lifeSigns: Eco-System of Signs & Symbols

The nature of the computers as a machine for processing symbolic logic is widely recognised. However, they also have the potential to ‘generate meaning’ through these same processes, particularly in the domain of constructed, artificial worlds that exist in terms of their own logic and codes. An interdisciplinary model for meaning generation is articulated via the intersection of artificial life and generative systems, computational semiotics, and digital games. This model may be described as a ‘generative meaning system’. A digital media art installation entitled lifeSigns, an ecosystem of signs and symbols, is presented as a prototypical generative meaning system. This work is a multiplayer digital game set in a world of iconic lifeforms, called ‘lifeSigns’, that make up an abstract world of form, colour and movement.