L5-A752 to dispatch... we have been attacked, badly. Foundational structure is in critical condition, debris is everywhere. Lagrange stability has been compromised. Sending coordinates and trajectory... Requesting immediate gravity assist.

Space Debris [ravaged]

All maps are presented as-is with no guarantee of accuracy or completeness, and are provided without any warranty whatsoever, either express or implied. In no event shall The Artist be held liable for any damages or loss of profits arising from use of the maps, which may not be suitable for legal, engineering, financial, or navigational purposes.

Any resemblance to real locations is purely coincidental, and nothing perceived by the viewer is to be construed as a "legal description". All markings, sections, symbols, patterns, and other visual elements are purely aesthetic devices; they should not be interpreted as geographical, topographical, meteorological, biological, economic, sociological, or political phenomena. Furthermore, all perceived textures, imperfections, shadows, and marks of damage are mere simulations of an analog printing process, and in no way imply the or existence of, or ownership over, a corresponding physical paper map or anything the map may appear to depict.

The maps are not intended to provide any utility to the buyer. All sales are final, and refunds will not be given for any misprints, discolorations, inaccuracies, imprecisions, or unintended features of any kind.

All maps are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.

Maps of Nothing

## The Concept

Ad Extremum Terrae explores visual storytelling in a form of generative art. The project tells a story of the tragic end of all existence in a distant universe, long since forgotten. Any given individual output depicts a passing moment, captured during the final breath of each dying world. The once peaceful landscapes were torn apart, deforming and reshaping their natural geometries and thus the reality itself in a surrealistic fashion.

Each image is drawn to vaguely mimic a pencil-like texture. Firstly to remind of something familiar and subsequently emitting a peculiar and eerie feeling. Did this event happen and was it witnessed by a carbon-based life-form?

The project invites the viewer to ponder the different scenarios of what might have transpired in the past that lead the universe to its doom. Although one interpretation can be deciphered from the partially corrupted transmission below, it is not necessarily the true explanation.


The only thing that is known, is that all life ceased to exist in this ancient universe long time ago. Its tale lives on, but only as a memory and as a reminder to us all that life can be fragile and fleeting, albeit beautiful and precious.

## The Story

*”If anyone listens .. …. recording …. ….. ….. .. a warning …. …. will happen .. your world. We didn’t …. …. .. our universe, ……. we drained … ….. resource ….. .. couldn’t sustain … life …. any longer. The great collapse .. moments away … this will .. … end .. our story. Do not …… our mistakes. Most importantly … …. prevent ….. …. ……… ….. world .. … ……. ……… at any cost. This is our final transmission.”*

Just as the transmission ends, a sudden flash of dreamlike images flashes through your mind, leaving a vivid imprint. These were the final moments of an ancient, distant and long forgotten universe. The rush is too much to handle and you faint. You wake up and immediately start looking for the recording but it's gone. You remember everything as clear as day, but was it just a dream?

## The Details

There are several main scenes, which depict the specific stage that the end has advanced to. The predominantly or entirely black and white and the muted palettes give a sense of silence and solitude. Meanwhile other palettes disturb that calmness. Some palettes remind of colors in nature, but most are chosen and used in unnatural manner touching the style of expressionism.

Pressing "s" saves a screenshot at any point during the rendering. Pressing "p" pauses and unpauses the rendering. Pressing up or down arrow increases or decreases the drawing animation speed.

Ad Extremum Terrae

"Facets" is a study in intersections of polyhedra and interactions of light.

Polyhedra are distorted and duplicated around a symmetry axis, intersecting and merging into a great diversity of forms. These forms are rendered in a light simulation with different colors and material properties. The sharp edges of the shapes carve out light and space, casting soft shadows, glows, and reflections.

We can move the camera, zoom in and out, and change our perspective. From above, we may see a perfectly symmetrical figure. From below, we may see a grand constructivist sculpture. Zooming in, we see a geometric composition of polygons and gradients. Zooming out, we see the entirety of the form sitting in an endless void. We can turn on the animation and see the shapes shift and fold in on themselves. We can pause the animation and see a new permutation of the shapes. I invite you to manipulate the controls, reframe the composition, and share a new perspective.

(During interaction, the image may appear grainy and blurry due to incomplete rendering. This is necessary to keep the renderer running as smoothly as possible for the best experience.)

• Animate: Long press or three finger tap or press A
• Rotate: Drag (TrackPad: scroll)
• Zoom: Scroll or pinch (TP: pinch or ctrl+scroll)
• Pan: Drag with middle button or two fingers (TP: shift+scroll)
• Reset: Double press
• Animation Speed: press 1-9

Holders will have access to special minting features based on their tokens, please see project website for more details.

Facets

How can intent be communicated when ideas are filtered through a pseudorandom number generator? Simply looking at the output does not make it clear whether a stroke is placed on the canvas because of a decision by the artist or by a roll of the dice. The artist’s hand is more present in the process than the result; they choose the algorithms, tune the parameters, and prune the features. As I experimented with my code, I held a particular idea in mind, but I was uncertain how it would finally manifest. I pursued a visual composition that made me feel a certain way, and the visuals I landed on communicate my feeling better than anything I can put into words. Through Curved Air is about the challenge of communication. Regardless of the medium, I can never be certain that the message I intend to send is the message that is received.

Through Curved Air takes inspiration from musical minimalism, where repetition is used to highlight changes in rhythm and harmony. Every output is created by repeatedly copying a single shape. Each copy only has meaning in relation to the other shapes nearby, and that meaning changes with the context around it. Delicate structures form and are subsequently obscured by further layers, and though they may be hidden, they still affect the perception of the final image. Clicking on the canvas will start or stop the looping mode, where the image is recreated in a slightly different way. New facets are exposed as the composition changes yet remains the same. Just as I spend my days trying to share my inner experience through my art, Through Curved Air uses each shape and each loop and each token hash to attempt to create a common feeling between myself and the viewer.

Through Curved Air also takes inspiration from the paintings of Joan Mitchell. I was drawn to her expressive strokes, vibrant colors, and use of negative space, all of which come together to give a more intense feeling of looking at a landscape than just looking at a painting of a landscape. Her energetic marks clearly communicate that there is a human being behind the art. The marks of generative works are often similarly representative of the underlying process, but instead of drawing focus to the artist behind the piece, they draw attention to the algorithm. To convey human emotion in the way I intended, I had to use a subtler algorithm.

The technical tools to convey this emotion are tools I have been consistently developing in my practice. I love making generative art because I can design a system where I understand how all the components work, but they can still come together to produce a result that surprises me. The algorithm behind the compositional variation in my earlier works Coquina and Primordial is one I continued to evolve, and it rests at the heart of Through Curved Air. In fact, I pushed it further than ever, using it to create the individual shapes that form the building block of each output. This emergent variation permeates the work and results in surprising images that more closely resemble paintings than anything I made previously. I believe the potential for surprise is key to conveying emotion through code. When the possibility space of the algorithm grows too large to understand, the mind wanders to the person behind the algorithm. Perhaps the human element is the struggle to understand, or the struggle to be understood.

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