***Crypt***
Crypt is a labyrinth of sound, image, data, and code. It is an enigma. Once solved, it is also a gateway.

Crypt is a multilayered piece of generative art, one that unfolds into something else, then unfolds again. It contains artworks within artworks, found by puzzles inside other puzzles. One leading to another. At the center is a gateway. The gateway opens another world. That world is an Alternate Reality Game filled with cryptic histories, untold stories, and physical treasures hidden all over the world. 

To begin, some hints. The solution to the first puzzle is a three-part key. It leads to another layer. Here is a room of sorts. An escape room. Viewable from three angles. In the room are eight code-words. They lead to the way out. Collaboration is essential.

At the bottom of Crypt is another key. It unlocks a world. It unlocks Cyclops.

To confirm your solution to crypt and claim your reward please visit: https://cyclopsgroup.art

***Cyclops***

Cyclops is a networked performance, collaborative narrative, and alternate-reality-game designed to be played by groups of people working together across the world. Set in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the game begins with a series of audio tracks. Some tracks are musical compositions, others are filled with odd voices reading letters and counting numbers, others still resemble nothing more than noise and static.
 
Each track is, in fact, a puzzle of increasing complexity. As players work together to solve them, a narrative about early research into psychological operations, mind-control experiments, and an alternative history of the internet age begins to emerge. Over the course of the game, players come across - and are invited to collect - a series of artworks specifically created for Cyclops players. To find these artworks, players must identify and follow up on clues provided within the game. Cyclops is a world within a world.

Crypt

To become an Energy Sculptor, you first have to find your way into MU. Once arrived, an extensive period of trials will test your capabilities for earning the right to be an Energy Sculptor.

This project is part of The Realm of MU saga.

EnergySculpture

Totem of Taste is all about the donuts. More than donuts, it is about taste buds.
It celebrates the delightful, sweet, and mysterious flavors that the tip of your tongue wants to remember but cannot disentangle.
In a bite, one sense ignites another.
On the palette, a color blends with its ethereal neighbor.
A point moves in tandem with millions of other points to reflect the monumental presence of food in our lives in real-time.
The donuts are made with strange attractors – dynamic systems that are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. The algorithm guides the trajectories of the points until they settle into deterministic shapes to naturally form textures.


[Minimal interaction involved. Press 's' to save to the current screen size.]

Totem of Taste

“Life will be lived all the better if it has no meaning” - Albert Camus 

Optimistic nihilism embraces the idea that life's inherent meaninglessness is, in fact, positive. The conflict between intrinsic meaninglessness and our search for meaning is both absurd and liberating. We are free to create our own meaning yet ultimately, there is none. By acknowledging both the futility and the opportunity, we can find joy.

These images have no specific meaning yet often they seem purposed. Each output evokes an emotional tone, such as calm, erratic, troubled, bold, mysterious or cheerful. We are frequently reminded of something or can identify shapes like birds, houses or spaceships. Our innate tendency to find patterns and meaning is evident.

The algorithm uses geometry and rules but has been given as much freedom as possible to create varied compositions which contain both chaos and order. The compositions are constructed using node layouts, which are connected to form shapes. Connection is a recurrent theme in our pursuit of meaning - manifested in pattern formation, our relationships and the interconnectedness of the universe. The shapes are duplicated and modified through rotation, mirroring, and scaling to build up structure and chaotic form. If an output appears too sparse, an extra stage of manipulation is applied. Keypresses reveal the components, allowing viewers to observe the underlying mathematical structure of the composition. How does this insight influence our perception of meaning?

The meaning communicated by each piece is subjective, shaped by the viewer's own experiences interacting with the work. The artist aspires to connect with her audience by discovering the meanings they derive from the outputs we have yet to encounter.

Toggle components - 
1 - Nodes
2 - Shapes
3 - Extras
4 - Strokes or Outlines (if present)
5 - Border
r - Return to full piece

s - Save 2000px wide image
p - Save 5000px wide image

Meaningless

Darwin’s Orchid wasn’t discovered by Darwin, but he correctly hypothesized that its long blooms, up to a foot and a half tall, coevolved with a moth with a very long tongue—just long enough to extract its nectar. This flower embodies the great variety of and fascination with the orchid family. Orchids come in all shapes, sizes, colors, textures and scents—perhaps this is why they’ve entranced cultures dating back well over five millennia, becoming symbols of virility, beauty, peace and prosperity in the process. Named “Cattleya” after my first rare orchid, this work is my Ode to Orchids—a mystical flower that brings me endless delight.

Read more about my [inspiration & process↗](https://bensnell.medium.com/7c943673d54f)

*Notes:*
*— This project is intended to be run on modern devices, operating systems and browsers. Older ones may yield undesired or undefined behaviors.*
*— This script includes a modified version of [glsl-fast-gaussian-blur](https://github.com/Jam3/glsl-fast-gaussian-blur), licensed under the MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2015 Jam3.*

Art Blocks Presents

Crypt #0

The Cyclops Group

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