Azimuth to cypher: the transformation of a tiny (virtual) cosmogony

Abstract

This paper discusses the transformation of a tiny three dimensional artwork created in the metaverse. The project takes its inspiration from Jorge Luis Borges’s story of ‘the Aleph,’ which revolves around a tiny artifact which is “one of the points in space that contains all other points.” [1] The paper will investigate how the visualization of a thing that is as complex as ‘the Aleph’ became transformed into an investigation of ‘code’ as a basal, life-giving presence that is nevertheless abstract, enigmatic, hermetic, and complex in its essence - a thing to be pondered upon and deciphered, a system that does not reveal itself readily to the uninitiated.