What if pixels were free? What if they could trade their computer-given red, green, and blue values in pursuit of a profit?

The Colour Economy imagines an artificial economy of pixels, in which individual 'traders' exchange colour.

In this pixel performance, the seed image creates a region in the bottom right which is wealthier than the regions surrounding it.

As the economy develops, this wealthy population separates itself physically from the traders with little colour capital.

In this third sequence, the rich group separates itself clearly from the poor group. Then, one by one, members of the poor group are drawn into the rich. And, one by one, they fail to compete.

The Colour Economy is a project by Jer Thorp (blprnt.com) and was built with Processing v. 0135.