*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

Six works from the _Placement_ series were on exhibition at the Art Blocks Gallery in Marfa, Texas from May – October, 2022. 

_Placement_ is a series of 500 artworks that are iteratively generated by an algorithm built by the artist. These hard-edge color-fields are visual representations of the underlying code; their color juxtapositions provoke a long look that goes beyond ‘seeing’. The frame assists in this process as it emphasizes concentration akin to the design of a digital display. The mechanisms of production – code and silkscreen – fade away to present artworks of pure color projected onto a screen or laid on top of paper. In this way, the artist relates the allure of vivid, saturated ink to the mesmerizing glow of a digital display. Cooper is engaged with themes such as digital materiality and the phenomenological.

Placement

A love letter to the beautiful hash behind the art. ⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑ (づ￣ ³￣)づ *:･ﾟ✧ 0x... ✧ﾟ･: *

Dear Hash,

Karma, the original algorithm of Indian thought. Action, inaction, randomness, will -- all are ground in its maw to determine the manifest shape of the next moment. The past makes the present, and shall do so in the future.

But what one sees is the eternal present, and from there, the past is only the fading imprint on memory, an imprint that leaves us with the perception of pattern, as gratifying as it is mystical. The past's fading, thus, is a necessity.

Interaction:
Click/Hold anywhere to start drawing. Press the 'down arrow' to clear the canvas.

KARMA

Center pivot irrigation is a mainstay of the American farm. Like giant inkjet printers, they have painted verdant circles onto landscapes since the 1950s. The artists of this piece grew up in America’s breadbasket near the birthplace of the center pivot, surrounded by the nostalgia of the Family Farm. These were years of innocence – free from concerns of water shortages, chemical leaching, and economic controversy. The tension between childhood times and today’s environmental reality is a canvas for re-envisioning center pivots: they are fundamentally giant drawing machines. What happens when water is rationed? …when they are free to draw? …when they behave unexpectedly? Your token serves as the instructions for these machines—instructions that either constrain or liberate the machine to paint fantastical scenes.

Watch the project teaser video, learn more about the rationale, and see example mints at https://centerpivot.art/

Additional controls interact with each other and have varying impacts during different periods of the animation. Experiment to create and save a new variation of your mint!
'Arrow up' increases evaporation
'Arrow down' decreases evaporation
'Arrow right' increases overspray
'Arrow left' decreases overspray
'.' begins sunset; neon colors emerge depending on when initiated
'/' shows pivot mechanisms only
's' saves screenshot

Art Blocks Presents

Arcadia #181

Zachariah Watson

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