My original idea for this piece was to create a single mega-creature made out of a large quantity of identical “cells”, much in the way that mold grows, where each individual cell functions mostly independently of its neighbors but end up in large groups due to each new cell growing directly next to its “parent”. I followed this idea directly into my final piece, where I tried to describe a three dimensional “mold” through its two dimensional growth and the intensity of the mold at any given point. The relationship that the user has to my monster is one of a cultivator and artist. I tried to create the type of control that a landscaper would have over their trees – not complete control but still a high level of ability to shape the growth of their plant. One can create a mold that grows in only a few directions, one with many interweaving branches or a very dense and “tall” one. I believe that I was generally successful in what I set out to achieve, but an issue that I was not able to solve are the random very intense bits of mold that sometimes appear along the edge of the screen. I also wish that the mold grew in a more random/independent of mouse way.
The name of my mold is quadrata cellularum.
