AnnoMetta

AnnoMetta (‘Anno’ meaning year in Latin and ‘Metta’ meaning loving-kindness in Pali), is a 1/1 artwork that symbolizes community connections through a dynamic canvas. With elements shifting hourly, daily, monthly, and annually, the generative art is fully customizable via URL parameters. When viewing the live code in a token or on https://annometta.com, press 'escape' to open a customization menu.

I approached this project as a way to visualize the connections between individuals. These could be simple relationships, a network or community, or an abstract representation of compassion (in the spirit of Metta). I wanted to create a single piece of art that will always change, but where a specific output can always be recreated.

I feel like the longest cycle many people think about is a single year, and the starting hue of any render of this work cycles over the course of a year, just like seasons. The piece will look about the same every year on your birthday, for example, but it would never be exactly the same. Technically, new art is created every hour, but even within a single hour, multiple outputs can be made – change the window size or the screen resolution and the art changes. Everything is deterministic, meaning that there is always a reproducible pattern to the dynamic changes. No output is ever truly lost and can be recreated with the right settings.

AnnoMetta can be enjoyed for free around the world and at any time, and I hope that when viewing it, one thinks of the connections and maybe even the compassion shared between us.