In Equilibria, planets move in concentric orbits around a central star. Although suspended in stable equilibrium as they progress along consistent, predictable tracks, these paths change with the introduction of outside forces. As asteroids and comets enter the system, their interactions with the planets lead to fragmentation, interplanetary collisions, and rebirth of planets. Orbits are permanently altered as these collisions change the properties of the entities involved. Although these entities mutate and disappear, their paths are recorded immutably in time; the resulting image is a transcript of the interactions of the internal and external components of a system.

This project was inspired in part by the artist’s previous experience in astrophysics research. Although representative of the interactions of non-animate entities, Equilibria is also a nod to the complex ways in which human interactions affect our lives, with chance interactions often irreversibly changing our futures. In Equilibria, we see these changes represented tangibly in the new colors of the combined or fragmented planets, with subsequent paths painted with these new colors.

In line with Concentric Art’s mission to further advances in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) fields, Equilibria not only interweaves physics, astronomy, and art, but also pushes the technologic boundaries of fully on-chain generative art. Equilibria is written in C++/OpenGL and compiled to WebAssembly/WebGL using Emscripten, and is a proof of concept for running a C++ project natively in the browser via compilation to WebAssembly.

Viewing instructions: "-"/"+" to zoom in/out "t" to switch to top-down view "p" to toggle pause "c" to continue without stopping "e" to export current state to console "x"/"y"/"z" to switch active axis rotation "s" to save a snapshot Arrow keys to rotate along the active axis

Primary Language: C++ Compilation Notes: Compiled using Emscripten 3.1.13