THE GAME OF LIFE DENISE SWEATER

A boxy colourwork sweater designed using mathematician John Horton Conway’s cellular automaton the Game of Life and using the name ‘Denise’ as a ‘seed.’

ABOUT

John Horton Conway invented the Game of Life in 1970 using the pieces and grid of a Go board, but today the game is easily accessed and played online. The Game of Life is constructed out of just three simple rules that once set in motion develop into incredible patterns and shapes that can go on indefinitely or die off in a few moves.   The “game” consists of creating your own “seed” (usually a shape) and simply observing it (move, grow, transform) as it responds automatically to the rules of the game. Despite its simplicity, there is no algorithmic way of predicting definitely what will happen; whether something will die off in the next move or go on for dozens more generations. The patterns in the Game of Life Denise Sweater are all taken from observing the seed ‘Denise’ over the course of hundreds of moves/generations. Similarly, a knitting pattern is also a kind of seed. A pattern is always in a state of potential, and its reality will be determined by the choices, skill, knowledge, and time available to the knitter. There are so many possible variables: the fibre used (animal, cellulose, synthetic), the clarity of the pattern, the ability of the knitter, the size, colours, mistakes, modifications, tension, etc. There is the potential for an infinite number of iterations! However, the Game of Life Denise Sweater is not a usual knitting pattern, as there are no repeated motifs throughout the pattern. This project requires a tremendous amount of patience as the knitter cannot anticipate the next “move.” On the other hand, the knitter always has the freedom to go rogue, and invent their own move.

'The Game of Life Denise Sweater' pattern was created for the 'Craft Parlour' Publication, co-published by Western Front and Peripheral Review

Description:
While in residence at Western Front, artist Rebecca La Marre facilitated a six-part workshop series that brought together a cohort of ten interdisciplinary artists—Rosamunde Bordo, Amelia Butcher, Xinwei Che, Hannah Crosson, Sun Forest, Amy Gogarty, Chloë p.f. Lalonde, Christian Newby, Emiliano Sepulveda, and Julia Wong. Selected through an open call, the group met monthly from October 2023 to April 2024 to explore craft, contemporary art, and art writing, with a focus on writing as a tactile, material practice. The sessions combined shared research and hands-on exercises, and were enriched by guest contributors Rob Froese, Danny Kostyshin, Sharon Kivland, and A Jamali Rad.

The publication features original contributions by La Marre and the workshop participants, offering further insight into the ideas and processes that shaped the project.

The publication launched on July 3, 2025 at the opening reception for Rebecca La Marre’s solo exhibition Craft Parlour in Western Front’s library, in conjunction with the Vancouver Art Book Fair. 

https://www.peripheralreview.com/product/craft-parlour-publication/

https://westernfront.ca/archives/get/ca_occurrences/3439

Play the Game of Life online:

https://playgameoflife.com/