Spectrum Plexus, Seth Hunter, 2006

Spectrum Plexus is part of a series of drawings that explore L-Systems algorithms, originally introduced by Aristid Lyndenmayer in the 1970s. The process involves layering generation after generation of possibilities for a particular plant algorithm, and focusing on those parts of the drawing with a haunting ephemeral quality. After 100 to 200 generations a form begins to emerge that reflects the spectrum of possibilities for that particular organism. Similar algorithms are used to visualize networks, be it a city, the internet, or the brain. The evolution is shown here as a quicktime movie because realitime recursive processes are often too cpu intensive to display on the web.