Art, Life and the Totality of All Things

This was my BA final art project.

The binary form of digital information makes it possible to represent images in a standard form using a finite set of elements, in this case colours. If a matrix of N x M elements is considered, it is possible, at least theoretically, to generate all existing images of N x M pixels by plotting all possible color values in every single individual pixel of the matrix. Although this operation would take an infinite amount of time, it would generate all images, movies, artworks or any other form of visual reality that humans have known, know or will ever imagine/experience. This set of images would be equivalent to the universal truth, and would tell the entire story of our world, also describing its beginning and its end.

The fact that all forms of visual art ever produced and that will ever be produced can be generated from scratch by using this technique questions the importance of art and its purpose. If a very simple computer program can generate all possible visual artworks, does then art itself not become redundant?

However, the implications are even more astounding. Any of the above images, if seen from sufficiently far away, can be reduced to a single pixel, the sum of all the other pixels that make up that image. Consider the following progression: You » London » The UK » Europe » The Earth » 100 billion planets in our galaxy » 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe » The observable universe is believed to be only a fraction of the actual universe. As a result, our world’s complete story will always be just a single pixel on the infinitely large universal matrix.

So, if you think you’re big, you might want to sit back and rethink your little life.