Body No Body is a set of video works inspired by the game of life, an infinite, two-dimensional grid of square cells, each of which is in one of two possible states, live or dead. The one-person game created by John Horton Conway represents a simplification of birth, death, development and evolution in a population of living organisms. Each cell interacts with its eight neighbours according to 4 rules.

1. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if by underpopulation.

2. Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.

3. Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation.

4. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.

Shadow

In Body No Body I challenge the idea of human individualism. What is my body, when is something or someone part of me? I used the idea of 4 simple rules of the game of life to write my own set of rules to determine if something can be considered part of my body or not - body, no body.

1. If the cell has no strong physical interaction with the body and the cell does not consist of the same material, it is not part of the body and the cell ‘’dies’’

2. If the cell has a strong physical interaction with the body and  the two parts do not consist of the same material, it is part of the  body and the cell ‘’stays alive’’

3. If the cell has no strong physical interaction with the body and the cell consists of the same material, it is part of the body and the cell ‘’stays alive’’

4. If the cell has a strong physical interaction with the body and the cell consists of the same material as the body, it expands the boundaries of the body and the cell ‘’grows’’.

After creating a configuration of the cells that will be run in the game of life, I let the cells evolve. The videos end when the game of life stops, either when there are no cells left, or when when the game gets ‘’stuck’’ in a loop. What cells will remain after this game, what cells can survive the rules of this life? 

Clipped nails