This collection of 100 frames displays 100 unique states created by a rule-based cellular automaton, built on the foundations of Conway’s Game of Life.
With this project I sought to pursue further investigation of the concept of ‘unseen rules’ and the role of pre-designed conditions for use that exist in the spaces we inhabit, particularly those of a digital nature. However, unlike in previous investigations which focused on a pre-existing platform (see 1-3-1 and 1-4-1), I instead sought to create a space, shaped entirely by rules, over which I would have a degree of control.
My starting point for creating this space was the Game of Life, a cellular automaton devised by mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. Essentially a ‘simulation of life’, the ‘zero-player game’ uses a fixed set of rules and an initial configuration to determine its progression within a 2D grid of ‘cells’.
The rules of Conway’s Game of Life are as follows:
- Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies (underpopulation).
- Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
- Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies (overpopulation).
- Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell (reproduction).
Each of my 100 iterations on this format alter the rules of the game in some way; by tweaking variables such as the scale of the game, rate of starting cell creation and by modifying the simple rules through which ‘life’ progresses within the grid, I attempted to disrupt and challenge the system as a whole.
I became particularly interested in the idea of the game of life as a ‘zero-player game’. The phrase raised the question of whether a game can exist without a player? Similarly, can a set of rules exist if they are not being followed? My experiments lead me to believe that play and rules alike are ‘states’ propagated by active involvement or participation. As such, living ‘states’ of this kind could potentially serve as a bridge between life and a non-organic concept or theory.
Stills of each individual frame: