Thisispaper Community
Join today.
Enter your email address to receive the latest news on emerging art, design, lifestyle and tech from Thisispaper, delivered straight to your inbox.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Instant access to new channels
The top stories curated daily
Weekly roundups of what's important
Weekly roundups of what's important
Original features and deep dives
Exclusive community features
@zaxarovcom
Apr 11, 2022

Mutant Garden Seeder consists of 513 time-based “responsive paintings” designed by Berlin-based Harm van den Dorpel, released in collaboration with Folia.

This artwork uses an algorithm called 'Cartesian genetic programming', intented approximately twenty years ago by Julian F. Miller and Peter Thomson. It is called ‘Cartesian’ because it represents a computer program as a two-dimensional grid: nodes and layers. Althought the result of Harm's specific use of this algorithm is also two-dimensional, the algorithm is versatile and can also generate completely different systems, such time based media, human language or three-dimensional structures.

When a mutant was minted, the transaction hash of the current Ethereum block was taken as a seed. This seed determined both the appearance of the artwork and the frequency of its mutation. After birth, every artwork mutates based on on its own rhythm. The result is an evergrowing sequence of SVG files of the birth and mutation states, that can be deterministically recalculated. As each mutant is a simple computer program, they can be executed in the browser, responding to resolutions and aspect ratios (the artist calls this 'the phenotype-affecting environment').

"As we also encounter in genetic encoding in "real nature", the genotype contains many redundant genes, which are well known to assist in effective evolutionary development.

In Mutant Garden, clicking one rectangular 'mutant' will cause its siblings to be replaced with newly mutated offspring. This breeding strategy requires only one parent to be selected because the algorithm utilizes mutation, rather than cross-over.

As many people nowadays tend to equate articial intelligence with neural networks, I wanted to highlight the evolutionary progress in this recent history of computation, approaching it as algorithmic archeology. Each new innovation in this lineage aimed to improve or declare its predecessor obsolete, yet would simultaneously stand on its shoulders." — Harm van den Dorpel

Berlin-based artist Harm van den Dorpel has created software art since the late 1990s — an early explorer of Web3 and the cofounder of the digital art marketplace left.gallery.

No items found.
Join +
We love less
but there is more.
Become a Thisispaper+ member today to unlock full access to our magazine, advanced tools, and support our work.
Travel Guides
Submission Module
Print Archive
Curated Editions
+ more
Buy now
No items found.
@zaxarovcom
Apr 11, 2022

Mutant Garden Seeder consists of 513 time-based “responsive paintings” designed by Berlin-based Harm van den Dorpel, released in collaboration with Folia.

This artwork uses an algorithm called 'Cartesian genetic programming', intented approximately twenty years ago by Julian F. Miller and Peter Thomson. It is called ‘Cartesian’ because it represents a computer program as a two-dimensional grid: nodes and layers. Althought the result of Harm's specific use of this algorithm is also two-dimensional, the algorithm is versatile and can also generate completely different systems, such time based media, human language or three-dimensional structures.

When a mutant was minted, the transaction hash of the current Ethereum block was taken as a seed. This seed determined both the appearance of the artwork and the frequency of its mutation. After birth, every artwork mutates based on on its own rhythm. The result is an evergrowing sequence of SVG files of the birth and mutation states, that can be deterministically recalculated. As each mutant is a simple computer program, they can be executed in the browser, responding to resolutions and aspect ratios (the artist calls this 'the phenotype-affecting environment').

"As we also encounter in genetic encoding in "real nature", the genotype contains many redundant genes, which are well known to assist in effective evolutionary development.

In Mutant Garden, clicking one rectangular 'mutant' will cause its siblings to be replaced with newly mutated offspring. This breeding strategy requires only one parent to be selected because the algorithm utilizes mutation, rather than cross-over.

As many people nowadays tend to equate articial intelligence with neural networks, I wanted to highlight the evolutionary progress in this recent history of computation, approaching it as algorithmic archeology. Each new innovation in this lineage aimed to improve or declare its predecessor obsolete, yet would simultaneously stand on its shoulders." — Harm van den Dorpel

Berlin-based artist Harm van den Dorpel has created software art since the late 1990s — an early explorer of Web3 and the cofounder of the digital art marketplace left.gallery.

section is proudly under the patronage of:
Introducing OS
An intimate space which helps creative minds thrive.
Discover. Share. Embrace.
Thisispaper Shop
Shop Now
Thisispaper+Guides
Discover the most inspiring places and stories through carefully-curated travel guides.
Explore all GuidesExplore channels