Cellular Performance is a real-time visual and sonic exploration of the raw computations of elementary, advanced and neural cellular automata. Originally conceptualized by Stanislaw Ulam at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1940s to study crystal growth and the propagation of particles, cellular automata are simple, lattice-based generative systems known for their complex and emergent behavior, oscillating between repetitive/chaotic and organic/abstract. John von Neumann, another Los Alamos researcher working on the Manhattan Project, utilized cellular automata to investigate self-replicating systems. In the 1950s, Nils Aall Barricelli employed similar lattice-based models to pioneer studies in bionumeric evolution and early artificial life. Most famous are Conway’s Game of Life and Wolfram’s 1-dimensional cellular automata, which show similarities to the morphogenesis of living things such as seashells. In his book A New Kind of Science, Stephan Wolfram proposed a new form of empirical computer science that explores the emergent and complex nature of cellular automata. More recently, continuous neural cellular automata have been able to simulate the processes of organic growth and the generation of organic patterns.

The audiovisual performance is intertwined with techniques of raw image manipulation such as shifting, inverting, folding and interlacing pixels, lines and blocks in homage to the first programmable (via punch cards) weaving machines of the Industrial Revolution, such as the Jacquard loom. This multifaceted reference–to the origins of digital computing, which enabled the atrocities of the Second World War, to computational biology and to the mechanisation of labour as part of the Industrial Revolution–creates a dialogue between different significant moments in the deep time of technology.

The sound is generated by scanning and interpreting the raw pixel data (brightness/color) of the generated image/video vertically and horizontally.

Spanning over two decades of artistic research, Cellular Performance builds on Ralf Baecker’s exploration of complex systems, emergent behavior, artificial life, and non-conscious cognition. This work is rooted in previous projects, including Rechnender Raum (2007), Interface I (2016), Random Access Memory (2016), Putting the Pieces Back Together Again (2018), and Floating Codes(2022) .