In Conversation with Jacoba

Licia He , in collaboration with Claudia Hart , 2026

In Conversation with Jacoba is a generative art program by Licia He and Claudia Hart, created for Hart's room-sized installation titled Empire Failure. Commissioned by the Boijmans Museum , this work is presented as part of the Pixel Pioneers exhibition, and on view until 13th of September 2026.

Follow @Licia_He, Claudia Hart for project updates.

In Conversation with Jacoba is a visual-generating system that depicts the recurring patterns of empires. Initially titled "Flow of History" and "The Jacoba Algorithm", this work investigates the shared trajectories of entities in history, from monumental empires to fleeting individuals. In Conversation with Jacoba unfolds as an abstract animation of intricate, reflective, and vibrant geometries.

The algorithm opened up a conversation among three female artists. Jacoba van Heemskerck (1876–1923), Claudia Hart, and Licia He contributed to this algorithm collaboratively through words, visuals, code, concepts, ideas, and life stories. As Hart wrote, "that shared trajectory matters. We did not simply divide labor between artist and technician — we built something together that neither of us could have built alone, breathing new life into a woman the art world had set aside. The collaboration was also an act of solidarity: a younger woman and an older one, finding each other across a generation, doing for Jacoba what we hope others will one day do for us."

Installation Rendering by Claudia Hart, music by Kurt Hentschlager.

This project page documents the In Conversation with Jacoba generative system. The collaborative nature of this project means that my documentation is part of the big picture. For a comprehensive view of this work, please visit Pixel Pioneer Exhibition at Boijmans Museum.

Background

In September 2025, Claudia sent me a message through social media. We had a video call the next day. There was an immediate creative chemistry between us, and the conversation quickly turned into a collaboration. Boijmans Museum commissioned Claudia to create a large-scale installation, not only showcasing her signature works (such as The Dolls), but also exhibiting a collection of new works in various formats. She envisioned including an algorithmic piece like System Madness (a generative system made collaboratively by Claudia Hart and Andrew Blanton in 2023.)

Since our very first meeting, we knew that the conversation involves another woman. Jacoba van Heemskerck (1876–1923) was a Dutch artist who was ahead of her time. Despite her prominence in the Berlin avant-garde, she was nearly forgotten by art history until her rediscovery in recent decades. We decided to study her works, creating an algorithm that draws inspiration from Jacoba's abstract stained-glass pieces, specifically the following works that share the title Composition: Composition (1920), Composition (1918), and Composition (1920). Claudia decided to add Jacoba as a collaborator not only because Jacoba's visionary form of abstraction is deeply inspiring, but also to make this collaboration an act of solidarity. As Claudia wrote, "Jacoba was also our collaborator. She is present in the work — a conversation across time, insisting she be heard."

Over the course of this seven-month collaboration, Claudia and I developed a visual generation algorithm through ongoing discussions and iterative experimentation, which ultimately manifested across multiple formats and became embedded throughout the Empire Failure installation. A 2.7 x 2 meter projection in the central spot of the installation plays an animation created by the In Conversation with Jacoba algorithm, surrounded by Claudia's signature full-room wall paper art. The main room is covered with a custom-printed carpet generated from the algorithm's outputs. The installation also includes three boxed digital paintings: custom-built frames that combine Claudia's mixed-process paintings with a digital screen displaying animations by In Conversation with Jacoba.

Concept

In Conversation with Jacoba narrates a cycle of decay and renewal. Similar to other elements in the Empire Failure installation, this algorithmic piece illustrates a Hegelian notion of history: early stage, growth, decadence, and collapse. Following this theme, we decided to create a cyclical animation generator that has clear stages. Each iteration of the animation is visually distinct while maintaining consistent starting and ending points.

Jacoba's stained-glass pieces were the main inspiration for In Conversation with Jacoba. We studied Jacoba's stained-glass pieces to understand the main visual elements and style. Through these studies, we abstracted several key visual elements as the main characters of this algorithm, notably the "Eyes" and "Waves".

In each cycle (which I called "Era") of the animation, , we want to create scenes in which the eyes and waves interact. Claudia and I experimented with how these elements can visually construct a thriving universe in which they grow, flow, migrate, and compete, just as empires throughout history have. The following initial sketches set the tone for the algorithm.

The final version of the In Conversation with Jacoba algorithm generates animations with four stages: Birth, Growth, Decadence, and Collapse.

Once an era ends, another begins. Each era has unique settings for its eyes, waves, and the interaction patterns between them. There are eight color palettes built into the system.

Technical Details

Because the system's final export format is a visual sequence, we surveyed common visual-authoring programming languages to find a graphics-heavy, shader-friendly tool. Godot Engine is an open-source game engine that offers robust GPU-accelerated rendering capabilities and versatile user interface support. We decided to implement the system purely using GDScript, a programming language built for Godot.

The final system is a standalone, cross-platform application that continuously renders the visual. Each era lasts 4-6 minutes (at 24 FPS). In addition to implementing the GDScript, we developed a suite of utility scripts in Python to handle additional post-processing for images and videos.

To ensure stability during the Pixel Pioneer installation, we chose to use pre-rendered visuals instead of live rendering. The main display consists of 17 eras (48 minutes 38 seconds). Each boxed display consists of 12-13 eras (40-50 minutes).

Development Process

The In Conversation with Jacoba was fully scripted in GDScript, a Python-like programming language built for Godot Engine. The following system exports showcase the development journey.

The main development finished around February 2026. We spent the following 2+ months adding additional visual effects, tweaking parameters, adjusting animation, and finishing the full rendering pipeline. The following examples showcase raw export from the system. The animated version displayed at Pixel Pioneer included additional symmetry boundaries produced during post-processing.

Acknowledgement

In Conversation with Jacoba is a collaborative system. I am grateful that Claudia initiated this conversation. It is great to be her collaborator, and it is a dream to become her friend. I am very lucky and honored to not only get to know her through countless video chats, texts, and emails, but to learn from her and create with her. I observed, experienced, and am deeply inspired by Claudia's dedication to her art, her relentless pursuit of her vision, and her passion. I cherish every moment we shared together. Thank you, Claudia!

Many thanks to the Boijmans Museum for creating a wonderful stage for this conversation, especially to Amira Gad and Heleen Kosse for curating and producing the exhibition.

Thanks to Stella Hao and Copper Giloth for visiting the exhibition in person and for providing us with photos and videos of the installation.

And like always, thanks, my dear sister, for being my forever muse.

Licia, 2026