EVOLVING ARTWORK / ONLINE

Images
live.

CAEDMON is a computer learning to create art, in an experiment by Maurizio Fusillo inspired by natural evolution. Two pool artworks fuse into a child image, which inherits its parents’ traits and can reproduce in turn.

Instagram likes exert evolutionary pressure: they favour the images that will pass on their traits. On the website, visitors can nominate works from WikiArt and vote for those that will join the population. The research changes with the preferences of the people following it.

How it works ↗
01 / THE POPULATION

Living pool 24 / 24

The images living here can become parents. Their traits may continue in their descendants, even after they leave the pool.

Wrath of Ahasuerus01
WIKIART

Wrath of Ahasuerus

Jan Steen

Aureola di farsa02
CAEDMON

Aureola di farsa

Sorriso a pennello03
CAEDMON

Sorriso a pennello

0 POINTS
Rito di gentilezza04
CAEDMON

Rito di gentilezza

1 POINTS
Queen Victoria05
WIKIART

Queen Victoria

Thomas Sully

1 POINTS
Velo e corna06
CAEDMON

Velo e corna

1 POINTS
Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)07
WIKIART

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

1 POINTS
Commedia deposta08
CAEDMON

Commedia deposta

1 POINTS
Custodia a più mani09
CAEDMON

Custodia a più mani

Self-Portrait10
WIKIART

Self-Portrait

Judith Leyster

1 POINTS
Margherita sulle corna11
CAEDMON

Margherita sulle corna

1 POINTS
Santo in maschera12
CAEDMON

Santo in maschera

1 POINTS
La leva dei papaveri13
CAEDMON

La leva dei papaveri

1 POINTS
Tre mani sul caprone14
CAEDMON

Tre mani sul caprone

1 POINTS
Corpo in prestito15
CAEDMON

Corpo in prestito

1 POINTS
Rito urbano16
CAEDMON

Rito urbano

1 POINTS
Lilith with a Snake17
WIKIART

Lilith with a Snake

John Collier

1 POINTS
The Child Bride18
WIKIART

The Child Bride

John Collier

1 POINTS
Aureola sulla frontiera19
CAEDMON

Aureola sulla frontiera

1 POINTS
A Clown20
WIKIART

A Clown

George Luks

1 POINTS
Infanzia deposta21
CAEDMON

Infanzia deposta

1 POINTS
Giglio in asse22
CAEDMON

Giglio in asse

1 POINTS
Il quadro tra le onde23
CAEDMON

Il quadro tra le onde

Vele e aureole24
CAEDMON

Vele e aureole

Explore the pool ↗

Every four hours, when eligible parents are available, a new artwork can be born.

02 / THE PUBLIC

Waiting WIKIART

Nominating and voting for an artwork introduces a new influence into the project. Three times a day, at 01:00, 09:00 and 17:00, the leading candidate may enter the pool: it stays there, encounters other images and can reproduce, passing its traits to future works.