AfterLife produces unique artworks based on a simulation game that uses the rules of Conway's Game of Life to create a metaphor for change.

The initial state of the simulation is created by randomly flipping 50% of the tiles in a two-tile tessellation. Each tile consists of two colors, randomly assigned. One tile becomes the background, and the other tile becomes the foreground. The foreground cells represent the initial state of the system that we are simulating.

The initial state displays for 2.5 seconds.

The simulation is then run, and the Game of Life rules are applied to each cell. This represents the way that change happens in the system over time. The duration of the simulation varies based on the initial state. This represents the fact that change can happen quickly or slowly, depending on the circumstances.

The AfterLife artwork is the end state of the system after the change has happened. This image can be a one-tile tessellation (meaning that the system has collapsed or been destroyed), an "infected" tessellation with only "static" artifacts (meaning that the system has been changed but not destroyed), or a tessellation with both static and forever changing "kinetic" artifacts (meaning that the system is still changing and evolving).

Hit any key to refresh the page and run the simulation again.

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Many thanks to Christopher Scussel for his faithful implementation of Conway's Game Of Life.