2022
Invasion Percolation

About the work

Invasion Percolation is the first network visualization of modern network science and the first generative network art. 

It depicts a network generated by water penetrating the ground, and its formal representation is rooted in a square lattice, inspired by crystal lattices explored by physicists. The algorithm was built by Albert-László Barabási in 1994, and the surviving 1995 output opened the Hidden Patterns retrospective of BarabásiLab at ZKM Karlsruhe in 2021 and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest in 2020

Team

©BarabásiLab (Cs. Both, A.-L. Barabasi.)

Invasion Percolation and Global Optimization 

In 2021, BarabasiLab released Invasion Percolation as a generative NFT on ArtBlocks, part of a hybrid performance involving the metaverse and the traditional gallery and museum space. Each generated copy of the series were printed and each printed work’s title, permanently recorded on the physical artwork, is the NFT owner who generated the work. In rare instances, the algorithm generated sculptures that are also 3D printed. The 2D and 3D prints were shown at the Cyberart Gallery in Boston, Postmaster Gallery in New York, Ludwig Museum in Budapest (Hungary), and New Kriterion Gallery in Csikszereda (Transylvania, Romania), each location receiving unique artworks. With the release of Invasion Percolation as a generative NFT, empty exhibition spaces will gradually fill in thanks to the actions of the collectors, who generate and name the work.

 

Image 1 – Barabási's first data visualization created in 1995. 
Image 2 – Invasion Percolation NFT #3, which can be found on Art Blocks. 
Image 3 – Uj Kriterion Gallery, Miercurea Ciuc, Romania, 2022, interior view.
Image 4 – Uj Kriterion Gallery, Miercurea Ciuc, Romania, 2022, interior view.
Image 5 – Luwdig Museum, 2020
Image 6 – Ludwig Museum, 2022

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