The Smaller Picture


         X          
 X    X XXX X  X    
       XXXXX      X 
    X XXXXXXX     X 
     XXXXXXXXX      
 X  XXXXXXXXXXXXX  X
   XXXX XXXXX X X   
  XXXXXX XX XXXXXX X
 XX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
   XXXXXXXX XX  X X 
 XXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX  
X        XXXXXX     
 X X XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 
XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 XXXXXXXXXX X XXXXX 
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXX
XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX  
   XXXXXXXXXXXXX  X 
   X XXX XXXXX      
      X XXXX X   XX 
The collective consciousness was attempting to create a boat.

<< This is frame 6001. >>

New pictures being created :
bird sword cat human head sofa castle apple

Previous pictures :
Great Britain face star bucket flag banana map of the world umbrella question mark telephone circle spiral stick person letter arrow anything bee car wineglass cup landscape word heart fish lamp monster television computer tree goat spider chair flower house anything


Created by Kevan Davis in July 2002, based on Kevin Kelly's account of hive-mind audience emergence.
Each picture starts from a randomised grid. There have been 6002 flips to this one, so far.
See also: the official Typophile Font spinoff and Tom Rankin's filtering of it.

Other people have built much better emergent art projects
since this went live in 2002, most notably Swarm Sketch, Pixelfest and TheBroth.