Public Art in Minecraft

Official project documentation

The concept behind this project was somewhat inspired by crop circles. These mysterious patterns in fields crop up overnight, created by unknown artists (or as many assume... aliens). Many have marvelled, questioned, dismissed or enjoyed them, wondering what the purpose is, who made them, and how. My idea was to visit public Minecraft servers and secretly travel to locations that have established communities (towns, cities, farms) and leave similar artistic designs, patterns, sculptures or other public modifications for them to discover later.

I preferred to create my installations as close to the spawn point (game starting location) as I could, for the most exposure. I tried to be as secret as I could, working often when there weren't many players around. I used a hacked client to help aid in some aspects, such as enabling flying or nearby player detection to speed up explorations and building my artworks without detection. I recorded the entire time, in order to catch any reactions while I was making the designs and afterwards. I was curious if my creations would be met with annoyance, awe, intrigue or no interest at all.

Crop Circles

One of the public pieces was directly inspired by crop circles. The design I ended up creating is the Water Tribe symbol from Avatar: The Last Airbender. As such, I wanted the design to be underwater, preferably near a waterside civilization. Luckily after much exploration, I came across a perfect town and got to work.

Designing the Crop Circles

One of the challenges in Minecraft is working with circular patterns. I had to use several curvature and circle guides for pixelated works (such as cross-stitching patterns) to convert the symbol to Minecraft. I also made the final design out of embedded glowstone, so the symbol was visible from land.

Building this symbol was difficult as it required me to be underwater for extended periods of time, as well as needing a lot of glowstone from the Nether. To handle the water, I ended up enchanting a water-breathing armor as well as using air-bubble tricks in the game. I also used the hacked client to let me see underwater without the need for light.

Water Wall

Water Wall was simple in concept and yet one of the most impactful installation. For what is essentially a curtain of falling water, the wall is hundreds of feet tall and spans the width of a valley, cutting cleanly through a populated area close to the spawn point on one server. This piece recieved the most recorded reactions of all my pieces.

Designing the Water Wall

I wanted to make a very large, looming structure, but I didn't want it to take much time to make and preferred it not be too obstructive. The solution was to build it out of falling water, which is quick to apply (gravity takes over) and didn't block sunlight or even passage through the area. I also designed the base of the structure to capture the falling water without leaving a mess, creating a clean wall top to bottom.

By shortening the build process with water usage, I ensured that I wouldn't be disturbed by anyone until the product was finished. All I had to do to build this wall was create a line of wood or similar building blocks, stemming from one of the cliffs; I then simply place water source blocks all along that line I built.

I wanted to find a location that would suit a big wall the best, and what better than a valley surrounded by tall cliffs or mountains. Building it was quick and easy, but not exactly private and it was very easily seen from spawn (where most of these screenshots were taken).

Hole in the World

A significant aspect of Minecraft is digging, the mining for resources. One can find an endless amount of holes all over Minecraft, past explorations and expeditions by the many players on a server. I decided to make a hole that is built in a perfectly symettrical circle, goes straight down as far as you can, and doesn't seem to have a purpose to it. I made it purely to inspire questioning and curiosity.

Digging the Hole in the World

This installation took the longest of all of my creations. I was banned from two servers mid-creation for automatic detections that I was flying (to get in and out of my hole). I worked only during night time, and tried my best to be undetected during the digging. I crouched to make my name invisible to other users and used a hacked client to detect when people were approaching my dig site.

I also covered the top in grass in dirt to hide the fact that there was a hole. I also had to isolate the water in the river to prevent it from spilling in during the initial digging, before I covered the hole up above me.

The final installation was right by spawn, in the middle of a river. I felt that creating a hole in a river was even more shocking and questionable compared to making a hole on land, like everyone else. Unfortunately, unlike my designs in a creative sandbox, I couldn't dig through bedrock and create a black hole. It was an effective and intriguing effect nevertheless.

Public Reaction and Vandalism

While the Water Wall had more verbal reactions, this project recieved more physical responses. Each day, I came back to this spot to see if it was still there, and every time I found it surrounded by different effects.

The hole itself was never covered or damaged, perhaps because it is easier for vandalizers to destroy built things than to fill empty areas. People added visitors logs, a swastika, and even a "renovation" involving fencing off the hole.

Infinite Fountain

The idea behind this installation was inspired the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, a large beanstalk that climbs into the heavens. With a height limit of 256 blocks (over 700 feet altitude), it is possible to build something in Minecraft tall and thin enough that it just fades off into the vertical distance.

Building the Infinite Fountain

To create a fountain, I just needed one source block olaced high in the sky. However, to make it truly appear like only falling water from an unknown source, I had to dig away the tower I built to get the water up there in the first place.

I wanted to find a location that would highlight a thin stream of water well, and happened upon this farm community, which naturally sits on flat land. I was able to build it overnight, so I'm sure the returning players would experience a similar effect to real life farmers finding crop circles on their property.