Maps of a Future War, Map 3: Flight

Maps of a Future War
Contact:  Angela Ferraiolo <aferraiolo@gmail.com>
Link:  http://littleumbrellas.net/2018/06/30/project-page-maps-of-a-future-war.

A generative work for multiple screens:
 – a series of generative maps that evolve via genetic algorithms
– map narratives evolve over generations
– narratives are fictional, experimental, post-dramatic
– series is ongoing
 – live computed
– not interactive
– maps can be presented individually or in groups
– can be reconfigured or composited for super-wide installations
– can be re-coded to fit the exact dimensions of an environment

Description:  Maps is a series of adaptive systems that evolve slowly over time.  In each terrain, text agents render several categories of narrative to the screen, each of which can be affected by elements of the geography. Agents use genetic algorithms, a category of artificial intelligence, including crossover and mutation to evolve. Replication occurs through collision with boundary elements and allows properties of specific terrain locations to be used as parent agents and influence future generations.

Theme:  This project is an experiment in storytelling as a dynamic system, or a text that is nonlinear and emergent as opposed to causal and progressive. These terrains tell the stories of individuals in flight from upheaval, political trauma, or conflict. A second, more technical idea, is that of continuing the application of genetic algorithms to narrative environments.