This work is the product of a project to dwell undeletable souls on the blockchain. A system that generates human faces with different personalities and expressions from a minimum of code. After determining the personality from a hash, the face continues to change into various expressions. It is a living portrait, a fragment of minter's soul, forever adrift in the vast net.

Living organisms are coded by a sequence of the four bases in DNA, and a human DNA is composed of 3 billion base pairs. This is about 750 MB of information. And the difference in code between individual people is only 0.1%, or 750 KB. This slight difference creates all kinds of differences in appearance and physical functions. This is quite astonishing to our ordinary senses.

However, if we are surprised by this fact, we need to suspect our senses.

I was interested in these points and explored what are the elements by which people identify the faces and facial expressions of others, how little code can create personality and emotion, and conversely, to what extent can an observer identify personality and facial expressions. As a result, I succeeded in expressing the personalities, emotions, and complex feelings of various people with 14 KB of code.

We like to think of humans are supernatural and one-of-a-kind. This is a common background to the past, when many people favored the Ptolemaic theory.

However, this work leads us to suspect that we humans are only a program that can be coded.

Then, what is the essential difference between a code written in DNA and a code written in programming language? I believe the only difference is whether the execution space is real or digital space. Is it a prerequisite for the existence of the soul to operate an organic computer in real space? It is merely a medium.

This is not meant to be pessimistic, such as we are mere code, the soul does not exist and is an illusion, a mere electrical signal in the brain.

Rather, the soul, the function that makes us aware of our existence, makes us think, causes us to emotion, and makes us act, certainly dwells in the code.

I store this code on the blockchain, thereby spreading undeletable ghosts on the vast net forever.

In this work, the ghost is output on the net by minting. This act is part of the work. The personality of the ghost is also determined by the hash owned by the minter. In other words, the ghost output by you from the code on the blockchain is a fragment of your soul on the net.


[NOTES]

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GHOST IN THE CODE

Lacunae is a study of emergent systems; it is both the outcome of following rules and an examination of the rules themselves. I am often interested more in how a thing is made than the thing itself, and when you view Lacunae it is my intention that you are shown behind the curtain, to witness the chaotic formation and the organized result. Watch as the particles move from their original random positions, leaving trails across the screen. All aspects are generated by the transaction hash, including the color combinations.

Once the animation is resolved, click to replay!

*Thumbnails will take 8 minutes to render*

Lacunae

CryptoVenetians are a limited release algorithmically generated pixel art collection based on real characters from Venice, CA. Available only to visitors of the Bright Moments physical NFT gallery, CryptoVenetians grant holders exclusive access to IRL events and experiences in Los Angeles. With over 200,000 possible combinations, CryptoVenetians represent the diversity of Venice Beach.

CryptoVenetian

*Mycelia* explores the beauty and intricacy of mycelium.

Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a mass of branched, thread-like hyphae. In addition to playing a crucial role in the growth and reproduction of fungi, it also seems to interweave with nature at large.

*Mycelia* takes place in a similar domain to my previous works centered around the connection between math, music, art, and nature. What can we learn from nature's generative processes, and how could these be used in a digital environment? It is fascinating how something that seems to be such a simple algorithm can achieve such tremendous results.

#### The Algorithm
In a similar way to the mycelium we find in nature, my virtual mycelia grows by extending its hyphae, absorbing nutrients, and breaking them down into energy. As the mycelium grows and matures, it forms a network of interconnected hyphae.

In a simplified way, every hypha has a core algorithm with the following instructions:
1. Absorb nutrition from the soil and convert it into energy.
2. Use the energy to move one step forward. Does the new position contain more of the nutrition it needs? If yes, repeat step 1, otherwise go to step 3.
3. Divide into two new hyphae growing slightly to the left and right to increase the chance to find more nutrition.

On top of the core algorithm, a few other things could happen:

- There are different kinds of nutrients. A hypha can only focus on one kind at a time. But if it travels long distances, its DNA can change to absorb another kind of nutrient. This opens up more complicated networks and surprising outcomes.
- The angle used when a hypha divides could sometimes change to be wider or narrower, always with the goal of optimizing the nutrient intake.
- When the hypha collides with another branch in the network, they grow together. But there is also a chance that it could cross a branch depending on the difference in age between the branches. Think of it like it grows slightly up or down, which makes it possible to pass over or under a branch.
- There is a survival mechanism that is triggered when only a few hyphae exist in the network, which can force it to cross its own branches.


A challenge with the project was how to achieve an aesthetic outcome that could please the eye. The solution was to find a way to generate the amount and position of nutrients in the ground. Influenced by how sound spreads through the air, the nutrients spread from a single point and are being pushed out in wave-shaped circles over time. The waves are built synthetically by mixing sine waves with different frequencies and amplitudes. This gives each layer of nutrients its own characteristics and rhythm.

To describe the age of the hypha, it changes color over time. When it's young, it picks the first color in the palette, and over time it gradually changes color until it reaches the end of its lifecycle.

As you venture deeper into the world of *Mycelia* you'll feel a sense of magic and wonder begin to envelop you. You'll be transported to a realm where the boundaries between the natural and digital worlds blur, and the true power of mycelium is revealed.

Mycelia

In the right hand, a pen can effortlessly reveal the most characteristic features of a person, inside and out. Following the twist and turn of the line, echoes of practice and repetition, the path becomes a walk through the recesses of a subconscious human mind. Total Strangers pays tribute to this time-honoured flight of the human creativity, generating a rogue’s gallery of faces from a continuous fluid line and a virtual pencil case of select drawing tools. We invite you to follow the line as it goes for a walk. Watch it unfold and give life a cast of unique characters, reflections of those around us.

[P] - Pause
[B] - Toggle transparent background
[F] - Performance-agnostic desired frame rate. Switch between 30 (default) and 60.

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