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We analyse works of digital art that use a technique from artificial life (ALife) called computational ecosystems (CEs). These are systems running on computers where agents are organized in a hierarchical structure (of a food-chain) and trade token units (of energy and biomass) as a way of promoting community dynamics. We analyse a collection of forty (40) papers communicating works developed in the last two decades. We classify each of these works according to an adapted taxonomy. We then produce a study of cumulative analysis to outline patterns and common features which might define the field. We conclude on the diversity and heterogeneity of the practice, to assert CEs as a multimedia generative tool useful in the construction of bio-mimicking ecosystems as well as in the animation of non-player characters (NPCs) with human-like behaviors in virtual words.

DECLARATIONI hereby declare that I composed this thesis entirely myself and that it describes my own research.Rui Filipe Nicolau Lima Antunes 10th of October, 2013 2 This research is an exploration of issues surrounding the artistic production of Computational Ecosystems. A Computational Ecosystem is a system of agents designed to emulate, in the computer, biological systems where autonomous individuals are organized in a hierarchical food chain and interact by trading units of energy. This thesis maps out this field and examines the modes of production and functions of these systems. The central claim is focused on how the narratives normally associated with these systems and their functioning are two complementary, but separate entities. By virtue of considering these separately the computational ecosystem is argued to be an abstract generative engine for heterogeneity, spontaneity, and even novelty. It is contended that the set of methods of production developed by exploratory artists using these artefacts might be instrumentalized as generative methods for the animation of general purpose non-player characters in virtual worlds.

We study the use of the generative systems known as computational ecosystems to convey artistic and narrative aims. These are virtual worlds running on computers, composed of agents that trade units of energy and emulate cycles of life and behaviors adapted from biological life forms. In this article we propose a conceptual framework in order to understand these systems, which are involved in processes of authorship and interpretation that this investigation analyzes in order to identify critical instruments for artistic exploration. We formulate a model of narrative that we call system stories (after Mitchell Whitelaw), characterized by the dynamic network of material and conceptual processes that define these artefacts. They account for narrative constellations with multiple agencies from which meaning and messages emerge. Finally, we present three case studies to explore the potential of this model within an artistic and generative domain, arguing that this understanding expands and enriches the palette of the language of these systems.