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GRID: \'grid\ n
2ITO / 2YNERGY / PANICGrids began as a collaborative art project on SITO back in may of 1994. They arose from a desire to create new forms of structured image interaction during the frequent (and still on-going) PANIC sessions.
The basic concept is to create a grid of interlocking images, each subsequent piece growing off of the other. The experimentation with grid structures spawned a few web-based collaborative offspring, the most recent being Infinite Grid, HyGrid and Gridcosm. Both are dynamic sets of images, difficult to represent in any place other than the World Wide Web itself... unlike the original grid experiments, which you could print out.
QUESTIONS:
- What's a grid and how do I participate?
- ALT: Linear Grid Process
VIEWS:
- The Grid Gallery (note: large inline images)
- The Reader Grid: this is a grid done in June of 1996 for a cover of an Omaha, NE magazine.
- Infinite Grid: An un-going GRID that you can't always add to! We've closed this one to subs right now, but you can look at it in all its majesty.
ACTIVE GRIDS:
- HyGrid: super freak out! It is 3.14* dimensional with twists, turns, bobs and weaves.... now accepting submissions, sounds and prize money.
- Gridcosm: a mushzoom cloud of grid within grid! When one 3x3 grid is done, it shrinks to become the center of the next 3x3 grid, and so on.
WHAT'S A GRID?
There are two basic types of grid, STATIC and DYNAMIC. The major difference is that STATIC grids are finite and can easily be represented in 2d space. The original grids were static. DYNAMIC grids are ever-growing sets of interlocking images, currently manifesting as Infinite Grid, HyGrid and Gridcosm. Most of this page will deal with STATIC grids.A grid is the collaborative effort of several image-makers created using a grid of squares which the artists fill with images that interconnect and play off one-another.
Grids can take a few hours to a few days to complete, depending on how dedicated and how quick the participants are at turning out pieces. Some grids never reach completion.
One participant submits a starting image to be placed in the center of the grid (though there are variants in which four participants would simultaneously submit/create the corner pieces...advanced GRIDDING...not for pregnant women or those with heart troubles). Four participants then create squares that meld into or connect to that starter square. Once that's completed, the exercise progresses with all participants continuing to connect squares to the previous offerings. It's quite fun if you like that sort of thing.
Conceivably, you could create a grid on a piece of paper, but the grids we'll discuss here are a bit more...civilized. We'll be using Internet. IRC and FTP to be more specific.
The low-down. X number of people meet on IRC with intent to grid. They then set up an FTP directory that all of them can read and write to. With both of these avenues of communication open, it's not difficult to wing the rest. A grid commences. Somebody starts it, we don't care who. People build off of that starter. The process can be orderly or chaotic. You can either pre- determine who'll do what square when....OR you can just use IRC to it's fullest pontential and "call it". Either way you do it, it's best to designate someone as the "compiler" and someone as the "mapper".
The "compiler" will keep a running image of the full-sized grid. That is, they will take all the individual pieces and put them together in the proper configuration...and upload the updates periodically to show the participants how it's turning out. The "mapper" will basically keep an ASCII map of the grid. They'll type up a simple visual aid, like this (a 5x5 grid)...
. . . . . . . B . . . . a C . . . . . . . . . . .....and keep it current. It is suggested to assign each participant letter (we recommend the first letter of their first name) and that you used CAPITAL LETTERS for those grid-pieces that are "in progress" and lower-case letters for those that are complete. In the above example, "a" is a completed piece while "B" and "C" are still working on theirs.
While everyone should keep their own scribbled-out progress map on paper, the "mapper" should be able to cut-and-paste the ASCII map quickly and easily to IRC at a moment's notice.
There are no real rules for GRIDDING, merely guidelines. Adjust what we've given as you see fit. You could (and might need to) have more than four participants, for example. You could (but might NOT want to) have a grid bigger than 5x5. You can do what you want.
Here's one simple way of organizing a grid for four people. (the following instructions assume you're part of the SYNERGY project...ignore those parts if you're not or don't want to be... contact ed@sito.org if you'd like to have a SYNERGY ID)
THE SITO *GRID* INSTRUCTIONS!
In five ("Seven, sir.")..SEVEN...easy steps
THE GOAL: To create a 5x5 grid of connected and collaborative imagery...each square playing off the other, spiralling out from the center impetus. NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2-4 (or more, with some adjustments) (4 is ideal for this model) WINNING CONDITIONS: completion of the grid TOOLS NEEDED: ftp, paint-software, cerebrum, SYNERGY ID OPTIONALS: IRC (#sito), cd-player, printer, food THE PROCEDURE: Say there are four participants: A, B, C, and D.... ---------------------------------- PHASE 1 _______ Here's the starter grid... a b c d e _______________ 1 . . . . . 2 . . . . . 3 . . X . . 4 . . . . . 5 . . . . . X=starter image placed by whoever, predetermined pixel size, square in proportion. We used 128x128 per square for our first grid, culminating in a 640x640 final image. It is recommended that everyone sketch out a grid on paper to keep track of progress for themselves. --------------------------------- PHASE 2 _______ a b c d e _______________ 1 . . . . . 2 . . B . . 3 . A x C . 4 . . D . . 5 . . . . . Everyone downloads the X-image and connects their own 128x128 square to it as shown in this diagram. B on top, C on the right, D on bottom, A on the left...etc. Since all are independent of each other, all can work at the same time. Naming of completed parts will be as follows: c1-B.jpg <---"c1" = coordinates, "-", "B"=replace with SYNERGY ID (three letter ID) (ex: c1-OED.jpg) d3-C.jpg c4-D.jpg b3-A.jpg (note: the "X" is lower-case...from now on in the diagrams, this designates a past-phase) REMEMBER: Wait until everyone's finished with a phase to move on to the next phase. This is important because all images after PHASE 1 are interconnected. --------------------------------- PHASE 3 _______ a b c d e _______________ 1 . . . . . 2 . D b A . 3 . a x c . 4 . C d B . 5 . . . . . Each participant then downloads the images that they connect to. For "A", those images would be: c2-B.jpg and d3-C.jpg. "A" would then make the left and bottom sides of their square meld into the downloaded pieces. Save in the "coordinate-ID" filename structure stated above. --------------------------------- PHASE 4 _______ a b c d e _______________ 1 . . C . . 2 . d b a . 3 B a x c D 4 . c d b . 5 . . A . . (narrator switches from third-person to first-person for remainder of instructions...) You guessed it, just download the image you need to hook up to. Save as stated. --------------------------------- PHASE 5 _______ a b c d e _______________ 1 . A c B . 2 . d b a . 3 b a x c d 4 . c d b . 5 . D a C . Keep going! No one said this would be easy! The rewards are tremendous! --------------------------------- PHASE 6 _______ a b c d e _______________ 1 . a c b . 2 A d b a B 3 b a x c d 4 D c d b C 5 . d a c . I think you're getting the hang of it... --------------------------------- PHASE 7 _______ a b c d e _______________ 1 C a c b D 2 a d b a b 3 b a x c d 4 d c d b c 5 B d a c A You're DONE! Now decide on a name for your grid. Have someone concatenate all the pieces and save the results. It's now ready for viewing. Order a pizza, brag, burp, scratch and send a hard-copy to your favorite cyberspace columnist. This design isn't law or written in any other holy book, you can wrench and grind it to fit your needs. This model, though, should provide each of the four participants a variety of challenges and an equal number of images to work with. ---------------------------------------------------------------- VARIATIONS: "Four-Corners": four starter images, in the corners otherwise the same "Add-On": add onto a pre-existing grid using the 5x5 model, the starter for an Add-On grid would look something like.... (let's assume we're adding to the right side) x x x x x x A b . . . x x x x x x c . . . . x x x x x x B . D . . x x x x x x a . . . . x x x x x x C d . . . A, B, C and D are the fist phase, they would connect to the grid-pieces at their left (from previous grid). Lowercase "a", "b", "c" and "d" represent the second phase. You can figure it out from there. "Linear-Grid": start in one-corner of the grid, then proceed in one direction, one person at a time, until you reach another edge of the grid, then double-back... using the following 3x3 model and assuming that you started in the upper-left square... a b c 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . A1 would be first, then B1, then C1, then C2, then (doubling-back) B2 (which would connect to C2 and B1), then A2 (connected to B2 and A1), then A3, then (doubling-back again) B3 (connected to A3 and B2), then C3 (connected to B3 and C2). Of course, you can change the size and dimensions of the grid to fit your tastes and whims. You can also start in any corner and move either vertically or horizontally.
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