First stop: Lugano

Monolith

An ape found a monolith once. Things got interesting after that.

This one travels.

Put an ape on a cloud. The ape's DNA sets the starting pattern, and Conway's Game of Life takes it from there. No two apes get the same one.

Meet here. Move on. Leave a trace.

Nervape figures beside the glowing Monolith slab

Logbook · Stop 01 · Lugano

Who camped here

One tent for every ape that checked in here. Hover or tap a tent to see its pattern on the Monolith. Open one for its record.

Some apes got here early. Everyone else, see you at the first stop.

Drag to turn

DNA—

Series—

Color—

Patterns

Checked in at Lugano

Loading…

Villa Ciani, Room 215 · October 23–24, 2026

Every ape's pattern runs five to ten frames. It plays forward, then back, for as long as the ape stays on the cloud.

From the Nervape Studio

The making

00

Start to finish

Three months of work, one minute of video.

Sketch, then model — 01

Sketch, then model

It started as a drawing. Then a 3D model.

Print, solder, test, repeat — 02

Print, solder, test, repeat

Frames, blocks, and covers, all printed first. The circuit board, soldered by hand. Does the signal get through? Do the parts fit? Test, fix, do it again.

One master, ten molds — 03

One master, ten molds

One block, printed as the master. Does the resin wrap the light cleanly? Can the air get out? Nobody counted the masters that failed. The one that worked made ten molds.

One module, 150 times — 04

One module, 150 times

Print the frame. Solder the light. Pour, demold, trim. Hundreds of copper tabs, bent one by one. 900 connections. One loose, nothing lights up.

The frame — 05

The frame

Top and bottom covers, cut from acrylic by CNC, with channels for the signal lines. Brass rods set into the rails. Then everything wired in.

First light — 06

First light

Everything together. The first ape on a cloud. Fifteen columns came up at once. The shape on the Monolith was nobody's design.