"The Emergence and Decay of Computation" is an art piece by Alexander Miller.
Hacked receipt printers hang from their own receipts above a basin of water and slowly print themselves to death over the course of three days. The printers output rows of a cellular automaton — a mathematical simulation that generates emergent patterns from simple rules. Entering the water short circuits the printer, permanently killing it. The output of the cellular automaton simulation is directly linked to the destruction of the device computing the simulation.
The piece explores the tension between temporary structures and the inevitability of decay. It celebrates the beauty and order of computation as an emergent phenomenon of the universe, while also emphasizing its finiteness and ephemerality.
Receipt printers, receipts, aquarium, water, cellular automata
School for Poetic Computation Showcase, NYC, 2019
Video made with help from Javier de Azkue (@javierdeazkue, vimeo.com/javierdeazkue) and La Moutique (lamoutique.com).
