This work is a generative system governed by real observation and real randomness. The visual field is produced by a particle-based simulation whose parameters—noise scale, flow curvature, symmetry, color, and density—are periodically redefined. These redefinitions do not happen continuously. They occur as discrete events—but only when the system is connected to something outside itself.
When you're here—when a live connection exists—the system listens for a cryptographic heartbeat from elsewhere on the internet. Every few seconds, a network of independent servers produces a random value. When that value arrives, something happens: a visible shift, a discrete event, a moment you can see.
When no one is here, the system still runs. It still moves. It still changes color. But it's no longer synchronized to anything external. It wanders aimlessly—drifting without events, mutating without structure.
The difference isn't motion versus stillness. It's coherence versus drift.
Think of it like this: there's a clock somewhere out there that doesn't belong to this system. It ticks every three seconds. When you're here, the artwork hears the tick and responds—each one a discrete moment of change. When you're gone, the clock keeps ticking, but the system can't hear it anymore. It's untethered from shared time.
You're not controlling anything. You're not choosing outcomes. You're the condition that allows the system to receive external events rather than wander alone.
The system measures observation directly. An observer is defined as a live network connection to this page. When someone opens the page, a WebSocket connection is established and counted. When they leave, it disappears.
0 observers → the system drifts, unmoored from external events
1–24 observers → the system receives drand events; evolution is punctuated
25+ observers → the system enters a crowd regime with increased complexity
There is no tracking, no identity, and no interpretation of intent. The system knows only that someone is present. Observation does not influence outcomes. It permits the system to receive them. Without observation, the system still lives—but it loses coherence. It wanders without punctuation.
When observation permits, the timing and structure of each transition is determined by drand—a decentralized cryptographic randomness beacon operated by the League of Entropy.
What drand is: drand is not a pseudorandom number generator. It is not a local algorithm seeded by this system. It is a network of over twenty independent organizations that collaborate to produce unpredictable values at fixed intervals through a threshold cryptographic process. No single participant controls the output. The result cannot be predicted in advance or altered after the fact.
Each time the beacon fires, the network collectively produces one new random value. That value is published publicly, along with cryptographic proofs that allow anyone to independently verify its authenticity.
Why threshold cryptography matters: Most software randomness is deterministic: know the seed and algorithm, reproduce the result. drand is different. Randomness is generated through threshold cryptography: A minimum number of participating nodes must cooperate. No single node can predict or bias the result. The final output can be publicly verified by anyone.
This architecture ensures: No central point of failure. No hidden influence. No post-hoc manipulation. The randomness used here is not merely unpredictable—it is provably so.
What this means for the work: No viewer can influence the outcome. The system's author cannot influence the outcome. The system itself cannot anticipate what value will arrive next. The artwork does not generate randomness. It waits for it.
How the work uses drand: This piece listens for new outputs from drand, which produces values at approximately three-second intervals. Each output is treated as an external event—a discrete trigger that causes visible change. When observation permits, a drand value determines: when a transition occurs, which generative parameters shift, how the visual field reorganizes.
When disconnected, the system continues to animate—but these discrete events don't arrive. The visual field drifts and wanders without the punctuation of external randomness. drand functions like a clock that does not belong to the system. The artwork is synchronized to something outside itself—but only when someone is here to complete the connection.
When connected, each drand output triggers a state transition. These transitions are discrete, not continuous. The system does not drift—it collapses into a new configuration when an external cryptographic event arrives. You can see the moment it happens.
When disconnected, the system still mutates—but continuously, aimlessly. Color shifts. Particles move. But there are no events, no punctuation, no external signal structuring the change.
The manner of connected transitions depends on the observation regime: Sparse observation → sharp, punctuated transitions. Dense observation → smoother, more fluid transitions. Uncertain observation → softened, ambiguous states.
This reflects a core idea shared by both cryptography and quantum theory: outcomes are independent of observers, but observation governs when outcomes may be revealed.
All connected observers receive the same drand values at the same moments. The discrete events are synchronized—everyone sees a transition at the same instant.
But between events, the visual field evolves locally. Frame rates differ. Devices drift. Two observers watching the same system will see the same punctuation but different wandering.
The randomness is shared. The time between randomness is not.
This is not an interactive artwork. You cannot control it. You cannot request a change. The system acknowledges observation without responding to intention.
Nothing here is personalized. Nothing is optimized for engagement. The system does not know who you are—only that someone is here.
This work is not a simulation of quantum mechanics. It does not claim to model physical reality. Instead, it enacts structural ideas shared by quantum measurement and cryptographic systems: Unpredictability is fundamental. Verification matters more than trust. Events occur discretely, not continuously. Observation has consequences without control.
The artwork does not invent randomness. It does not smooth it. It waits for it. And when no one is waiting with it, it wanders.
Randomness provided by drand, a publicly verifiable, decentralized randomness beacon operated by the League of Entropy.