Generative art project inspired bythe uncertainty of quantum systems.

At first, The Quantum Quilt was a simple script, designed to draw three-colored squares on a basic 5×5 grid. As time passed, and my ambition grew – so did the code and its capabilities.

In its final iteration, the app generates art by pitting constructive and destructive software agents against one another. The constructive agent neatly divides the canvas and attempts to draw a well-structured pattern. Meanwhile, four destructive agents compete to disrupt it, injecting errors and glitches into the process.

The Quantum Quilt uses thirty-eight combinations of thirty symbol tiles, and one hundred color palettes to produce infinitely variable, evolving artwork. At random intervals, it saves the current state of the canvas as an image file.

Between January and February 2021, I programmed the app and then used it to produce over 7,000 images. The results were then curated into two albums: The Quantum Quilt: Chroma and Mono.

Programmed Inefficiencies

The Quantum Quilt was developed using Processing 3 – a Java-based programming environment, designed for procedural art. The initial release was highly optimized. It was capable of producing images so fast, the speed was limited only by the time it takes to compress and save high-resolution PNG images to the hard drive.

While efficient, it did not feel like the app was generating art. As humans, we are conditioned to expect creative endeavors to take a certain amount of thought and time.

I ended up programming pauses, slow-downs and other random inefficiencies to have The Quantum Quilt behave more like an art tool, rather than a PNG maker. I also changed it to display the process of painting each canvas on the monitor – and spent hours staring at it build one design after another.

A Nod to Pixel Art

The color schemes of The Quantum Quilt are based on community-sourced palettes from Lospec.com. They feature both original creations, as well as timeless classics, such as Commodore 64, CGA or PICO-8 palettes.

A good quarter of all works produced in this project were built using interesting two-color combinations. While they worked great on their own, when curating the Mono album, I have decided to simplify all these works to pure black and white color scheme.

Buy The Quantum Quilt

You can enjoy the entirety of The Quantum Quilt in the high-res photography above. If you would like to own a hard copy, printed editions of both albums are available via Amazon.com.

Both Chroma and Mono albums in hardcover 13×11 in (33×28 cm) coffee table book format are printed on demand, on an archival Mohawk Superfine Eggshell paper.

The Quantum Quilt: ChromaThe Quantum Quilt: Mono

The Quantum Quilt

Generative art project inspired by the uncertainty of quantum systems.

PublishedFebruary 2021Code & CurationQuba MichalskiColor PalettesLospecPublished viaBlurbSold byAmazon