Road Trip In The Repository (Please Respond)

Licia He , 2026

Road Trip In The Repository is a generative art program by Licia He, created for and presented through Please Respond, a 10-artist collaboration where a single generative algorithm was passed from artist to artist, each building on the prior's code.

This work was led by Tyler Hobbs and released on Shape with additional print purchase options. Follow @Licia_He, Tyler Hobbs Studio , and Shape for project updates and collection details.

Please Respond is a collaborative, generative art series in which one visual-creating algorithm was passed sequentially among ten artists, each building on the prior's code and contributing one curated artwork to the series. The series was initiated by Tyler Hobbs , who also contributed the first work of this series. fingacode , Mathias Isaksen , mpkoz , Kjetil Golid , Juan Pedro Vallejo, Licia He, Juan Rodríguez García, Aleksandra Jovanić , and Zancan each spent two weeks with the prior works to evolve the system and create their artwork.

In response to works created by the previous 6 artists, and with a particular focus on Juan Pedro Vallejo's piece, I created Road Trip In The Repository, a visual-generating system that plays with geometry, pattern, and perspective. The system was implemented in JavaScript within a 2-week time limit. One output was curated to be the final artwork.

This project page documents the Road Trip In The Repository system. The collaborative nature of this project means that my documentation is only a small part (10%, to be precise) of the big picture. For a comprehensive introduction to all the pieces in this series, please visit PleaseRespond.art, which dives into each piece through visuals, texts, and video interviews.

Background

In the past few years, I have built many generative systems, mostly on my own and occasionally with contributions from others at the ideation and conception stages. I often wonder what a deeper, code-level collaboration would look like. Good collaborative opportunities are always rare, but an in-depth, meaningful collaboration is a whole new level of rare, because artists are very sensitive to the power dynamics in our creative environment, and good dynamics take a tremendous amount of trust to build.

When Tyler reached out about this project, it was very difficult to say no. Sharing the system development process with 9 amazing artists, each of whom I deeply admire, is a dream come true. More excitingly, the format of the development process (each artist takes 2 weeks, builds on previous works with a particular emphasis on the piece immediately preceding theirs) is deeply intriguing. I had so many questions. What routes will we take as a group? What decisions will I make? How will the works look together and by themselves? How would the previous artists' code impact mine? I had no clear answer for any of these questions before I started.

After completing Road Trip In The Repository in February 2026, I started drafting this documentation. However, I found myself very lost: I still didn't know the answers because the work was not finished until the last artist wrote the very last line of code. I, like all the artists before me, need to wait patiently for the final piece. When the last artist (Zancan) completed his piece, I viewed all the pieces together as soon as I could. Aside from all the excitement, admiration for other works, and a sense of accomplishment, I had a bittersweet moment as I concluded this project. It is like the ten of us went on a road trip together. The ten systems are precious records of what we saw and experienced, but the real treasures for me are the miles we walked and the laughter we shared.

Concept

When I received Juan Pedro Vallejo's piece, I was very intrigued. Juan decided to work on a grayscale image filled with carefully balanced geometries and delicate patterns. Viewing all six prior works together, I decided to focus on the concept of perspective. On a metaphorical level, the project proceeds as if all artists were viewing the same scenery or object, but we view it from different perspectives and through unique lenses. On the representational front, I saw many references to perspective and geo-related symbols in previous works. For instance, similar geometries and objects appear at different scales as if viewed from different distances; introduction of 3D-like geometries and rendering. Moreover, Juan Pedro Vallejo's piece had actual coordinates embedded in the system.

Once I settled on the idea of perspective, I started sketching. I imagined myself viewing a similar object or scene to what Juan was, but at a more microscopic level and from a slightly raised angle. I also wanted to incorporate geometries (such as squares and circles) that have been used in previous works. After several sketches, I arrived at a composition that focuses on a central, circle-like structure, surrounded by boxes in isometric view and covered by rotating bands.

Very much inspired by Juan’s use of intricate patterns, I decided to pour various types of patterns into different regions of the system. The patterns need to have a certain level of uniformity to echo Juan’s carefully balanced grids and line work, but I also felt the urge to break this order and to throw in some surprises.

Influenced by Juan's use of grayscale and Kjetil's controlled use of color, I contemplated using a more limited color palette, maybe even a monochrome one. But I quickly realized that playing with color is one of my favorite parts of the system-building process. Instead of a limited color choice, I drift toward a vibrant, almost chaotic color combination. This transition is very apparent in the development process, as more and more colors were added to the system as days passed. Because the final output would be curated, I intentionally used a wide range of colors for the color palette, so I could be surprised by different combinations. However, I found dark tones crucial in almost every composition. As a result, I added additional criteria to the selection process to ensure the presence of dark elements.

Development Process

Like other pieces in Please Respond, Road Trip In The Repository was completed under a two-week time limit, which is extremely short for a full-fledged generative art system like this. Most of the systems I have completed so far took months or even years to finish. Needless to say, I was very concerned about the time management aspect of this project. Nevertheless, I knew it could be done because I had made Sparkling Goodbye in a similar timeframe. Sparkling Goodbye was completed under a strange circumstance (I was filled with complicated emotions because of my relocation from the US to the UK. Coincidentally, when I started working on this project, I just relocated from the UK to JP). I always thought a 2-week development schedule was an outlier that shouldn’t be replicated again. But working on Road Trip In The Repository had given me completely different answers.

Almost immediately after receiving Tyler’s email regarding code handoff, I started studying previous works and sketching. Because there was no time to waste, I finalized the concept and sketches in about half a day and wrote a very detailed schedule for the next two weeks. E.g., by day 1, I needed to have the programming environment ready; by day 2, to figure out the masking and patterning mechanism. The clock was ticking, and my anticipation and stress level rose with my adrenaline. I was fully prepared for a hard battle with the tight development schedule, the kind that involves endless grinding and unlimited coffee refills. To my surprise, I ended up having one of the smoothest and painless development journeys I have ever had so far.

By the 3rd day, I was fully focused on the Road Trip In The Repository system. The stress and worries disappeared. All I could think about was the next step. I became so focused on that development process that I felt time was moving at a different pace. It seemed like every time I blinked, it was another mealtime again. I was in THE zone, and it was a magical place to be in. As I mentioned in the interview, it is like climbing a mountain; the initial part is scary, but you gradually find your breath and start to enjoy the view.

By the end of the 8th day, the majority of the system was complete, which was shocking to me because I imagined myself grinding on the system till the very last minute. While reviewing the development history, I found myself making very decisive turns at almost every decision point: there was no trace of second-guessing, no hesitation at crossroads. Sure, there were roadblocks, but knowing I wouldn’t have time to scratch and redo, I was able to (or, in some respects, forced to) trust my intuition. And this trust is visible in the final system, which I feel like the system is very me: through it, I see the chaotic, playful, and adventurous sides of me.

It is hard to put into words how happy I felt during these two weeks. I hope the following annotated, timestamped development views give you a more complete picture.

Feb 10th, 4:39 am: received email from Tyler. It's my turn.

Feb 10th, 8:30 am: viewed the previous works, replied to emails, officially kicking off the two-week window.

Feb 12th 0:02 am: finalized sketches, got the programming environment ready, started pattern development

Feb 23: generated about 1200 outputs for the final curation

Feb 24th: after 6 rounds of curations, picked the final artwork

Feb 25th 0:05 am handed code and outputs back to Tyler .

Curation

The curation process turned out to be the hardest part of my two-week journey. On the day before the deadline, I exported about 1200 images from the system. On a long commute to the other side of Tokyo, I flipped through these 1,200 images 4 times to narrow the selection to 9. The selection process was brutal because there was only one winner. Every single one of the outputs in the final selection had a unique charm, so I really couldn’t decide.

I exported high-res versions of these 9 outputs and spent several hours with them. After (painfully) ranking my preferences, I invited my family to pick their top favorites and to share the rationale behind their choices. After rounds of debates with them and with myself, I finalized my pick.

Here are the 8 outputs that almost made it to the winning line.

Acknowledgement

Please Respond is like a dialogue among the ten of us. But instead of using words or sounds, we communicated through systems, codes, and visuals. Road Trip In The Repository took me two weeks to complete. The entire project took use 20+ weeks to complete. Nevertheless, I am certain that the conversation we started will last much longer.

I am truly grateful for being part of the conversation and want to thank all the artists in the group for making this journey incredibly fun and memorable. I am very proud of what we have created as a group.

I want to thank Tyler for making this wonderful project possible. I can’t imagine the amount of work it involves to put together a grand project like this. There were certainly many invisible yet complex and tedious tasks that Tyler and his team had to handle to ensure we, the participating artists, could have such a smooth and inspiring creative experience. Thank you, Tyler!

I also want to shout out to Logan Woodyard, who made an excellent video interviews for the project, and everyone else in Tyler's studio, especially Sidonie, the communication manager of Tyler Hobbs’ Studio, who helped with many tasks during the release process. Last but not least, many thanks to Shape for giving us the stage to present our work and for all the support you have provided.

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

Licia, 2026