Sea of Code

For Kazuhiro Tanimoto, past, present, and future are joined in an expansive ocean of digital information. Blockchain technology preserves this vast sea of code where fragments of an artist’s ideas are embedded within algorithms. Hiroshi Kawano rejected the notion of subjugating computers in order to produce images envisioned by humans, asserting that the essence of computer art lies in the computer’s autonomous capacity to generate beauty. Tanimoto’s Sea of Code is inspired by Kawano’s philosophy. Born of an algorithm that generates colors without relying on a human-selected palette, it generates melodies using data extracted from classical music and Markov chains. Harnessing a level of computational power that wasn’t available to Kawano, Tanimoto’s algorithms invite dynamic and complex beauty to emerge from simple forms.