Invasion Percolation #160

Invasion Percolation is the first network visualization of modern network science and the first generative network art. The algorithm was built by Albert-László Barabási in 1994, and the surviving 1995 output opened the Hidden Patterns retrospective of BarabásiLab at ZKM Karlsruhe in 2021 and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest in 2020. The release of Invasion Percolation as a generative NFT is part of a hybrid performance involving the metaverse and the traditional gallery and museum space. Each copy of the 782 series, corresponding to the number of links on the published 1995 version of the work, will be printed and each printed work’s title, permanently recorded on the physical artwork, will be the NFT owner who generates the work. In rare instances, the algorithm will generate sculptures that will be 3D printed. The 2D and 3D prints will be shown at the Cyberart Gallery in Boston, Postmaster Gallery in New York, Ludwig Museum in Budapest (Hungary), and New Kriterion Gallery in Csikszereda (Transylvania, Romania), each location receiving unique artworks. With the release of Invasion Percolation as a generative NFT, empty exhibition spaces will gradually fill in thanks to the actions of the collectors, who generate and name the work.

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