Ex Nihilo (Cosmos) is the latest work in Casey REAS’ Still Life series. The series draws on the forms and conceptual framework of the five Platonic solids: cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron. Plato’s Theory of Forms is central to this lineage, shaping his understanding of truth, beauty, and knowledge. For Plato, the world grasped through the senses is not fully real, but an imitation of a higher, invisible realm of perfect, eternal, and unchanging Forms. Ex Nihilo (Cosmos) explores the dodecahedron, and future works will engage the remaining four solids.
Ex Nihilo (Cosmos) connects Plato’s worldview to computer graphics, where images are generated ex nihilo—from code rather than physical materials. Forms are not represented directly, but instantiated through mathematical rules and procedural processes. What appears on screen is not a depiction of an object, but a series of Forms articulated through lines and resolved into pixels.
In the Still Life series, Platonic solids are not depicted as stable volumes, but decomposed into pixels. Each pixel’s values are translated into lines of varying position and color. From these simple rules emerge visual fields that oscillate between structure and dissolution. Designed to run continuously, the work never repeats. Rather than producing fixed compositions, the series operates as a kinetic system that unfolds over time.
Platonic Solids in Still Life software series:
Cube → EARTH
Tetrahedron → FIRE
Octahedron → AIR
Dodecahedron → COSMOS
Icosahedron → WATER
This work is co-presented by Art Blocks and Feral File in March 2026. The Still Life exhibitions began in 2016 with There’s No Distance at bitforms, New York. The most recent, Purely Platonic, was presented at DAM Projects, Berlin, in summer 2025.
Key Commands
'R' — Show/hide the Red channel
'G' — Show/hide the Green channel
'B' — Show/hide the Blue channel
'W' — Toggle colors to White
'S' — Adjust Speed
'P' — Pause
Spacebar — Generate a new Still Life
*923 Empty Rooms* is an artwork about simulation and the history of visual representation and abstraction. Each room is a space to explore.
Each of the 923 unique rooms contains a simulated still life, an arrangement of forms. There are six primary forms, each linked to a city: Sun (Tokyo), Shard (Berlin), Cargo (London), Hive (New York), Pyramid (CDMX), and Moon (Los Angeles). A series of rooms will be minted over the course of a simultaneous, six-day exhibition at galleries in each city.
There are 923 rooms in total to iterate through every possible combination of the six shapes:
1 form = 6 unique combinations
2 forms = 21 unique combinations
3 forms = 56 unique combinations
4 forms = 126 unique combinations
5 forms = 252 unique combinations
6 forms = 462 unique combinations
*923 Empty Rooms* is an evolution of *An Empty Room*, commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982 exhibition. *An Empty Room* was installed at LACMA from 9 April to 2 July 2023.
*923 Empty Rooms* is an evolution of *An Empty Room*, commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982 exhibition. An Empty Room was installed at LACMA from 9 April to 2 July 2023.
Each of the 923 unique rooms contains a simulated still life, an arrangement of forms. There are six primary forms, each linked to a city: Sun (Tokyo), Shard (Berlin), Cargo (London), Hive (New York), Pyramid (CDMX), and Moon (Los Angeles). A series of rooms will be minted for each city over the course of a simultaneous, six-day exhibition at galleries in each city.
There are 923 rooms in total to iterate through every possible combination of the six shapes:
1 form = 6 unique combinations
2 forms = 21 unique combinations
3 forms = 56 unique combinations
4 forms = 126 unique combinations
5 forms = 252 unique combinations
6 forms = 462 unique combinations
*923 Empty Rooms* is an artwork about simulation and the history of visual representation and abstraction. Each room is a space to explore.
*923 Empty Rooms* is an evolution of *An Empty Room*, commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982 exhibition. *An Empty Room* was installed at LACMA from 9 April to 2 July 2023.
Each of the 923 unique rooms contains a simulated still life, an arrangement of forms. There are six primary forms, each linked to a city: Sun (Tokyo), Shard (Berlin), Cargo (London), Hive (New York), Pyramid (CDMX), and Moon (Los Angeles). There are 923 total rooms to iterate through every possible combination of these shapes:
1 form = 6 unique combinations
2 forms = 21 unique combinations
3 forms = 56 unique combinations
4 forms = 126 unique combinations
5 forms = 252 unique combinations
6 forms = 462 unique combinations
An Empty Room is an artwork about simulation and the history of visual representation and abstraction.
923 Empty Rooms is an evolution of *An Empty Room*, commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982 exhibition.
Ways of knowing...
Ways of seeing…
I can trace the origin of *Pre-Process* back to a Saturday afternoon in 2003 when I was sketching—first on paper, and then with code. I began by drawing circles, then connecting their center points, and then placing the circles in motion as coded animation. At that time, I was focused on *ideas* and not *images*—specifically, on dynamic systems and the ways a set of elements relate to each other within an imagined environment. I was working through questions about how to experience these systems and what might be an ideal (or interesting) way to engage with them.
The ideas and code from this session later became the core of much of my subsequent work: including the foundation for the *Process* series of software, prints, and installations and the more recent *Process Compendium* works. *Pre-Process* pulls these origin points back into focus, develops them with what I’ve learned in the intervening years, and puts them on the blockchain to be archived. I consider the project a Rosetta Stone for my practice. It asks fundamental questions about the relationships between process and end result, including: Where is the aesthetic focus of a generative system? Is it deep within the code or within the picture the system creates?
Ultimately, *Pre-Process* emphasizes experiencing the origin of the system and then transitioning with it as it seeks, but never finds, equilibrium. The system is built around Element 1, the first that I created for the *Process* series:
*Element 1: Form 1 + Behavior 1 + Behavior 2 + Behavior 3 + Behavior 4
Form 1: Circle
Behavior 1: Move in a straight line
Behavior 2: Constrain to surface
Behavior 3: Change direction while touching another Element
Behavior 4: Move away from an overlapping Element*
*Pre-Process* is the origin of a long journey that I’m still on. It continues to ask essential questions and to encourage me to explore possibilities. Through it, I came to realize that I was ultimately more a picture-maker than a conceptual artist, or, the way I like to think about it, I’m a “conceptual artist” with a small ‘c.’ I want the energy to be with the system (the ideas) *and* the surface (the picture) in equal measure. More directly, the work exists *between* the instructions, the performance and interpretation of the instructions, and the resulting images.
This artwork will “die” on 20 October 2052.
Today I’m 50.
Will I live to be 80?
Will I outlive this artwork?
Will this artwork outlive me?
The original CENTURY project is autobiographical. Creating art and experiencing art is the core of my life, and CENTURY is my homage to 20th Century artists. It’s a synthesis of their ideas.
CENTURY 2052 brings the endeavor to the 21st Century. It’s released as 50 unique artworks, one for each year since I was born. The artwork transitions from life to death at 6:44pm EST on October 20th 2052.
This isn't a commercial or public release. It’s a gift to others who have shaped the world of art that I inhabit.
This artwork will “die” on 20 October 2052.
Today I’m 50.
Will I live to be 80?
Will I outlive this artwork?
Will this artwork outlive me?
The original CENTURY project is autobiographical. Making art and experiencing art is my life’s work and CENTURY is my homage to the 20th Century. It’s a synthesis of ideas.
CENTURY 2052 brings things to the 21st Century. It’s released as 50 unique artworks, one for each year I’m (hopefully) alive until the artwork expires at 6:44pm EST on October 20th 2052.
This isn't a commercial or public release. It’s a gift to others who have shaped the world of art that I inhabit.
This artwork will “die” on 20 October 2052.
Today I’m 50.
Will I live to be 80?
Will I outlive this artwork?
Will this artwork outlive me?
The original CENTURY project is autobiographical. Making art and experiencing art is my life’s work and CENTURY is my homage to the 20th Century. It’s a synthesis of ideas.
CENTURY 2052 brings things to the 21st Century. It’s released as 80 unique artworks, one for each year I’m (hopefully) alive until the artwork expires at 6:44pm EST on October 20th 2052.
This isn't a commercial or public release. It’s a gift to others who have shaped the world of art that I inhabit.
This artwork will “die” on 20 October 2052.
Today I’m 50.
Will I live to be 80?
Will I outlive this artwork?
Will this artwork outlive me?
The original CENTURY project is autobiographical. Making art and experiencing art is my life’s work and CENTURY is my homage to the 20th Century. It’s a synthesis of ideas.
CENTURY 2052 brings things to the 21st Century. It’s released as 80 unique artworks, one for each year I’m (hopefully) alive until the artwork expires at 6:44pm EST on October 20th 2052.
This isn't a commercial or public release. It’s a gift to others who have shaped the world of digital art that I inhabit.
Network C is a companion to REAS’s CENTURY. It’s a contemporary interpretation of Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie, painted in New York City in 1942. Eighty years later, the most vibrant structures of the twenty-first century are dynamic data networks.
If you’re viewing on an iOS device 15.4 or later, use Safari and turn off "WebGL via Metal." Setting here: Settings > Safari > Advanced > Experimental Features > WebGL via Metal
Network C is a companion to REAS’s CENTURY. It’s a contemporary interpretation of Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie, painted in New York City in 1942. Eighty years later, the most vibrant structures of the twenty-first century are dynamic data networks.
If you're viewing on an iOS device 15.4 or later, use Safari and turn off "WebGL via Metal." Setting here:
Settings > Safari > Advanced > Experimental Features > WebGL via Metal
Network C is a companion to REAS’s CENTURY. It’s a contemporary interpretation of Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie, painted in New York City in 1942. Eighty years later, the most vibrant structures of the twenty-first century are dynamic data networks.
“Phototaxis” is a simulated environment populated by simple machines. After Valentino Braitenberg’s 1984 book “Vehicles,” there are four kinds of machines with different wiring and behaviors: Explorers, Aggressors, Lovers, and Cowards. Each line charts the history of one machine’s movement. The core of this code was the foundation for my MicroImage series of works dating back to 2001. I’ve worked on it in fits and starts since then, and in 2021 it was further developed for Art Blocks. Press ‘P’ to play/pause, ‘B’ for the big bang, ‘1’–’5’ to change the magnification, and ‘L’ to reveal the lights’ locations.
“Phototaxis” is a simulated environment populated by simple machines. After Valentino Braitenberg’s 1984 book “Vehicles,” there are four kinds of machines with different wiring and behaviors: Explorers, Aggressors, Lovers, and Cowards. Each line charts the history of one machine’s movement. The core of this code was the foundation for my MicroImage series of works dating back to 2001. I’ve worked on it in fits and starts since then, and in 2021 it was further developed for Art Blocks. Press ‘P’ to play/pause, ‘B’ for the big bang, ‘1’–’5’ to change the magnification, and ‘L’ to reveal the lights’ locations. Dutch auction with 10Ξ starting price and 0.5Ξ resting price, reduced every 5 minutes as follows: 10 > 8 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3.5 > 3 > 2.5 > 2 > 1.75 > 1.5 > 1.25 > 1 > .75 > .5
{"type":"p5js","aspectRatio":1,"animationLengthInSeconds":"0","interactive":"true","instructions":"‘P’ to play/pause|‘B’ for the big bang|‘1’–’5’ to change the magnification|‘L’ to reveal the lights’ locations","version":"1.0","curationStatus":"factory","license":"CC BY-NC 4.0"}
{"type":"p5js","aspectRatio":"1","animationLengthInSeconds":"0","interactive":"true","instructions":"‘P’ to play/pause|‘B’ for the big bang|‘1’–’5’ to change the magnification|‘L’ to reveal the lights’ locations","version":"1.0"}
“Phototaxis” is a simulated environment populated by simple machines. After Valentino Braitenberg’s 1984 book “Vehicles,” there are four kinds of machines with different wiring and behaviors: Explorers, Aggressors, Lovers, and Cowards. Each line charts the history of one machine’s movement. The core of this code was the foundation for my MicroImage series of works dating back to 2001. I’ve worked on it in fits and starts since then, and in 2021 it was further developed for Art Blocks. Press ‘P’ to play/pause, ‘B’ for the big bang, ‘1’–’5’ to change the magnification, and ‘L’ to reveal the lights’ locations.
CENTURY is my homage to paintings and drawings from the twentieth century and the countless hours I’ve spent looking at them. The references span the origins of concrete and non-objective art to color-field painting and minimalism. The strongest direct reference is a series of pictures created by Ellsworth Kelly in the 1950s where he cut his paintings into pieces and reassembled them in different orders. CENTURY creates a distinct picture for each unique transaction hash, and you can “cut” and “reassemble” it in different ways by pressing ‘1’ on your keyboard. Press ‘2’ to put the slices in the original order. These are landscapes; they look best large and in motion running as live code.