Ratio

Ratio is a generative artwork that explores the aesthetics of division, balance, and rhythm of a canvas. The piece continuously divides its surface into distinct sections, each running autonomous calculations that manifest as shifting patterns — sometimes calm and meditative, sometimes erratic and overflowing — before returning to order.

The work draws on the Latin ratio (meaning computation, reasoning, and proportion) while echoing inquiries of early cyberneticists in the 1940s and 50s(*). Ratio (as a system) has a systematic approach that weighs the balance between random values by dropping them into their places at specific beats and leaving the viewer to contemplate whether the evolving structures feel right or not.

(*) The Ratio Club was a small British informal dining club from 1949 to 1958 of young psychiatrists, psychologists, physiologists, mathematicians and engineers who met to discuss issues in cybernetics.

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GENERAL INFORMATION

The underlying grid of the animation is resolution independent. Try different formats like portrait, landscape or square. On the project page you'll find a tool to adjust some parameters via queries components.
Please visit: https://ratio.julian-h.de for more information

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CONTROLS

• [f] To enter fullscreen mode
• [spacebar] Play or pause the animation
• [s] Export current frame as a PNG
• [g] Capture a small GIF
  
  Created using p5.js and GLSL.
  
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  Part of Responsive Dreams 2025 Festival by The Generative Art Museum
  19/20/21 September 2025
  Nau Dents de Serra, Roca Umbert Fàbrica de les Arts, Granollers, Barcelona
  More info: https://www.responsivedreams.com/2025
  
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