Ode to Penrose is a celebration of the natural beauty of aperiodic tilings, especially of the ones discovered by Sir Roger Penrose. These tilings lie at the intersection of complex mathematical problems and gorgeous visual aesthetics arising from finite amounts of simple objects.

This project introduces novel ways to use Penrose tiles. Unlike in traditional deterministic usage of these tiles, stochasticity plays a very important part of the script. Randomness can affect things like the total amount of the tiles used, their orientation, coloring, and size. Familiar patterns can be witnessed in some outputs and yet they are completely absent in others. Despite this, perhaps surprisingly, each output could be completed into a traditional Penrose tiling without erasing any lines.

Ode to Penrose

The Curated Collection includes projects that have been selected by Art Blocks’ Curation Board for their world-class innovation, technical rigor, and aesthetic beauty.

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The Art Blocks x Pace collection includes boundary-pushing generative projects by select Pace artists developed in partnership with Pace Verso.

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This collection comprises projects screened and selected by Art Blocks and embodies our standards for artistic creativity, conceptual rigor, and technical achievement.

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This is the place where we tinker. What lives here is free of theme or architecture but the one common strand is that these projects all grant us delight.

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## The Concept

Ad Extremum Terrae explores visual storytelling in a form of generative art. The project tells a story of the tragic end of all existence in a distant universe, long since forgotten. Any given individual output depicts a passing moment, captured during the final breath of each dying world. The once peaceful landscapes were torn apart, deforming and reshaping their natural geometries and thus the reality itself in a surrealistic fashion.

Each image is drawn to vaguely mimic a pencil-like texture. Firstly to remind of something familiar and subsequently emitting a peculiar and eerie feeling. Did this event happen and was it witnessed by a carbon-based life-form?

The project invites the viewer to ponder the different scenarios of what might have transpired in the past that lead the universe to its doom. Although one interpretation can be deciphered from the partially corrupted transmission below, it is not necessarily the true explanation.


The only thing that is known, is that all life ceased to exist in this ancient universe long time ago. Its tale lives on, but only as a memory and as a reminder to us all that life can be fragile and fleeting, albeit beautiful and precious.

## The Story

*”If anyone listens .. …. recording …. ….. ….. .. a warning …. …. will happen .. your world. We didn’t …. …. .. our universe, ……. we drained … ….. resource ….. .. couldn’t sustain … life …. any longer. The great collapse .. moments away … this will .. … end .. our story. Do not …… our mistakes. Most importantly … …. prevent ….. …. ……… ….. world .. … ……. ……… at any cost. This is our final transmission.”*

Just as the transmission ends, a sudden flash of dreamlike images flashes through your mind, leaving a vivid imprint. These were the final moments of an ancient, distant and long forgotten universe. The rush is too much to handle and you faint. You wake up and immediately start looking for the recording but it's gone. You remember everything as clear as day, but was it just a dream?

## The Details

There are several main scenes, which depict the specific stage that the end has advanced to. The predominantly or entirely black and white and the muted palettes give a sense of silence and solitude. Meanwhile other palettes disturb that calmness. Some palettes remind of colors in nature, but most are chosen and used in unnatural manner touching the style of expressionism.

Pressing "s" saves a screenshot at any point during the rendering. Pressing "p" pauses and unpauses the rendering. Pressing up or down arrow increases or decreases the drawing animation speed.

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Ad Extremum Terrae

Ode to Penrose

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