A revised version of Random Rain (2019), recipient of the Source Code Poetry Spirit Award, this work reimagines Rain (1966)—a seminal concrete poem by Japanese avant-garde poet Seiichi Niikuni—within the esoteric, stack-based, two-dimensional programming language Befunge-93. The transformation endows the original with machine readability and performative executability.
Rather than merely executing a fixed text, the algorithm dynamically generates the poem—producing two alternating styles, Wandering Rain and Straight Rain, each characterized by the density of the “?” command that controls the motion of the raindrop cursor. A custom Befunge-93 interpreter was developed specifically for this work.
Seiichi Niikuni (1925–1977) was a leading figure in Japanese concrete poetry. In Rain (Ame), he constructs a rainfall-like field through strict, grid-based repetition of typographic elements—treating written language as material rather than merely as meaning.
Akihiro Kubota
Random Rain translates this concrete-poetry logic into execution. The poem is written in Befunge-93, a two-dimensional, stack-based esoteric programming language in which an instruction pointer traverses a grid of characters. When run, the program performs "rain" across the grid and ultimately outputs the word "Rain."
The original project received the Spirit Award at the Source Code Poetry competition in 2019, recognizing its success in making code function simultaneously as poem, image, and runnable system.
Akihiro Kubota + Zeroichi Arakawa
Random Rain 2025 adds a second layer of indeterminacy. While the original version introduced runtime randomness (via Befunge's ? instruction), this version also randomizes the source code itself at generation time. This dual randomness—execution-time wandering and generation-time restructuring—turns each run into a distinct performance.
Each execution generates either Wandering Rain or Straight Rain. For this version, a new Python interpreter was implemented, expanding the work's technical foundation.
Random Rain 2025 was created for the exhibition "Computational Poetry" at NEORT++ (Bakurocho, Tokyo), presented as a physical installation—bringing the digital poem into a shared, public space.
A JavaScript/HTML edition was also developed, where the random seed is derived from the block timestamp at minting, linking the blockchain to the generative process. The Befunge source-code generator was additionally implemented in Solidity, enabling on-chain generation of Befunge programs.
Random Rain 2025 has also been realized as a full on-chain generative art NFT: both the Befunge generator and interpreter exist as Solidity smart contracts, and the artwork lives entirely on the Ethereum blockchain.
Befunge-93 (Chris Pressey, 1993) is a two-dimensional, stack-based esolang.
Akihiro Kubota is an artist and researcher exploring the intersection of poetry and technology. He is Professor in the Art & Media Course, Department of Information Design at Tama Art University. As part of the ARTSAT Project, he received the Ars Electronica 2015 Award of Distinction in Hybrid Art and the 66th Japan Art Encouragement Prize (Media Arts). His code poetry Random Rain won a Special Prize at the Source Code Poetry competition in 2019.
Code Poet, Smart Contract Engineer. Finding literary and structural beauty in program code, Zeroichi continues to explore and experiment with the values that emerge from code as a medium. Representative works include 《DeepSea》, which explores internal states through testing frameworks, and 《inside window》, which excavates poetic spaces hidden within the browser runtime environment. Currently pursuing a PhD at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS).