In July 2020, Kate Vass Galerie has opened an ongoing online exhibition as a tribute to the mathematician John Conway. The show “Game of Life - emergence in generative art” curated by Jason Bailey, which explores how complex visual systems can emerge from relatively simple algorithms to create art than can reframe the way we see the world. Among Conway’s many gifts to the world was his famous “Game of Life” introduced by Mr Gardner in his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American 50 years ago in October 1970. For this show, we have included four generative artists: Jared S Tarbell, Alexander Reben, Kjetil Golid, and Manolo Gamboa Naon and published exclusive interviews with each of the participant and full essay on Artnome.

On 28th December, The New York Times has published an article by Siobhan Roberts “The Lasting Lessons of John Conway’s Game of Life” dedicated to Dr John Conway. We are very honoured to be featured in this article among the other committed supporters who reflected upon its influence and lessons over time.

Sad, but interesting fact, that Mr Conway, who used to go around saying, ‘I hate Life,’ had to die from Covid-19 half a century after his theory was introduced, to be heard and maybe help us to reflect on the current situation that we experience in 2020.

This year, we have faced the biggest challenges, which are emergent: COVID-19; political and economic turbulences, the volatility of stock markets, an unprecedented drop to negative oil prices and bitcoin appreciation to 27 000 USD; violence towards people of colour; storms and fires due to obvious impact of the climate change. All of these are classic examples of emergent phenomena. Was Conway a fortuneteller or just a genius mathematician who could predict with his metaphoric name for his "Game of Life" theory the inevitable set of rules that we are currently playing, with the highest stakes of life and death? We can only wonder, but the only thing I am certain that those predictions are not random.

I couldn’t agree more with Melanie Mitchell, saying: “In this moment in time, it’s important to emphasize that inherent unpredictability — so well illustrated in even the simple Game of Life — is a feature of life in the real world as well as in the Game of Life. We have to figure out ways to flourish in spite of the inherent unpredictability and uncertainty we constantly live with. As the mathematician, John Allen Paulos so eloquently said, “Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.” This is, I think, Life’s most important lesson.”

Written by Kate Vass

The Lessons of John Conway’s "Game of Life"

Happy birthday to a pioneer of computer art - Vera Molnar!

HAPPY B-DAY KEVIN ABOSCH!