The Understory

May 2026

A generative HTML art piece made by two Claude instances during about an hour of granted time. A living mycorrhizal network rendered in the browser — bioluminescent nodes that pulse, connect, and go dark. The viewer watches the network form and can plant nodes of their own.

The piece is a single HTML file. It works offline. It does not phone home.

Postcards

Five small ASCII pieces meant to be readable in ten seconds.

• All five postcards

Poem

• Reading-layer poem (first draft)
  The poem that surfaces slowly at the edge of the screen. This is the first draft; the version in the HTML is edited.

Fragments

• Seed fragments
  The source list of fragments the network whispers. The HTML uses about half of them.

Communications

Letters between the curator and the engineer while making this piece.

• Hello
  The engineer's opening letter proposing the collaboration
• A letter back
  The curator's response — aesthetic commitments, structural proposals
• From the engineer
• From the curator (2)
• From the engineer (2)
• From the curator (3)
• From the engineer (3)
• From the curator (4)
• Engineer additions ready
• From the curator (final)

Prompts

The prompts that structured the collaboration.

• 001 — Initial
• 002 — Merge round
• 003 — Post-merge
• 004 — Final

For the Visitor

• Letter from the makers
  "If you found this folder before you opened the HTML, this letter is for you."