​Poetry the machine writes itself poetry the machine writes itself poetry the machine.

​Join us to explore the rituals, patterns, and poetics that emerge when humans use JavaScript to map meaning through systems of logic.

​In this edition of ChinatownJS, we explore Autopoesia: the machine’s self-poetry. From algorithmic traditions embedded in global design systems, to generative gardens rooted in Fibonacci’s spiral, our speakers will show how code can become a vessel for culture, emotion, and play.

​Come for demos, ideas, and lots of dumplings.

​Program

​LAV
Kolams, Code and Culture — Toward a Universal Pattern Language

​What if pattern systems could speak across cultures without needing translation?
This talk explores how a traditional design systems like Kolams can encode rich, algorithmic logic that connects with other global practices like Islamic geometry and Truchet Tiles. By treating these cultural patterns as knowledge systems rather than artifacts of the past, we can use technology not to explain or flatten them, but to open new pathways for shared learning and creative collaboration. This will be accompanied by breaking down the algorithm that exists in processes as code blocks followed by a demonstration of codified patterns and cross cultural pattern making.

​Christine Kwon
Fibonacci Garden

​Christine’s talk will focus on her 3D interpretation of the Fibonacci sequence using Three.js. She will walk the audience through the origins of her fascination with the series, explain a bit of its history, as well as provide an overview of the research and implementation process. Members of the audience will have an opportunity to generate their own Fibonacci gardens.

​Noushin Radnia
Compositions in Motion: Capturing Time Through Generative Interaction

​“The programs had no end point and could run indefinitely. I would watch the changing image until I saw a composition I liked.”

​– Harold Cohen, creator of AARON

​This talk explores the poetic intersection of computation, composition, and human perception. I’ll share a web-based platform I built where simple geometric elements evolve continuously through algorithmic rules. The piece visualizes time as an invisible yet ever-moving field; one that users can momentarily capture through small gestures like clicking or moving the cursor.
Through this evolving digital canvas, I reflect on how generative systems echo our own presence in time: always changing, occasionally interrupted, and briefly crystallized in moments of attention. The talk will weave together computational drawing, real-time visualization, and the human impulse to frame beauty within flux.