Plyons

Name: Ragnar Digital, LLC
Price range: $

Peter Struycken

1983

Book

From the listing: artist´s book: booklet with texts in Dutch & English plus leporello-fold in cardboard sleeve, size 21 x 21.5 x 2.3 cm the size of the unfolded leporello is over 5 meters with printed colour fields (determined by the program Plons/Splash) on one side, set has some signs of use, overall good to very good condition - an artist´s books of this edition is currently on display at LACMA´s Coded exhibition - see catalog p. 18 computer art

Artist and Computer

Description

Peter Struycken cleverly expressed a computer program in book form with _Plons/Splash 1972/1974. _Published by Verfindustrie Jac Eyck NV, the book pairs text in English and Dutch by Carel Blotkamp with printed sequences of color fields generated by Struycken’s program Plons (Splash). The visuals are presented in an accordion-fold format that mirrors the program’s logic.

Plons assigns numbers to colors and applies a set of logical rules to change them. It begins with one arrangement of numbers, translated into colors, and shifts step by step toward a new arrangement. At first these changes apply to large areas of color, followed by smaller sections and finally individual values.

As the algorithm advances from one state to the next, the sheet in the book unfolds panel by panel, each one marking a successive phase in the progression of color changes. The design makes it possible to follow the program’s evolution through all its stages.