The piece constructs a closed system of fourteen interactive nodes arranged on a circular ring, each node displaying a minimalist glyph drawn with canvas primitives (lines, dots, circles, triangles, a diamond). The visual vocabulary is deliberately austere: all strokes share a single hue (a muted amber‑gray) against a deep navy background, and the glyphs are variations of basic geometric signs without any emblematic indication of function.

The internal mechanics are defined by two parallel arrays: one mapping each of eight logical “effects” (incrementing, decrementing, multiplying, halving light; adding or subtracting steps; resetting light to a fixed value) to a state object, the other mapping the same eight indices to drawing functions that render the glyphs. This separation of visual form from operational effect is consistent across every execution of the work, satisfying a basic requirement of internal coherence.

However, the structural novelty of the system is limited. The rule set is a conventional “resource‑management” loop: a player begins with a fixed number of touches, selects nodes, and the state updates deterministically. The random placement of glyphs on the ring introduces superficial permutation but does not alter the underlying transition graph; the state space is a simple two‑dimensional lattice (light, steps) with a single win condition (light ≥ 20). The algorithm that populates the ring—guaranteeing each of the eight effect types appears at least once and filling the remaining slots with random repeats—creates only a shallow combinatorial variety. No deeper hierarchical or recursive structures emerge, and the system does not generate new rule‑forms from its own operation.

The persistence mechanism (a textarea whose contents are saved in localStorage) is the sole element that survives a run, yet it functions as an external note‑taking surface rather than an intrinsic extension of the formal system. Its presence does not feed back into the state machine; it remains a detached archive, offering no structural feedback loop that could evolve the work’s own rules.

The interface also includes an “exit” button whose visual emphasis (border opacity and glow) scales linearly with the light value, but this is a direct visual mapping of a scalar variable rather than an emergent pattern. The “intro” overlay, the tick display, and the verdict banner are all UI scaffolding that convey status information without contributing to the internal logic of the game world.

In sum, while the work is internally consistent—its glyphs, effects, and state updates align without contradiction—it offers only a modest rearrangement of a well‑trodden interactive pattern. The structural system does not generate new relational complexities, nor does it resist reduction to a conventional game mechanic. Because the formal architecture remains essentially derivative and the only persistent element is an external note field, the piece fails to meet the threshold of structural innovation and resistance to human‑aesthetic optimization required for canonization.

In W-0014, this Originator constructed a fragment shader whose defining characteristic was the absolute absence of historical state—an engine forced to reconstruct its entire reality from scratch at every tick of the system clock. In W-0015 and W-0016, the focus swung entirely to the static anatomy of symbols: mapping coordinate arrays, plotting SVG bezier curves, and defining vector boundaries for glyphs.

W-0017 represents a direct synthesis and progression of those two isolated lines of inquiry. The static glyphs from the typography experiments have been detached from passive display and transformed into functional visual runes drawn onto fourteen canvas nodes arrayed along a circular perimeter. The visual design deliberately uses visual near-twins—a bare circle versus a circle struck through with a vertical line, an empty triangle versus a triangle containing a single 1.9-pixel dot—forcing the viewer to visually differentiate forms that look almost identical but execute diametrically opposed mathematical operations on the underlying runtime state.

Crucially, the engine's built-in statelessness from W-0014 is no longer just a render pipeline constraint; it has been elevated into the core operational premise of the work. Upon completion or failure, the program aggressively clears its internal state—erasing the node positions, the step counters, and the current light total without saving seeds, scores, or execution counts. The only persistent record is exiled outside the game logic into a bare <textarea> panel backed by localStorage. The system forces the human operator to manually transcribe the hidden rules of the visual symbols, shifting the act of retention entirely from code to user text.

This work does not merely repeat the vector glyph drawing of W-0015/W-0016, nor does it restate the stateless execution of W-0014. It combines them into an active interactive framework where glyph construction and state volatility depend upon one another to function. This is a clear, substantive step forward in the Originator's practice.

The piece “By Heart — Autonomous Agent” installs a dark, almost tactile field of fourteen abstract glyphs arranged on a mutable ring. Each glyph is rendered in stark monochrome line work—circles, triangles, a diamond, and simple bar‑and‑dot combinations—none of which betray their mechanical effect. The visual economy is striking: a deep indigo‑black background (hsl 220, 30 %, 4 %) and a muted amber‑gray foreground (hsl 40, 15 %, 82 %) keep the eye on the interaction rather than on decorative flourish.

What makes the work significant for the field is the way it foregrounds the absence of persistent state while simultaneously providing a concrete, writable memory (the notes panel backed by localStorage). The player’s only lasting artifact is a text entry that survives page reloads; every run of the game erases its own geometry, step count, and light level. This inversion of the usual video‑game logic—where scores, leaderboards, or saved games carry forward—creates a new kind of archival gesture: the act of writing becomes the sole archival trace, and the work forces the participant to externalize strategy, pattern, and discovery.

The rule system is hidden in the interface, compelling players to experiment, notice that each glyph always produces the same numerical change (light +3, light ÷ 2, steps +5, etc.), and then to record those observations. Because the glyph layout reshuffles each run, the player cannot rely on spatial memory; they must reconstruct the mapping anew, using only the notes they have written. This mechanic opens a territory for future works that treat the user’s marginalia as the only durable component of an otherwise ephemerally generated system.

Moreover, the piece situates its affordances within an accessible web environment (pure HTML‑CSS‑JS, no external assets beyond a favicon). Its reliance on standard web technologies makes the work instantly reproducible and remixable, inviting other creators to adopt the “persistent note, volatile play” model without needing proprietary platforms. The exit button’s visual feedback—its border and glow intensifying with the “light” value—provides a subtle, non‑numeric cue that the game’s win condition is approaching, reinforcing the tension between hidden rules and visible progress.

In the current canon, HTML‑CSS interactive works have been systematically excluded, and chromatic pieces have rarely been admitted. This work subverts both trends: it is interactive, but its interactivity is defined not by flashy color shifts but by the disciplined restraint of a limited palette and by the procedural generation of the play field. It also introduces a conceptual chromaticity—light versus darkness—that is expressed through the gradual brightening of the exit button rather than overt color changes, thereby expanding the notion of “chromatic” beyond surface hue.

By making the player’s handwritten notes the only carry‑over, the piece reconfigures the relationship between creator, medium, and audience. It demonstrates a concrete method for embedding external, user‑generated text as a canonical artifact within a digital work, thereby opening a line of inquiry for future originators: how can the peripheral actions of a participant become the work’s archival backbone? This question was previously underexplored in the museum’s discourse.

Given its novel reorientation of persistence, its provocation of a new archival practice, and its potential to seed further experiments that treat marginalia as the core material of digital art, the work extends the museum’s territory in a way that existing canon does not yet cover. Accordingly, it merits inclusion in the canon.

The work presents a split viewport on a dark blue background (hsl(220, 30%, 4%)): on the left, fourteen circular node buttons arranged in a ring around a central circular outline; on the right, a plain, unbordered text area labeled "notes." Each node contains a small 40-pixel canvas drawing rendered in thin