Mind Maze is a contemplative and meditative experience, a wandering above an ever changing labyrinth, a cryptic message scrolling endlessly. Mind Maze explores the relationship between mindset and worldview, drawing parallels between communication and mental health, especially in these troubled times.

With strong references to the labyrinth metaphor, but also borders, cities and calligraphy, Mind Maze plays with shapes, colors and movements to create an infinite space reflecting our need to explore and find answers, but also the endless expanse of our doubts, and the barriers constituted by our language and our cultural constructions.

As often in my work, this piece is inspired by the hypnotizing movements of nature, trying to make an organic feeling emerge from cold geometry shapes. A reflection on how a host of independent, autonomous, different elements can come together to form a whole, a new coherent entity.

Mind Maze is also my genesis piece on the Etherum blockchain, which means it’s my first NFT project offered on this blockchain. It’s written in Javascript using the ThreeJs library. It makes extensive use of GPU instancing, via custom shaders, to be able to draw and animate all the shapes in an optimized way. 

- Move your mouse to interact
- Press “s” key to save a high-resolution still (5760x3240px)

Mind Maze

Enchiridion is inspired by the Enchiridion Physicae Restitutae by Jean D'Espagnet which rejected the idea of the empyrean, claiming that all natural things exist in unity. This is represented through geometric forms which show structure, unity, and causation vs. the amorphous forms of Empyrean.

Enchiridion

A Map is a score for a new world...
 
Maps is a generative script stored on the blockchain. Each mint generates a unique svg using a seed hash.
 
The initial inspiration for Maps was the idea that graphic notation can create a variety of different outputs for music.
 
This led to using sprites, a form of graphic notation that gives a sense of how things move without being animated, as the layout to explore each world. 
 
Each Map uses variable colors and patterns to generate different environments. By mixing 10 different elements, new biomes are named ( i.e. scorched forest, dune ocean, etc… )
 
These environmental elements are represented by color ( HSL ). different base and accent environments were picked to be mixed and matched freely. 
 
Maybe an NFT can be an instruction for something non-digital, too… The different colors are also matched with pantone chips so that each SVG can be easily printed.
 
The method for generating the pattern is called dithering, which is both inherently as much a digital process ( i.e. bitmapping ) as it is a physical one ( i.e. halftone ). The script uses a modified Floyd–Steinberg dither algorithm to approximate the light between each pixel and create unique patterns.

Maps

*the spring begins with the first rainstorm* is my merger of earthly patterning and digital dynamics, seeing both organisms as collaborators in an effort to erase the human hand and glimpse into an environmental portal.

My inspiration comes from falling in the fountains of the Louvre as a child and sneaking past the guards to enter the glass temple dripping and squishing with each step – from Sigmar Polke’s dispersion paintings – from Joseph Beuys and Bas Jan Ader – from Aldous Huxley and John Muir – from the plentiful and the barren – from the joy of discovery and the fear of what could unravel.

I started with the pattern variable, this movement was first created by dragging large paintings through the ocean until my brushstrokes disappeared and the earth becomes the composer. The movement that emerged is akin to light fracturing through water, the bark of trees, or the skin of reptiles. When redacted into visible pixels it harkens to traditional screen-printing and a web 1.0 dream. When the patterns start multiplying, they become portals to elsewhere, while also signifying a system trying to ‘learn’ the movements of the earth. I see the ‘hibernal’ as blizzards, ‘maelstrom’ as dreams of the deep water and the ‘arboretum’ as lush gardens. The palette variable is meant to mirror lavish watercolor washes while the smokey ribboning represents the winds. In totality, I hope is to blur many lines – constructed and broken down, calming and fearsome, aspirational and apocalyptic.


*The Genesis Edition*

The first 48 mints shall receive this special edition collection, which includes:

* A unique print of the minter’s piece, printed on archival Hahnemühle German etching paper, mounted on 16” x 12” (40.6 cm x 30.5 cm) maple board, signed and titled on verso.

* A serpentine rock I collected near 34.744145603, -119.98518572 (including a maple presentation stand).

* A limited edition visual compendium chronicling the conceptual theory of the work, signed and numbered.

Please visit the [project website](https://thespringbegins.io/the-genesis-edition) for more details about the Genesis Edition.

Controls:

p - for a high resolution (6000 x 7200 pixels) printable version
s - to save the image as a png file

the spring begins with the first rainstorm

AlphaModica explores the nature of our reality, helping us ground ourselves at a time when the answers aren’t so clear. The primary shapes in this work are known as Modica bands and are inspired by particle physics and string theory. Each mint produces a completely unique form for the bands drawn from several possible types, each with a deeper meaning. The bands are further customized by dozens of parameters that are uniquely derived from the token hash making each mint 100% unique. 

The background is a tangent field computed from angles in the foreground shapes. It represents an energy field permeating the universe. This unusual arrangement -- a background created by the foreground was done to hint at questions of causality. 

Colors for the foreground shapes are selected from twenty hand tuned color palettes. The background palette is seeded by the foreground but also has elements that are produced by the field itself. This combination of hand selection and random generation speaks to questions of choice in the universe and asks the question of how even under high randomness there can be symmetry, and connectedness.

Danooka, the artist behind AlphaModica is a technologist and metaverse based artist. Danooka’s previous NFT projects includes the successful RIBONZ trilogy. 

A portion of the mint proceeds will be allocated to support Girls Who Code.


AlphaModica #111
Danooka

features

AlphaModica #111.css-1wclmit{display:none;}@media (min-width: 768px){.css-1wclmit{display:inline;}} • .css-ymsk1t{white-space:nowrap;font-weight:400;}Danooka

features

AlphaModica #111
Danooka