Fontana is Latin for fountain. 

This project is a playful attempt at abstractly capturing the flowing movement of a fountain using precisely drawn elements that evoke a static and considered rendering of a subject that is in constant flux. The visual language is reminiscent of hand-draughted technical drawing, a precise and methodical practice that progresses at a radically different pace to the flowing and capricious movement of water. To increase this tension between dynamic motion and static mechanical process I wanted the surface textures to appear worn and aged like a drawing that has spent its life in the bottom of a mechanics drawer. This process of abrasion and discoloration is occurring on yet another scale of time adding complexity to the references of time passing. 

Woven into the very fabric of Fontana is a fully generative solution for creating color expression. This means there is no reliance on preset palettes with every output being an entirely unique color articulation of the color story I want the project to reveal as a whole. Far from being random I attempted to create an approach which produces colors that evoke early 20th Century art and design media. With this intention I wanted  outputs to look like they could be working drawing artifacts from this period of time.

Fontana

_Act of Emotion_ investigates digitally-facilitated abstract expressionism: the act of painting itself as a means of expression, extended into mechanical reach.
A reflection upon the future of automation, machine consciousness, creativity, and humankind’s inevitable consequences. As we await the next leap, we cling desperately to our belief that emotive art is an exclusively human experience. 
Inspired by those that came before—pioneering expressionists and contemporaries alike—the system engages in new methods of painting, free from traditionally accepted physical boundaries and artistic expectations. Action painting for the Connected Age; the system is in perpetual concert, recited in real-time and on-demand. 

Questioned by Colin McCahon, and recontextualised here through a generative lens: 
_How to make a painting beat like, and with, a human heart._
The machine’s movements are precise by default, grounded in mathematics. Organic expression must be introduced by twisting and destabilising; a process of broadening bounds that probes the subconscious of both artist and audience. 

Confrontingly minimal abstract compositions highlight the tension between rigid mechanical precision and fluid human intuition. Striping and stippling, swooping and darting; noisy automatism contrasted with coded instinct. 
Gestural abstraction applied with simulation of brush and emulation of media. Presence discovered through colour, texture, light and space; the works emerge as physically-manifested in digital form. 

Are these painted works analogous to physical counterparts? 
Can a machine successfully emotionally connect through this practice?
Let us consider both the intent and the act that realise a painted artwork.

_“Painting is a state of being. Painting is self-discovery.”_ — Jackson Pollock

# Controls:
- **[spacebar]** Pause/resume exhibit
- **[escape]** Reset exhibit
- **[S]** Export a still image at the current render size
- **_Double Click/Tap_** to provide a human touch

# Automatic:
- Render resolution upscales with viewport dimensions. Future exhibits will enhance alongside hardware advance. 
- Playback cadence is hardware-dependent and downscales when limited by hardware. 
- "**Perpetual**" tokens continue their performance indefinitely

# Printing:

Generatively signed giclée print renditions available up to 36x48" / A0.

Act of Emotion

Dreams is an exploration of uneven subdivision. It focuses on the interaction between uniform and crooked lines, and the complex structures that can emerge from simple rules. Each iteration of Dreams is unique, with characteristics determined by the hash created at the moment of transaction. Created by Joshua Bagley

Dreams

Click to activate sound 🔈 The work is responsive, it will adapt to any screen size 🌹

👉 Legowelt: *For Polychrome Music I designed a generative music system that plays an infinite composition on 3 different audio channels, each with their own synthesizer. These randomly generate simple musical timbres inspired by early computer sound chips. 🌴 The music itself is generated by randomly selecting 3 patterns out of a pool of 180. These patterns, which are little 8-bar music pieces, were written in the same C# Dorian scale so they always fit together. This is a pleasant sounding minor and colorful scale that I believe fits the general vibe of Rafaël’s work. 🌲 Composition wise, channel 1 plays the bassline and channels 2 and 3 the melody, countermelody, arpeggios and harmonies. 🌳 The system changes the patterns each time they are played, reversing, speeding up or slowing down the pattern or changing the synthesizer channel they are played on. In essence the system infinitely randomly remixes the source melodies to create ever new surprising pieces that harmonize with the colorful compositions.* 👈

Polychrome Music

The universe in which we exist is an ever changing ebb and flow of energies that coalesce into observable patterns of repetition and harmony. By practicing mindfulness one can observe their part in this universal flux and achieve a powerful sense of connection to the whole.

Click / Touch to begin the audio-visual experience.

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