I'm having fun programming stuff for the embrace decay contest. My first entry uses an algorithm based on Diffusion Limited Aggregation. My second entry made it a little more random and added color. Please send me an email if you have any comments on it!
I've set up a Peerscope group for my research and findings about the contest. Take a look at http://www.peerscope.com/group/376 for some of my inspirations.
Here are some sample pictures for those of you without Flash. Beginning, Middle, End.
I had a really boring meeting immediately after this contest was announced and came up with about fifty ideas, some interactive things for the museum but others that I could do for this contest. It was a really fun brainstorm:
Ink rots the paper Microbes eat paper Paper becomes brittle, cracking and crazing like ceramic glazes Mold overtakes paper Warpage Burning Acid decay Letters turn to sand, disintegrate, blow away Fading Paper decays as you type, like paper is wet or brittle. Striking of typewriter destroys the substrate. Roots invade. Mycelium invade. Spore prints taken on paper, then they grow. Children's scribbles. Ink contains nutrients. All nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, or articles resonate as one is typed, others fade as not used. Word relationships highlighted as typing occurs. Dictionary, thesaurus, google. Termites. Paper wasp nest. Mice making a nest. Rips. Paper cuts. Blood. Sea water crystalizes salt over as tide recedes. Words are fuel for combustion. Re-usable paper -- X ray to see all that was written upon it by other net denizens. Typewriter platten impressed with every keystroke to make a composite image. Typing with or on dirt, mud, compost, tar. Ink too wet, drips off page. Letters come loose like decals floating away. Cubic root rot. Letters grow into forests which age and topple and burn and rot and become nurse logs. Storms form over the paper. Literally play yesterdays weather over the paper and see the effect of rain, lightning, hurricanes. Decays in government wherehouse, stamped and acid rotted. Used as origami. Folded over and over. Simulated annealing. Like letters represent elevation of metal which is annealed. Rust. Corrosion. Chip, flake off. Inks are mineral deposits. Miners come in and strip mine. Woven paper which abrades like jean knees. Ink is ant food. Letters become pools which erode as rains pass by. Wax letters which melt as sun goes across the sky. Typewriter cuts paper instead of adding ink. What about same thing for handwriting on tablet PC's at the exhibition. Is there a physical exhibition? Mushrooms sprout out of ink nutrients. Letters break apart into islands, continents. Sea levels rise and wash them away. Dust the paper for fingerprints. Fingerprint oils decay ink. Noxious weed invasions. Letters are species which mutate. Crystal growth. Mineral deposition. Cell life happenning--watch letters subdivide, etc.