It’s a simulation of a million beings who live, find each other, bond, fight, breed and die. Each being a basic atom of consciousness - asking every frame; what do I see, where do I go.

I have been very inspired by the world of biosim, artificial life. It’s a largely academic field, I am interested in it because it’s beautiful.

The show opened with a small cohort and grew toward a million across the five days, the whole drama unfolding out of Beethoven’s Ninth stretched to around 12 hours.

When the music goes low, war can break out; when it turns bright, gravity drops, they can fly. A basic fight/flight mechanism. Because it never stops running, extinction is always possible.

I’ve wanted to make this one for a long time. It’s still in progress.

Here are a few photographs from the run.

Me talking it through with Maike Mia Hohne, who directs the festival, a great friend for almost 20 years.

Colour is used to reflect state. Every one of them is feeling something and wears it. Joy, grief, pain etc. Still experimenting with this.

If you came, thank you. Watching people watch it was the best part of the whole thing, and I learned so much. More soon.

- David

Photographs by Alex Large & Claudia Höhne.

It’s been a while.

I went quiet for a few years to make something. The thing I would have written instead was cope - sorting out what level of automation feels acceptable. I’m done with that.

EACHOTHER is a living simulation. One million beings. They are born, they reach out to others, they have children, they let them go. They die alone unless they find each other.

From a million individual decisions, patterns emerge that could never be designed.

You don’t die - everyone else does, and you bear witness.

This idea began a decade ago. An image in my mind, I couldnt get rid of, that felt essential. I almost gave up many times.

It previews next week in Hamburg, at the 42. Kurzfilm Festival. June 3–7, on a large LED wall, free, all day. Music by Beethoven.

If you’re in Europe and want to come see it, write back. If you’re far away, next thing you’ll hear is how it went.

- David