Artificial life · Installed

A living world,
on the wall.

ProtoTanks are integrated artificial‑life installations. A frameless display, a dedicated computer and ProtoOS bring a population of Protobytes into your space. Their forms grow from genomes. Their lives unfold as the ecosystem runs.

Request a private consultation See the ecosystem
A ProtoTank display: a population of Protobytes swimming above a sandy seabed
ProtoTank · communal ecosystem · rehearsal capture

01 · The ecosystem

Not a video.
A population.

Each Protobyte's form is grown by code from a genome of forty‑four numbers. Its appearance also depends on its coat, its movement and its environment. The installed ecosystem runs as a simulation. Its creatures are generated by code; no image model draws them.

Creatures gain and spend energy, breed, age and die. Seasons change the pressures of their ecological niches. Births, deaths and inherited genomes are recorded in the ecosystem ledger.

Wide view of the ProtoTank ecosystem: Protobytes of many body plans over a seabed of sand, grasses and coral
An uninterrupted view of the ecosystem · rehearsal capture

02 · The system

One integrated
acquisition.

A ProtoTank is acquired whole. Software, founding specimen, hardware and installation are specified together, installed by us, and commissioned in place. Nothing is sold separately.

  1. 01

    ProtoOS

    Our evolutionary software environment, built on the protoWorld engine. It coordinates genetics, development, selection, seasons and the ecosystem record, and runs on the dedicated computer inside every installation.

  2. 02

    A founding Protobyte, with certificate

    Each installation includes a designated founding Protobyte and an artist‑issued certificate. The certificate records its genome fingerprint and its introduction to your ecosystem. Its lineage descends from it.

  3. 03

    The installation

    A frameless display and a dedicated computer, delivered as one integrated system, installed and calibrated in your space. Displays are part of the package and are never supplied on their own.

  4. 04

    A living ecosystem

    A changing population of genome‑grown creatures, unique and generative, installed in your room. Hardware, software use and support are set out in the acquisition agreement.

03 · Specimens

Grown, not drawn.

Studies made with the Protobyte renderers. Portraits explore form, light and material at a different scale from the living tank, and studio interpretations can include additional detail. Body plan, cross‑section, surface, pattern, appendages, warp and gait are all genes.

Detail of a pale green Protobyte with a spiralled body and sail‑like fins against a dark nebula
Studio study · detail
A pink and gold coiled Protobyte trailing fine cilia
Studio study · coiled form
A lilac lobed Protobyte suspended in blue‑grey water
Studio study · lobed form
A pink and copper Protobyte above a pale seabed
Studio study · benthic form
A pale lilac Protobyte with folded appendages above a light seabed
Studio study · folded form
A folded pink, yellow and white translucent Protobyte against a dark background
Studio interpretation · translucent form

04 · Provenance

A recorded beginning.

Each founding specimen is issued with an artist's certificate. It records the genome fingerprint and the specimen's introduction to your ecosystem.

The genome identifies its inherited form. The ledger records its life and lineage. Recreating its appearance also requires the recorded rendering inputs, which are retained with the certificate.

ProtoTanks · Certificate of Authenticity Illustrative certificate · rehearsal specimen
Portrait of the specimen Chordozoa sinuosa, a violet Protobyte with radiating curved appendages Fig. 1 — The living animal, in vivo

Chordozoa sinuosa

Body plan
Radial, undulator gait
Fingerprint
26f4682a06f0f684acadd589fc3def5df8cfea07358321210b4b655d0a1e5056
Released
Completed at commissioning
Collector
Completed at commissioning
Example shown from a rehearsal render. The fingerprint identifies the recorded genome. Release and collector details are completed at commissioning. Ira Greenberg · del.

Heredity is real

A resident organism rendered from its genome
The genomea resident, grown from its numbers
The same genome with only the hue gene changed
One gene changed — hueevery other number identical
The same genome with only the curl gene changed
One gene changed — curlthe same body, rolled by a single value

A single gene change can produce a visible difference. Breeding carries inherited traits into new forms.

05 · Installations

Where a ProtoTank lives.

A ProtoTank reads as a window rather than a screen: frameless, edge to edge, lit from within by the water. Each one is specified for its room. Format, power, connectivity and service requirements are agreed during consultation, from a vertical display in a residence to a wide view in a lobby.

Illustrative installation formats

Illustrative vertical ProtoTank display showing a single pale green Protobyte
ResidenceVertical · specimen view
Illustrative landscape ProtoTank display showing an ecosystem
BoardroomLandscape · ecosystem view
Illustrative ultra‑wide ProtoTank display showing an ecosystem horizon
LobbyUltra‑wide · horizon view

06 · Beyond the wall

A system that
keeps growing.

Every ProtoTank is complete on the day it is commissioned. Options are discussed during consultation. The installation specification records the functions included at commissioning and the support available afterwards.

07 · Lineage

Protobytes, since 2004.

ProtoTanks extends the work of artist and creative technologist Ira Greenberg, whose research in artificial life and creative computing spans more than twenty‑five years. He began the Protobyte series in 2004: artificial creatures, recursive and vascular, grown by code. The series became the root of two decades of work across generative code, artificial life and painting.

Greenberg wrote Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art (2007), one of the first comprehensive books on Processing, and served on the Processing 1.0 development team. He directs the Center of Creative Computation at Southern Methodist University and holds a visiting research position at Goldsmiths, University of London. His work has been shown with Feral File, Bright Moments, expanded.art and Gazelli Art House.

The living world behind ProtoTanks is being developed for protoWorld, a planned exhibition with Gray Area and Modal in San Francisco.

An early Protobyte: a dense recursive line drawing made by code
Protobyte · 2004 · generative code
Vermibyte gracilis, a magenta Protobyte with a sail‑like body, rendered from its genome by the world's own renderer
Vermibyte gracilis · 2026 · world specimen render

08 · Enquire

Pricing on request.

Each ProtoTank is specified to its room. Write to us with the space you have in mind, and we will arrange a private consultation.

ira@ij8.ai

  1. ConsultationRoom, sightlines, light and audience.
  2. SpecificationFormat, display, computer, ecosystem, support.
  3. InstallationDelivered and installed by us.
  4. CommissioningThe founding specimen is released. The world begins.

ProtoTanks is led by artist Ira Greenberg. Each acquisition is governed by its agreed specification and terms.