sewn by Jared Schiffman (1998)

[2021 p5js port by @dribnet]

(instructions: move mouse and press W A S D + spacebar)


About

sewn is an exploration of balanced recursive division of two-dimensional space created by Jared Schiffman while he was a student at the MIT Media Lab's Aesthetics and Computation group (ACG) in 1998. Using the three mouse buttons the canvas can be manipulated to create and remove rectangles vertically and horizontally. The overall shape responds organicly and maintains a sense of visaul balance both in division of colors and shapes - with rectangles coming to rest to have equal areas throughout.

Jared was one of the founding members of the ACG group and had an unparalleled skill for executing reactive works that felt simultaneously deeply computational and spontaneously organic.

This online version is a restoration port by @dribnet of the orignal version written in C++ and using the ACU library which Jared also co-authored at the Media Lab. This hosted respository contains two ports - the first is to OpenFrameworks which itself is based closely on the code and conventions of the ACU library and so requires very few code changes. The second port was a more involved rewrite into p5.js (which inherits some ACU coding conventions via Processing) and included several adjustments to control flow and graphics logic. As the original used the SGI three button mouse exclusively, the p5.js version was given some UI updates to match modern keyboard and mouse conventions. Otherwise extreme care was taken to stick as close to the original as possible studying both the initial OpenFrameworks port as well as achived images, videos, and executable files. The original code and both ports can be found in the accompaning github repository.

This port was based on the the version of the code shown pubicly at the Cooper Hewitt ACG retrospective exhibition in 2000. It includes the additional feature that each subdivided rectangle is begins to repair itself after a 30 second delay. The overall effect is that the overall form is in a constant state of healing itself and will eventually reset back to its initial state.

original sewn page