At the Still Point of the Turning World: Algorithmic Self Portrait, 2025

I find myself in a world of chaos and turbulence, of confusion and disorder. At the still point, I—or perhaps we—find ourselves, yet we are never truly still. This work is both a meditation and a portrait of modern awareness: an algorithmic reflection on the search for calm within uncertainty.

The title echoes a line from T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, which contemplates presence within time and the dance of the living moment.

Inspiration and Creation

At the Still Point of the Turning World... (AKA “Still Point”) is the fifth project in the Zenerative series, a collection of Zen-inspired generative art projects. “Still Point” explores holding presence in a dynamic world and maintaining calm within a sort of structured chaos.

Within each output is an identity surrounded by overlapping and interacting rings that create interference. The motion of the outer world affects the inner, and a visual motion is hinted at while a psychological motion is created. These effects are enhanced when a piece is portrayed digitally, as pixels on the screens will dance with the narrow and high contrast lines. The artworks are size agnostic vector graphics, and they are both plottable* and feature togglable animation**.

I choose to only use black and white for this piece, because I wanted to emphasize this strange vibrancy of chaos and confusion that I find myself in. Color made it too…pedestrian, or pretty. Only stark black and white seems appropriate for this portrait; their interplay and overlapping patterns adding to the visual aesthetic.

While I made this piece to reflect my experience and visualize my state of being, I know that others resonate with the theme and symbolism. It’s not a traditional self portrait, and it may not be a portrait of only me. Others may see themselves in it as well, and while we may feel like we’re alone in that center, we’re together in the experience.

*”Still Point” is plottable, but paths must be cropped to the SVG viewport.

**”Still Point” features animation that can be activated by using a URL flag, but due to technical constraints, outputs do not animate smoothly on all devices. Modern smartphones, as well as Mac computers with Apple Silicon chips running Chrome should give good results.