Quine #68

Quine is Larva Labs' contribution to the final Art Blocks Curated series, a project that underscores that all the works on the Art Blocks platform are generated directly from code with no artist supervision. Drawing from the computer science concept of a quine (a computer program that produces a copy of its own source code as its output), the work incorporates its own code into the visuals it creates.

Rather than hiding the generative process, Quine makes code alive as both medium and subject, creating a strange loop where the artwork contains the instructions for its own existence. This is closely analogous to how biological life reproduces itself: the DNA in the living cell is a type of "program" that can produce all the mechanisms of life, one of which is making a reproduction of itself upon cell reproduction. Each Quine functions simultaneously as executable code (the DNA) and typographic composition (the cell). While some are "Perfect-Quines" that reproduce themselves exactly, others cycle through multiple generations – its "quintity"– before returning to its origin state.

As opposed to creating the artwork directly, the main generator constructs a much smaller, specialized program that produces the visual output, including a layout of its own source code into the work, as well as the mechanism to reproduce itself. In this way, Quines are both program listings and artworks.