  expert  and author of Sustainably Investing in Digital Assets Globally.  Her  writings are translated into 45 languages and republished in over 200 global publications.  She is recognized as an expert media/TV commentator on global  tax and technology matters.

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