This short-form generative series is derived from a novel algorithmic technique created to form time-based cohesive structures through clusters of autonomous agents.

Each agent in the system is embedded with a library of actions (“go right,” “hinge left,” “jump up.” etc.) and arranged in a non-overlapping 3 dimensional space. The components have “situational awareness.” They know the past, present, and future of all other pieces in the system and ensure that no piece is in spatial or temporal conflict with another piece. As such, they choose appropriate actions from their library, with one goal in mind - keep moving.

Through the combination of design and intelligence, emergent forms and behaviors create ever-changing dynamic compositions and arrangements in space.

The pieces are a mix of procedural systems and hand-crafted elements. Each composition went through a strenuous design process, playing with a variety of factors such as types of components, component library explorations, bounding volumes, and textures and material work.

This series contains 12 generative pieces designed from this one underlying algorithm and system. Each piece is 1 minute long, rendered at 2K resolution at 30 frames per second.

While the system behind this series is capable of generating thousands of results and variations, I view myself as the director and curator. I am using the system to create the most pure expressions of it, and I don’t want it to feel overproduced or repetitive. In contrast, I want each piece to feel special and rare, with something unique about each one.

I view each of the pieces in this series as a 1/1, linked together by algorithm and linked together through palette and tone. They are one thought, through multiple lenses and expressions.

My primary interest is systems in motion. My work is something that has to be understood and viewed in a time-based medium, which makes it natively and exclusively digital. I don’t focus on making a beautiful frame or beautiful image - I focus on making complex and meaningful motions. I’m fascinated by the merging of autonomous systems and design, and I enjoy creating systems of rules, behaviors, patterns, etc. and seeing where they lead.

When I started this series, I thought about some of my previous work, about things I wished I could do, how to create smarter autonomous systems, and create structures of continually adaptive compositions - but compositions not made through the conscious placement of elements, but through a layer of history (i.e., we couldn’t get “here” unless we’ve been “there” first).

Many of my earlier works in autonomous agents depended on an underlying grid structure, and I was eager to find a more robust method of communicating between agents. Initially, in this series, I created something I called a “reservation system.” It was a dense grid of points that booked, reserved, and released space as pieces moved about the system. But, it was limiting and error-prone - and while it got me further away from a grid-based system, it still was, ultimately, a grid-based system.

I scrapped that work entirely and rebuilt the project with a new theory in mind, with one mission - get away from the grid. So, I developed a way to accomplish my goal with no underlying grid structure (other than the initial placements of objects, which is by design, rather than by necessity).

Each piece in the system carries a library of actions that it can perform. They also carry their history and projected future with them, so they can communicate with the other agents in the system and carve out the areas of space they require to perform their actions - but without any underlying grid.

This frees up the system in a way that allows things I could never do before. I can have components split into multiple pieces, I can have components go through openings in other components, I can have components made of things that don’t exist as geometry (fire and smoke, for example).

I can even open the system up to invite collaboration with other artists if I choose (big “IF”), taking components and actions that they design and feeding it into my system.

The motion is the meaning - it is the thing in itself.

I believe that motion can have a meditative quality to it. It can soothe or provide a visual stimulation that allows your other senses to subside and allows you to solely focus on the visual information in front of you. We are wired to react to motion - we feel an instinctual connection and attraction to moving things. When I watch these pieces, a part of my brain gets tickled by their precision, their rhythm, and their complexity. I enjoy getting lost in these pieces, watching them large on my screen, for several minutes at a time.

To me, a viewer should be able to enter and exit these pieces at any time - they are stateless, without a defined start or end.

In this series, I primarily use basic geometric shapes and abstract shapes as components. This is by design, but not by requirement. There are a couple reasons for this. Firstly, I want the viewer to focus on the motion, not on the components. Second, I want this series to have a timeless quality. Shape languages follow trends and cement themselves into certain time periods. The shapes I’m choosing are universal and eternal, while staying clean and minimal. It lends to a certain formalist visual language, but ultimately, I think it strengthens the series.

Each material used in this series is carefully considered. It is important to me that there is a level of reality and tangibility to the surfaces, even though they exist in the digital world. They “could” be a real thing.

Every texture has imperfections - subtle scratches, slightly roughed-up appearance, and some level of wear and tear. The purpose is to ground the pieces in reality and emphasize an unknown and hidden history to them. They are forever-loops, and all things acquire imperfections over time and close contact.

Collecting

The collection is available on OpenSea.