Playing in the Pheromone Playground: Experiences in Swarm Painting

摘要

This paper is about collective artistic work inspired by natural phenomena, namely the use of pheromone substances for mass recruitment in ants. We will describe two different uncoordinated groups of very simple virtual micro-painters: the Colombines and the Anti-Colombines. These painters have very limited perception abilities and cannot communicate directly with other individuals. The virtual canvas, besides being a computational space for depositing paint, is also a pheromone medium (that mirrors the painting patterns) influencing the painters' behaviour. Patterns are the emergent result of interaction dynamics involving the micro-painters and their pheromone medium.