Nov 15, 2022
100 Untitled Spaces
With 100 Untitled Spaces, I explored color, light, and spatial perception by placing a generative artwork inside a minimalist, generative architecture.
All one hundred procedurally generated, on-chain environments reveal shifting moments of shadow, form, and space. Each was minted at Bright Moments in Mexico City in 2022, where I was born in 1981.
Click the room to use the keyboard controls. After viewing the inner artwork with A, use “Return to full scene” to reload the room.
There are actually two artworks here
The first thing you see is a room. The stairs, openings, shadows, camera angle, all of it comes from code. Then there is a second little generative artwork sitting inside that room.
I loved the smaller color algorithm, but it felt too simple to release on its own. Giving it a space to live in solved that for me. I liked having to find it inside the architecture.
I made this for Bright Moments Mexico City. I was born there, my wife is an architect, and the city has had a lot to do with how I think about color and space.
The room and the artwork
Separate systems generate the architecture and the color composition inside it. Both can be viewed in the player above.
Generate The Space
The code picks the stairs, walls, openings, beams, light, and where the camera starts.
Place The Artwork
A different algorithm makes the small color composition inside the room.
Press A
A jumps straight to the inner artwork and makes it fullscreen. The original renderer has no back button, so you have to reload it to see the room again.
Let Time Enter
Press Enter to move the sun around the room. Up and down adjust its speed.
Why I wanted to make this in Mexico City
An architectural influence
Photograph: © UNESCO / Francesco Bandarin, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. Unmodified.
I was born in Mexico City and spent big chunks of my summers there growing up. The color, food, density, speed, and really intense architecture all stuck with me.
I love what Luis Barragán's spaces do to me. They can feel peaceful and dangerous at the same time, especially the stairs. That feeling stayed with me while I was working on these rooms.
Judd is in the title for a reason
The title is a nod to Donald Judd's 100 Untitled Works in Mill Aluminum. I was thinking about what happens when you put a finite group of related things together and start noticing the differences.
That's one of my favorite parts of long-form generative art. One output can be great, but the algorithm really starts showing itself when you look at a bunch of them.
Two of the hundred rooms
The architecture and the artwork inside it both change. Enlarge either room to spend some time with its details.
The still image misses a lot
A still gives you the basic room, but it misses what happens when the light starts moving. Press Enter and the sun rotates. Up and down change the speed. Press A and the inner artwork goes fullscreen.
I like how much the room changes while the geometry stays the same.
- Enter — toggle moving light
- Up / down — change the light speed
- A — fullscreen the embedded artwork
- There is no built-in return after A; reload the output to restore the room
- Open the live view on a desktop for the fullest architectural experience
I would love to see someone build one
A generated room. The invitation to build one remains open.
When I first talked about the project, I said how amazing it would be if someone actually built one of these rooms in real life and put its artwork inside it. I still love that idea.
The rooms don't include a fabrication plan like Heart + Craft, ///, or LIFT. Building one would be a different scale of undertaking, but I'd still love to see it happen.
Enter a space
Try a random room above, move the sun, and change its speed. A makes the inner artwork fullscreen; because the original renderer has no back control, use Return to full scene to reload the room. The collection page is the best way to bounce around all 100 outputs.
Connections to the other work
- What you see
- An artwork inside a room
- What it contains
- Separate algorithms for the composition and its architectural setting
- What came before
- My interest in space, display, and Mexico City architecture
- Where it leads
- Further exploration of an artwork's setting
A few more details
- Two Algorithms
- One algorithm makes the room. Another makes the little color piece hanging inside it.
- 100 spaces
- There are 100 spaces. I like seeing them together and noticing the small rule changes from one to the next.
- Light Moves
- Press Enter and the sun starts moving. The shadows and the whole feeling of the room change with it.
- Made For Mexico City
- I released it with Bright Moments in the city where I was born and spent a lot of time growing up.
I liked the little artwork. I just didn't know what to do with it.
The smaller color artwork felt too slight for me to release on its own. A generated room gave it a place and another way to be seen. Press A to view it on its own, or Return to full scene to reload the room.
I made two algorithms for this piece: one for a color composition and one for the room around it.
Watch the sun move through the room, or take a closer look at the artwork inside.
Original project example
100 Untitled Spaces #0: a generated architectural room holding a generated artwork, lit by moving light.
Image and live view served by the official Art Blocks media and generator services.
Edition, dates & provenance
- Releasesourced
- Art Blocks · Ethereum
0x0a1bbd57033f57e7b6743621b79fcb9eb2ce3676
The collection lives on Art Blocks and was made for Bright Moments Mexico City. Both are linked below.
Sources & research notes
Official / primary
- Art Blocks collection ↗
The official 100 Untitled Spaces reference for project facts and public links.
Useful for: project-facts · official-links
official project · primary · full text - Bright Moments interview ↗
My own voice and interpretation of the project.
Useful for: artist-voice · project-context
artist interview · primary · full text - Bright Moments artist page ↗
My own voice and interpretation of the project.
Useful for: artist-voice · project-context
artist interview · primary · full text