VISTA

The environment is procedurally generated using algorithms inspired by classic video game world-building systems. Lifeforms emerge and evolve through a custom cellular automaton based on modified Game of Life rules. Instead of relying on a single rule set, VISTA introduces variation in how entities spawn, survive, or vanish—producing local behaviors that shift subtly across different regions of the map. These rules create a balance between repetition and unpredictability, echoing natural systems while remaining distinctly computational.

Viewers can navigate through the world but cannot alter it, remaining passive observers of a self-contained system. Referencing the aesthetics of 80s games and digital nostalgia, VISTA reflects on our mediated relationship with technology, where interaction occurs through interfaces but detachment from underlying systems remains.

For the exhibition, VISTA was presented on a mobile phone rather than a large screen. This decision underscored the work’s connection to the Tamagotchi—an intimate, handheld digital pet from the 1990s—and emphasized the scale of personal technology as a window into artificial life. The small screen invites close, individual engagement while reinforcing the paradox of interaction without control.