nullMachines

The project examines how technology and digital systems both facilitate and accelerate capitalist processes through its visual language and nostalgic pixel-based imagery, while questioning the environmental and social costs of unchecked consumption.

nullMachines also interrogates the concept of utility in art itself—particularly relevant in the context of digital art and NFTs—blurring the lines between artistic expression, commodity, and technological artifact.

The generative aspect of the project creates an interactive experience where viewers encounter infinite and unique variations of the work that are procedurally generated, with the project's website as the main interface. This approach creates a tension between personal experience and mass production that directly engages with the project's conceptual framework. Each viewer discovers a unique iteration of the piece, simultaneously participating in both an individualized artistic experience and a mass-produced phenomenon.

The interaction also incorporated a commercial dimension, as the project was presented as an open edition NFT series available for one week through the art platform Verse, further embodying the tension between artistic expression and commodification. At the conclusion of the week, 321 unique machines had been collected.

The creation of nullMachines involved a two-fold process.

First, the we meticulously hand-drew the visual components as individual tiles, each consisting of a 30x30 pixel, 30-frame animation. These pixel art elements form the foundational visual vocabulary of the work.

Second, these animated tiles are algorithmically assembled using a technique called 'wave function collapse,' implemented in pure JavaScript without external libraries. This algorithm arranges the tiles according to pre-defined constraints to generate coherent yet unpredictable compositions, allowing for the creation of virtually infinite unique variations. Once each machine is fully assembled, the system then generates content for the built-in displays on the fly. This display content ranges from abstract pixelated gradients to marquee screens featuring a variety of messages and visual static.

The project was designed to be universally accessible, capable of being experienced in any standard web browser without requiring specialized software or hardware. Being code-based also confers versatility, allowing the project to scale to any screen size while maintaining the same procedural logic. This adaptability was demonstrated with the exhibition of various algorithmic outputs in public spaces during the international motion design festival DEMO (the Netherlands, 2025)—including a large circular wrap-around screen.