john gerrard has built a practice developing simulation as a language and material, using this mode to examine issues related to energy, consumption, and environmental exploitation. crystalline work (arctic) features a prismatic virtual robot performing upon a barren platform at the Arctic North Pole. Seen from above, the robot enacts an ice-generation algorithm to create crystal bar lattices that create a unique, dynamic, tokenised 3D Web Graphic Library (WebGL) art piece documenting that solar moment. The lattices in crystalline work form “archetypes” — masks, solar crosses, mandalas, stars, trees, and mycelium, amongst others — which generatively emerge from the algorithm’s logic.

Embedded in each work is a 4,000-pixel image file of the generated archetype, which can be dynamically exported and locally pigment printed on paper at 1m x 1m to the artist's specifications. Also embedded in each work is a 3D model of the unique crystal array, which can be exported for usage in 3D prints or virtual world-building.