Video animation created using a simulation of the “Game of Life” model invented by mathematician John Conway in 1970. The mathematical model defines what the world will look like in the next generation if we know what it looks like in this generation. The work demonstrates the rules of the game itself, which break down in the animation, where complex interactions are formed in inverse relation to the rules’ elegant simplicity.
Conway’s model belongs to a genre of simulations known as “cellular automatons” designed to emulate life using a computer software. The Game of Life represents a world comprised of a large grid of square cells, in which each square can be a full, meaning contain a cell, or empty. Each cell has eight neighbors: above, below, to the right, to the left, and diagonal. This creates a simulation of living cells that respond to one another.
The body of work AUTOMATA is a conceptual extension of materials featured in Moran’s 2022 poetry book, which combines text, image, video, software, and sound.