Breed
Pass on the thing and its rule; each maker changes the rule a little; stop after five passes.
A knitting chart handed on with one row rewritten each time.
Seen in Karl Sims, Genetic Images, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and Ars Electronica, Linz, 1993
Try it on your work
Write a three-step rule for folding a piece of paper and fold one by it. Hand paper and rule to the next person, who changes one step and folds a new one. Stop after five folds; lay them out in order.
Write a rule for a sentence ("eight words, one colour, no verbs") and write the sentence. The next writer changes one condition and writes again. Stop after five sentences; read the first and the last side by side.
A group plays a game whose rules are written on a slip of paper. After each round the winner changes one rule on the slip, and nobody may change it back. Stop after five rounds.
How it has been used
Pass on the thing together with the rule that made it, and let the next maker change the rule a little before using it: the drawing with its instruction, the pattern with its knitting chart, the image with the code that drew it. After five passes neither the thing nor the rule is what it was. The move forbids a master rule: nobody may restore the original instruction.
Where it leads
Grouped under Let it respond to what happens