Beachy dreamscape vibes. 50% of the minting sales proceeds for Stipple Sunsets were directly sent to GiveDirectly, a non-profit that sends money directly to the worlds poorest and most in need–50% of subsequent artist royalties will be be donated to charities in the Rocky Mountain region.

Stipple Sunsets

On a cosmic stage, these actors sing an infinite song. What do they reach for? Who are they searching for? Do their faces show wonder—or sadness? Sometimes they sing for themselves, sometimes they sing for the crowd, and sometimes they sing for the void. Like us. (25% to environmental charities)

The Opera

__*Implications*__ explores the symmetry of a chaotic system in motion. Each output contains a selection of geometric shapes that slide, twist, and resize over time. Their intersections divide the canvas into two regions, each with its own set of rules for generating mathematical textures. As predictable geometry and chaotic automata intersect and evolve, a variety of organic and artificial patterns emerge. Gradually, the colors and rules shift, and new forms appear. Through a series of carefully reflected changes, symmetry persists.

Each animation is constructed from large virtual pixels. By varying their scale, spacing, and alignment a variety of patterns are generated — ranging from a pixel art aesthetic to one with softer, larger-scale structures. Where does a tiny pixel end, and the emergent whole it’s a part of begin?

Building on the foundation laid in __*mono no aware*__ and __*Zoologic*__, __*Implications*__ continues the work of making the beautiful complexity of cellular automata visible and accessible. New techniques for optimization, color generation, and constraint selection -- along with simplifications to features and interactive controls -- place focus squarely on an endless and compelling animated experience.

__*Implications*__ is a meditative work best experienced over the course of at least a few minutes. Put on some music, full-screen the live view, and enjoy the show! What sorts of symmetry do you see? What sorts of shapes and textures are there, and how do they move? For viewers who would like to customize the detail level, frame rate, and other aspects of the viewing experience, press **[H]** to open a menu describing the available keyboard controls.

Implications

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]

Press C to turn canvas on/off
Press S to save image

GHOST IN THE CODE

Initially worn by miners and cowboys, roughly half of the world’s population wears denim on a given day, and the range of styles is–literally–endless. A new pair of jeans might be acid bleached, sandblasted, stonewashed, or tie-dyed; it can have hand-sanded rips and tears, followed by visible mendings, patches, intentional paint stains, and more. In an epic attempt to crack the genetic code of denim, Jenim playfully but carefully observes and translates the warp and weft of denim into generative code, weaving unique iterations of irregular, distorted, or hyper-realistic textile crops.

Ironically, imitating aging, a pair of jeans produced today generates more pollution and labor than most average garments. In response, Jenim’s minted iterations go beyond wearables and into infinity. Each year that passes, the color might fade slightly; the rips might expand. Who knows what these artworks will look like ten or even fifty years from now?

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