Grids, glitch & recursion

The idea of grids, serving as the most basic forms of representing worlds, is prevalent in various scenarios, ranging from straightforward simulations to intricate narrative structures. Grids consist of values distributed across a two-dimensional surface, that can function as positions in a board game, pixel configurations on screens, proportions of financial values in two-dimensional datasets, geometric references on real-world maps among many other contexts.

In recursion, a function usually calls itself again and again, while considering changes in the environment during its repetitive executions. Recursive grids are recurring motives within my long-form generative art practice, these structures served as the basis for my pieces Nil, k3rnel, and sh3ll respectively. I find recursive, self referencing systems compelling on both aesthetic and conceptual levels. With the rapid advancement of digital technology, glitches, bugs, application errors, system crashes became part of the computational realm, incorporated into the reflexions and visual language of many artworks. Many times, post-digital artists are shifting their focus from the well-defined, figurative concepts of the digital medium to its meta-narratives.

These artists began seeking and exploring aesthetic constellations within the mechanics, temporality, and reconfigurable aspects of these novel authoring systems. With the rise of decentralized computation and the emergence of network-native digital culture, there's a broader interest in using the medium with its underlying mechanics as a tool for world-building.

In gr1dflow, a visual grid system serves as the foundational architecture for the scenes. The depth of recursion and the grid alignment parameters are derived directly from blockchain specific metadata, like token id and the minting transaction hash on the chain. GLSL shaders are applied on the grid cells, enabling swift and seamless colour transitions using a set of manually chosen palettes. The gradients employed in this process are made using a technique called dithering, a method that can be found in retro video games, which allows for the display of a diverse visual appearance from a limited set of colours. Human perception has already incorporated this sort of computer aesthetic into daily life, evoking peculiar nostalgic sensations reminiscent of VHS cassette error stripes, the faded outlines of Xerox photocopies, or the distorted, blurred colour fields seen in Polaroid photographs.

The speed, dynamics, and density of movements can effectively communicate messages and evoke feelings that might be challenging, if not impossible, to express with words or static images. The work uses a noise function to reconfigure its grid alignment in smooth and organic ways. These changes can be experienced through a continuity of transitional flow: a constant flux of a dynamic system, with no explicit purpose, yet showing references to the aesthetic concepts above.