Maze Drawings by Dan Schmidt
“The Clockless Clock Maze” was created based on an elaborate specification created by Venkatesh Rao. It’s the deepest maze collaboration I’ve been part of. Every architectural and aesthetic detail matches the conceptual model of Venkat’s in-progress book.
It’s also my first NFT, a 50/50 split with Venkat. Check out the NFT page on Mirror to learn about the meaning of the maze.
Mazes have a surprising amount to teach us about problem solving and life. The Maze Structure booklet, intended for all ages, consists of 24 maze levels of growing conceptual complexity.
To “get” Maze Structure, you must put your eyes or pencil on a physical copy of the booklet! You have two options:
Option #1: Order a physical copy of the booklet for $7.
The booklet’s slightly stiff cover comes in handy for maze solving on the go.
Deliver my copy!Option #2: Download and print a free PDF of the booklet.
Ideally, print it out on letter sized paper using the “booklet” function of Adobe Acrobat or Reader. After printing, fold it in half to make the booklet. Learn how to do that here.
Enjoy and please let me know what you think! If you want to find out about future mazes, enter your email on the right.
The easiest way to understand this maze is to watch this video walkthrough:
On the surface, the image may look like a large, complex, free-hand drawn maze. However, I created this labyrinth (it’s a “labyrinth” because it contains no choices or dead-ends) by creating only two maze forms that repeat across the grid at different rotations.
The maze was inspired by the evolving interplay between humans and machines. We often see humans identify jobs for computers to perform. However, I believe we’re going to increasingly encounter the inverse: systems where machines identify problems for humans to solve. The labyrinth plays with the concept by placing human touch, two free-hand drawn mazes, within the larger context of a formal structure. The human contribution is scaled through automated repetition and transformation.
