"CellularAutomataExplorer", a tool for algorithmic composing

Cellular automata are algorithms that can describe processes in two- or multi-dimensional spaces with relatively simple rules. They were developed by various mathematicians and scientists starting in the 1940s. In 1970, the mathematician John Horton Conway defined a cellular automaton called "Game of Live", with which it is possible to simulate processes of population development of living beings. Conway's two-dimensional automaton consists of a checkered sheet on which individual cells are placed. These can have two forms of existence in the basic form: alive or dead. The state of the respective cells is defined by the state of the neighboring cells. In addition, there is the initial state, where any cells are defined as alive.
Now each cell is confronted with the following rules:
- A dead cell with exactly three living neighboring cells is reborn in the subsequent generation.
- Living cells with less than two living neighboring cells die of loneliness in the subsequent generation.
- A living cell with two or three living neighboring cells remains alive in the subsequent generation.
- Living cells with more than three living neighboring cells die of overpopulation in the subsequent generation.
Cellular automata can be used for visual processes as well as for developing sounds. With the "CellularAutomataExplorer" visitors can change the rules of cellular automata and trigger compositional processes.

Production of the ZKM | Hertz-Lab
Idea: Ludger Brümmer
Programming, interface design: Benjamin Miller