Narrative Infrastructure

Narrative Infrastructure is a 9-foot bass wood communications tower, embedded in play sand, upon which I mounted three PC monitors running a custom Python script. The structure was designed in Rhinoceros 3D, and cut and assembled by hand with traditional wood shop tools, with some joints using laser-cut plates to help get the angles right. It was my senior thesis project, taking me about seven months to complete.

A computer built into the structure runs a program, its output being shown as a triptych across three displays. The software generates a set of characters with traits (depicted on the “directory screen”), who move around a small field (seen on the “stage screen”) in a manner dictated by their traits. Their movements and natures then craft a story that is written to a text terminal (seen on the “narrative screen”), weaving a unique narrative over the course of fifteen minutes. At the end of that cycle, the log is erased and a new set of characters is generated, writing a unique story every time.

The documentation I have is shoddy and sparse. Please use my experience as a lesson: always document your work!

I’m working on getting a version of the program to be usable here on the website, but it’s a lot of tedious work I can’t really afford right now. The github link is available upon request, if you want to poke at my code (I guarantee it is a spaghetti nightmare).

I owe a lot of mentoring help to Ryan McKibbin. He was head of the fabriaction shop during the time I was building the structure, and there’s no chance it would have half the integrity it did were it not for his guidance. My most rewarding times at MICA were spent in his digital fabrication lab jumping between the computers and the machines, trying to get them to cooperate with one another.