Kerim Safa & loackme present
nullMachines
COMING TO VERSE
ON JULY 3rd
ABOUT
nullMachines is the first collaboration of artists Kerim Safa and loackme. It seamlessly blends hand-drawn pixel animations with creative coding to generate whimsical machines whose sole purpose is to push boxes around—nothing more, nothing less. But make no mistake: these machines excel at their seemingly trivial task. Available in various shapes and sizes, each nullMachine boasts a unique combination of moving parts and screens. These screens display an array of graphics, ranging from self-advertising messages to captivating generative pixel art! With nullMachines, you can reclaim your time and rediscover the joy of doing absolutely nothing!
How does it work?
Each nullMachine is generated by stiching together hand-drawn animated tiles with the help of an algorithm called 'wave function collapse'. Daniel Shiffman has a wonderful video about it on the Coding Train, but here's a quick & simplified run down of how it works.
Let's start with an empty grid. Select a cell and identify all the tiles it can accommodate based on its position in the grid. If the cell is on the border of the grid for instance, we cross out all tiles with a little cube coming in or out of the border. Randomly choose one of the possible tiles for that cell; this process is known as “collapsing” the cell. Once the cell is collapsed, examine its neighboring cells. Eliminate any tiles that cannot be placed adjacent to the collapsed cell. Repeat this process for the neighbors of neighbors, continuing until all consequences of your choice have been resolved. Next, select the cell with the fewest remaining tile options and repeat the procedure. The algorithm concludes when all cells in the grid have been collapsed. If you encounter a dead end where no valid tile options remain for a particular cell, start over and try again until a complete solution is achieved.
When the machine is ready, another component of the algorithm scans the small built-in screens and dynamically generates the content for display. This content encompasses marquee screens featuring a range of messages and generative pixel animations. Notably, these graphics are not pre-rendered; they come to life in real time.
Combine everything and you got yourself a nullMachine!
BUY 3 + GET 1 FREE!
Every collector who will acquire 3 or more works from the nullMachines series gets a FREE nullMachine++. Because more is less.
THE ARTISTS
Kerim Safa
Kerim Safa, born in 1985 in Turkey, is a digital artist and musician currently based in the Netherlands. His creative practice encompasses pixel art, animation, audiovisual art, electronic music composition, sound design, and live performance. Safa draws inspiration from the early days of computer graphics and video games, crafting works characterized by minimalist pixel compositions, limited color palettes, and repetitive patterns and mechanisms. Exploring the aesthetics and language of machines, he integrates a human touch through labor-intensive techniques similar to traditional craftsmanship, such as manually drawing each pixel according to self-defined rules. An essential element of his process is maintaining personal involvement while utilizing computers as creative tools. Safa's academic background in fine arts and music, coupled with several years working in the video game industry, enables him to blend and adapt methods across disciplines. His works have been exhibited internationally, including various galleries, museums and public spaces in Europe, the United States, Japan, Russia, and Australia. Since 2020, Safa has been releasing his works on multiple blockchains, establishing a significant presence in diverse digital art collections and collaborating with acclaimed artists from different disciplines.
loackme
loackme is a French generative artist currently based in Amsterdam. After completing his PhD in Statistics and working as a researcher for some time, he made the decision to leave academia in 2018 and pursue his passion for digital art and graphic design. loackme's artistic practice is characterised by his love for monochrome and geometric designs, as well as animated loops. Amongst other things, he is a self-professed 'dither enthusiast', using various dithering algorithms to create the illusion of a wide range of colours (or shades of grey) from a limited palette. The strong aesthetics and constraints associated with these algorithms are a constant source of inspiration for him.