co

A silent live generative net artwork. A two-minute browser-native public apparatus in which ambiguous bodies, routes, windows of time, and signals temporarily produce place.

— Sebastian Suarez-Solis

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Identity

Title	co
Medium	Live generative net artwork; browser-native public apparatus; silent moving image system
Duration	120-second loop
Sound	none
Interaction	none
Stack	TypeScript · Vite · Three.js · WebGL2 · custom shaders
Network at runtime	not required

What it is

co is a public machine making place visible.

Across a fixed two-minute cycle, autonomous luminous agents drift through routed fields, accumulate into temporary co-presence, briefly synchronize into a collective form, and dissolve back into circulation. The work treats place not as a stable site but as a temporary agreement produced by bodies, signals, delays, and shared attention.

It is silent by design. It requires no viewer input. It is not a video.

Two-minute score

Phase	Time	Read
00 — dispersed attention	0:00–0:20	Many things are present, but they have not yet become public.
01 — routing appears	0:20–0:45	The system is beginning to route attention.
02 — co-presence thickens	0:45–1:15	Place is being produced by relation, not by architecture alone.
03 — rare synchronization	1:15–1:40	A public system briefly becomes collective.
04 — dénouement	1:40–2:00	Place was temporary, but not imaginary.

Run locally

npm install
npm run dev          # development server, http://127.0.0.1:5173/
npm run build        # static build into dist/
npm run preview      # preview the built bundle

After npm run build, the contents of dist/ are a fully static, network-free bundle. You can serve them from any local HTTP server.

cd dist
python3 -m http.server 4173 --bind 127.0.0.1
# open http://127.0.0.1:4173/

Enter fullscreen with the browser's standard fullscreen shortcut. The work has no audio. It expects no input. It loops every 120 seconds.

URL parameters

flag	default	effect
?mode=exhibition	exhibition	default presentation mode, no HUD, no cursor
?mode=debug	—	shows the diagnostic HUD (phase, t, density, sync, signals)
?mode=capture	—	exposes the deterministic time-scrubbing API for offline capture
?seed=co-v1.0.0	co-v1.0.0	seeds the deterministic generator
?duration=120	120	cycle length in seconds
?quality=high|med|low	high	agent count + DPR cap
?t=NN	0	start the cycle N seconds in (useful for stills)

Example: http://127.0.0.1:4173/?mode=debug&t=68&seed=co-v1.0.0 jumps directly to the moment of the major synchronization event.

Browser requirements

• WebGL2 (any current Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge)
• 1080p display recommended; the visual grammar adapts to any aspect ratio
• No audio output required
• No keyboard or pointer input required after launch

Determinism

co runs on a seeded deterministic macrostructure. Each cycle takes exactly 120 seconds. Each seed produces the same dramaturgical arc and the same agent population, while preserving small per-frame jitter so the system remains "alive." The default seed co-v1.0.0 is the canonical reference cycle.

Capture / offline rendering

# Render a 1920×1080 webm of one full cycle:
node scripts/record.mjs \
  --url 'http://127.0.0.1:4173/?seed=co-v1.0.0' \
  --out ./out/co_v1.0.0.webm \
  --duration 120 --width 1920 --height 1080

The recording uses Puppeteer's CDP screencast against a real headless WebGL2 context, so the captured artifact reflects the work's actual frame pacing — not a pre-baked animation.

Project structure

co/
├── index.html
├── package.json
├── vite.config.ts
├── README.md
├── src/
│   ├── main.ts
│   ├── engine/        # clock, seed, params, renderer
│   ├── scene/         # camera, scene, post
│   ├── systems/       # agents, routes, windows, signals, placeFields, dramaturgy
│   ├── shaders/       # agent / route / window vert+frag
│   └── styles/
└── scripts/
    ├── record.mjs     # one-shot WebM capture
    ├── render.mjs     # frame-stepped PNG sequence (slower, deterministic)
    └── debug.mjs      # single diagnostic screenshot

What co is not

co is not a subway map. It is not a transit diagram. It is not a commuter scene. It is not a control dashboard. It is not a generic particle screensaver. It is not an AI-fantasy of a station.

It is a public apparatus producing place, not a picture of public space.

Credits

co by Sebastian Suarez-Solis · 2026 Built with Three.js, Vite, TypeScript, and a lot of black.