1. Jeremy Peterson
MFA Design + Technology
SuperFlock
ART/SCI
5570B Applied Research
Prof. Victoria Vesna
Parsons/New School
11/1/2011

2. Abstract
“Emergence refers to revealing, appearing, or ‘making vis- My question: What are the emergent 3 dimensional
ible’ an event, object, or the outcome of a process. In an forms created by the outer boundaries of the swarm
art context, emergence also encompasses novelty, sur- shape; and how can we use the behavior of flocking to
prise, spontaneity, agency, even creativity itself.” generate these forms and create these responsive and
dynamic forms?
Design is always in search of new visual forms and inter-
actions that science and technology enable us to see. The
impetus for this project comes from a desire to explore
the creation of emergent forms and gain a deeper under-
standing of systems based on natural phenomena. Hu-
mans tend to fear what they don’t understand and it is the
role of the designer and artist to rationalise and recontex-
tualize these moments.
I’m interested in large flocks of animals where the result-
ing swarm can resemble one emergent but solid shape
shifting entity that can be described as a superorganism.
This form is constantly in a state of flux and it is not pos-
sible to grasp its dimensions with the naked eye. Now
that we can simulate flocking behavior with some accuracy
using computers it becomes possible to model and study
the emergent behaviors that occur in this system. The
ability to quantify the data that results in swarms enables
artists to work with flocking behavior as a generative pro-
cess that creates emergent forms.

3. Concept / Topic
The collective behavior of the swarm creates what is The plan on how to engage with this idea comes in three
called a superorganism, which is an organism consisting phases. The first to develop a system to map the forms;
of many organisms. My concept is to model the exterior this will be done in Processing or OpenFrameworks where
forms that swarms create and put a ‘skin’ around it in behavioral libraries already exist that can be leveraged.
order to make a superorganism that is visible and to give The second phase is to iterate and create a comparative
the user an opportunity to view and interact with it. study of forms by playing with the rules that create each
emergent form. Flocks can be programmed to exhibit be-
3 main rules inform all of the outcomes in flocking behav- haviors tied to resource gathering, predator avoidance, or
ior and they are: species specific flocking behavior. The final step is to cre-
ate an interactive product that reacts dynamically to user
Separation stimulus. This will be the most challenging, but ultimately
Alignment the most rewarding phase.
Cohesion
“You need to move with the same speed and direction as
your neighbors, you need to avoid hitting them and you
need to stay close,” Sabine Hauert, MIT
Flocking behavior is also interesting because of it’s high
rate of adaptability to it’s environment. The simple rules
that it follows allow for a cohesive form to be retained
even when individual agents are interrupted. This results
in a very solid, yet totally dynamic emergent superorgan-
ism.

4. Context & Precedence
screenshot from ‘Boids’ - Craig Reynolds (1986)
“Generative art usually involves poeisis, which suggests ics, VR, Games, Robotics, Aerospace, Education, AI, Art,
that it should reveal the world in ways that nature can’t – Biology, Physics, Emergent behavior, search optimization
hence technology seems a possible, but not necessarily & visualization techniques.
unique, vehicle to achieve this aim.”
The most recent and relevant example to this project I
Art, Emergence, and the Computational Sublime found is from 2010 where Corrie Van Sice at NYU created
Jon McCormack and Alan Dorin a 3D printed sculpture by simulating the movement of a
flock over time in a digital environment. Her impetus for
Any computer modeling done in this project will have a the project is: “I am interested in using the algorithm as
shared lineage with Craig Reynolds original brilliant pro- a tool for generating form, as if it were a brush or blade
gram entitled ‘Boids’ In 1986 Reynolds devised the boids- leaving traces of itself on an object”
algorithm, based on a model of the interactions in flocks,
herds or schools of animals. The magic of the boids algo- There is a long history of art and science collaborating
rithm is that complex overall patterns emerge from simple to create new forms enabled by new technology. A great
Ernst Haeckel (1860’s)
rules describing their interactions. example is biologist/artist Ernst Haeckel in the 1800’s;
who’s study of microscopic radiolarian forms was used as
There have been many other computational models of inspiration and sometimes almost exact reproduction by
group motion/ swarm behavior created since 1986, and the designer Rene Binet who developed these forms into
as Reynolds himself lists on his website, they’ve been designs who’s application ranged from patterns to archi-
used in Computer Animation, Robotics, Interactive Graph- tecture.
Corrie Van Sice (2010)

5. Project Proposal ( Phase I )
example sketch
from video source:
Begin by figuring out the basic modeling of the superorganism’s form in Processing or OpenFrameworks.
This is a technical exercise and is done to understand what kind of parameters to take into consideration when moving forward with creating additional forms.
Alternately the data could also be captured using a 3D scanning camera and a live swarm. ( this might be possible to do using fish or possibly insects )

6. Project Proposal ( Phase II )
- Create a study of comparative forms in superorganisms formed by flocking behavior.
- Create and iterate the resulting forms by working with the parameters of each and altering their behavior to specific species of animals.
- Iterate on the forms further by introducing new variables such as predators & food sources behavior to achieve a wide variety of results.

7. Project Proposal ( Phase III )
Dynamic and reactive form
that is constantly animated
while retaining cohesion.
Find a way to model the behavior in real time for an audience to interact with.
This might start out as an interactive installation. (screen/projector based installation with the audience interacting with a projected image )
The ultimate goal would be to create a reactive physical object for an installation.

8. Conclusion
Creating a superorganism from the swarm and animating By modeling these forms we can understand them. By
it will create a memorable but perplexing experience for making them interactive we can take even more of the
the viewer and allow them to see and understand a little mystery from them and create emergent interactive art.
bit about the world as seen through an unexpected lens. This project helps make the unknowable and invisible
into something that can be seen and understood.
The audience is invited to experience this new form in
order to better understand the phenomena of flocking be-
havior. This also introduces people to the ideas of swarm
intelligence, super organisms, and emergence. The super-
organism is not controlled by one entity but by the collec-
tive ‘intelligence’ of the entire swarm. It is a form created
by reaction. This intelligence is visible, it reacts to stimu-
lus and can problem solve to find resources and avoid
danger. The viewer is confronted with a paradox of an or-
ganism who’s intelligence is clearly visible but not central-
ized and who’s form is never static or exactly repeating.

9. R EF ERE N C E S
Corrie Van Sice
http://itp.nyu.edu/~cvs245/Blog/?p=456
Craig Reynolds & Boids
http://www.red3d.com/cwr/boids/
Rene Binet
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2010/09/18/
esquisses-decoratives-by-rene-binet/
Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel
Art, Emergence, and the Computational Sublime
Jon McCormack and Alan Dorin
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/
summary?doi=10.1.1.16.6640
Superorganism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superorganism