*Arcadia* is a homage to the fridge-worthy landscape art of our youth. Childhood techniques of creating art are re-imagined by the scribbles of a nostalgic, computer-assisted mind.

**Spacebar**: Skip animation and load final image (useful when rendering in high resolutions)
**Up arrow**: Speed scribbles up (default speed is the highest)
**Down arrow**: Slow scribbles down

Arcadia

Rituals combines generative music and generative artwork to create 1000 unique windows into a singular parametric universe. The music and art are crafted to infinitely evolve, giving collectors a subtly new experience upon each viewing. If left running, a single Ritual will continue generating music and art without repeating for ~9 million years. We invite you to hold space for yourself and enjoy a moment of mindful stillness. The first 200 were minted in real life at Bright Moments in Venice, CA, USA in September 2021.

Best experienced on modern equipment. Click to start.

Artwork by Aaron Penne (@aaronpenne), music by Boreta (@boreta), music system produced by Counterpoint (ctpt.co).

Rituals - Venice

At the shoreline, waves wash over the sand, sorting and tumbling the grains into troughs and valleys. Each wash of water alters the microcosmic landscape in an infinitesimal loop. Inspired by the unfathomable mathematics of this natural phenomena, we invite you to plunge into the purity of movement and transformation through the medium of ones and zeros. The palette and pixels are regulated by an algorithm designed to mimic the textures, colours and gradients of the high tide beach, while the edition of 745 reflects the number of minutes in a full tidal cycle. Keyboard controls: P=pause, F=fast forward.

High Tide

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]

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zoologic (zō- ə- ˈlä- jik) - relating to the properties and vital phenomena exhibited by an animal, animal type, or group.
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Why do animals evolve into different species? Why do they evolve to look or behave one way, and not another? Why do some animals have a few children, while others have many? What makes some animals better at surviving than others?

Zoologic is an exploration of these questions, and of forces that drive the evolution of life. It's a cellular automaton where small creatures ("crobes") compete for survival in a shared space, as their traits and reproductive strategies drift over time. Population dynamics and r/K selection theory play a role in their gradual evolution into new forms.

Life for the bacteria-like crobes is a simple affair. Each explores their world — a hexagonal grid  — according to their own pre-coded movement strategy. Each step requires a little bit of “energy,” the fuel that powers movement. Running out of energy means a crobe can’t move, but more energy can be obtained by consuming the only available food source — other crobes! Crobes can detect their neighbors within a couple of spaces, identify them as predators or prey, and react according to their needs.

Crobes consume each other for resources, then use those resources to reproduce -- but not perfectly. Each reproduction introduces new mutations, causing traits to change and new behaviors and appearances to emerge! The crobes’ neural nets learn over time, and only the fittest survive, making Zoologic an example of a neuroevolutionary algorithm. As neural nets are trained, they can be saved, loaded, and battled, shared with others. Train your crobes locally and compete with friends! Each output includes a fully on-chain, pre-trained neural net that has been generatively modified at the time of mint to give each set of crobes their own unique personality.

Key controls: [A] Fullscreen (press a second time for edge-to-edge animation), [H] Help menu, [I] AI menu, [Space] change color palette, [D] Toggle Dark mode, [F+#] Adjust framerate, [X+#/arrows] Adjust detail level, [N] restart animation with different random seed. Please see Help menu for a more comprehensive explanation of available controls and settings, including some intended for improved presentation for longer periods of time.

Art Blocks Presents

Arcadia #99

Zachariah Watson

More in Art Blocks Presents

Rituals - Venice

Aaron Penne x Boreta

High Tide

Artem Verkhovskiy x Andy Shaw

Space Debris [ravaged]

WhaleStreet x pxlq

Zoologic

ixnayokay

Art

Company

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