Artwork pipeline

Identity — title + seed

Each piece is named twice: a human title and a numeric seed. The organism is that seed. A major revision may earn a new seed; the prior seed stays in the archive as an earlier life.

Two modes — not every piece gets interactivity

Interactivity is not a default feature. It belongs only where surrender and agency are the subject.

Pipeline — sketch to ship

Sketch phase (Three.js / WebGL)

• Browser sketch under sketches/{catalog-path}/
• Self-contained — full repo passes python3 _scripts/check_self_contained.py (all HTML under sketches/, installations/, machine-aesthetic/, practice/, root index.html; no CDN for core libs; local script paths must exist)
• Kernel wired — reads express() snapshot, not ad-hoc randomness
• Sound + image, same clock — one state drives both
• Seed reproducible — same seed → same organism on any machine
• Browser QA — Chrome, Safari, Firefox

Final hosts (same genome, different bodies)

• OSC contract written — prefix, addresses, args (see Holes in the Sky /hit pattern)
• Hot path vs slow path — expression never blocks on network I/O

Distributed network as engine

Install-scale work is not always hub-and-spoke from one Mac mini. Multiple Raspberry Pis and Teensy 4.1 boards on a switch share expression — the network itself becomes part of the engine.

                    ┌─ Teensy ─ LED panel
         ┌─ Pi ────┼─ Teensy ─ LED / fan / sensor
Switch ──┤         └─ projector / map slice
         ├─ Pi ────┬─ …
         └─ Mac mini (one node, not god)

• Topology drawn — which nodes exist, what each expresses
• Mac role defined — brain, operator, or equal peer
• Network-as-engine — latency and desync treated as material
• Fallback — each node expresses locally from last genome snapshot if upstream drops

Holes in the Sky on eclipse day may stay simpler (OF + Pure Data + live feeds). The Pi/Teensy mesh is the pattern for room-scale surrender work, not a requirement on every species.

Species identity (Machine DNA)

• Species named — speciesId registered
• Seed / lifeline — birth seed; arc juvenile → mature → senescent → dying
• Traits in human terms — warmth, machine, surrender, tension, decay
• Break / kintsugi — what breaks, what scars, what becomes gold
• Schema version — matches schemaVersion in serialized JSON
• Example genome on file — see Emergent DNA
• Catalog entry — folder under catalog/ + artwork .md

Multi-person interaction (surrender mode only)

Skip this block for votive / witness works such as Holes in the Sky.

• Supabase schema — genomes, scars, venues
• Smartphone / operator UI — co-creation, pause, nudge
• Cross-venue sync — events + scars propagate; not pixels or audio streams
• Visitor events defined — visitor_nudge, break, gold, seed, death

Physical installation stack

• Brain identified — Mac mini or Linux; Teensy is receiver, not generative brain
• Network topology — switch, Wi‑Fi hub, ethernet to nodes
• Node inventory — Teensy 4.1, Pi 5, projectors, robotic arm, LED, fans, IoT sensors
• Sensors mapped — inputs become applyEvent() or trait nudges
• Install runbook — boot order, ports, IPs, reset procedure

Publish on mark-walhimer.com

• Catalog refreshed — python3 _scripts/refresh_catalog.py
• Public URL resolves — sketch or installations/ canonical path
• Self-contained check — python3 _scripts/check_self_contained.py exits 0 on the full repo before commit or push (see README § Self-contained rule; CI and _scripts/safe_publish.sh run the same gate)
• Wi‑Fi off test — page loads and runs with network disabled
• Lifespan verified — work does not loop forever as a perfect monument

Decision gate — every new piece

1. Species — new genome contract or existing?
2. Seed — mint at birth; document as identity
3. Lifeline — how it ages, breaks, dies
4. Relation mode — votive witness, surrender mirror, or both in sequence?
5. Bodies — browser only · LED · room mesh · which nodes?
6. Interactivity — only if mode 4 says surrender; else omit Supabase / phone HUD

Per-piece mini-card