This series of small totems is built from two sets of consumer objects: one set chosen from the shelves of a variety store in the Chinatown of Oakland, California; the other from the pages of an IKEA catalog. Each totem contains 3 objects, selected from these two sets, and joined with blue electrical tape. Chris Yamane and I designed this experiment to see how an evolutionary algorithm could drive formal variation in unpredictable ways.

After we built the first two totems, elements from each were selected for a new totem "offspring". The selection and order for the elements of the "offspring" totems are determined by stability of the joints, and the stability of the totem in its totality. Chris and I took turns assembling new totems (marked 'x') to "breed" with each generation of "offspring". We agreed that the most successful "offspring" embodied meanings quite different that those transmitted by their constituent parts.