Complexity arising from the simplicity of sine and cosine. Never-ending generative spiro-art / snowflakes / guilloche. ___ space / click = pause / play ___ arrow up = increase speed ___ arrow down = decrease speed ___ arrow right = next ___ arrow left = reset speed

SpiroFlakes

The Swing protocol is a composition generator that is set to generate both bold and elegant compositions. It works on a 3×2 grid where 7 different lines and an empty shape are randomly placed on the grid on 2 layers. The background is divided into 3 rows or 2 columns that can be filled with 9 different colors or stripes with different coefficients. The paper and the margin can be filled with 6 different colors. The protocol is finely tuned so that the interaction between all the elements always delivers a swinging composition. Dutch auction starting at 2Ξ and decreasing every 5 minutes to 0.15Ξ (2 → 1 → 0.75 → 0.5 → 0.4 → 0.3 → 0.25 → 0.22 → 0.2 → 0.18 → 0.15). 25% of sales over 0.25 will be donated to Juste Ici, a non-profit organization in France, focused on making art accessible to everyone.

Swing

«𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨'𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶?»¹

In these formal studies, geometric figures are cut, broken, divided, subdivided, colorized and finally «set to drift»² in an endless scrolling motion. The elements in each composition vary over time without ever reaching a final form.

Visual artifacts remind of analog electronics. Feedback loops undermine the accuracy of digital technology. As time passes, it is increasingly difficult to recognize the original composition: frame after frame, cycle after cycle, the image is dissolved into a landscape of liquid forms and oversaturated colors. 

After having pursued harmony and balance, it is liberating to surrender and witness the carefully crafted compositions blend into a chaotic interplay of lights and shapes.

Drifting, la «dérive»³, is an ongoing dialogue with the machine, started as an exploration of an aesthetic system and turned into a journey of self–discovery. 

(1) 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘏𝘈𝘓9000 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘸𝘮𝘢𝘯 («2001: 𝘈 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘖𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘺», 𝘚. 𝘒𝘶𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬, 1968). (2) «𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨» 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘵: “𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘭, […] 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺” («𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰», 𝘓. 𝘍𝘶𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 1970). (3) 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 «𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵» (𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 «𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦», 𝘎. 𝘋𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘥, 1956).

Drifting

L5-A752 to dispatch... we have been attacked, badly. Foundational structure is in critical condition, debris is everywhere. Lagrange stability has been compromised. Sending coordinates and trajectory... Requesting immediate gravity assist.

Space Debris [m'aider]

How can intent be communicated when ideas are filtered through a pseudorandom number generator? Simply looking at the output does not make it clear whether a stroke is placed on the canvas because of a decision by the artist or by a roll of the dice. The artist’s hand is more present in the process than the result; they choose the algorithms, tune the parameters, and prune the features. As I experimented with my code, I held a particular idea in mind, but I was uncertain how it would finally manifest. I pursued a visual composition that made me feel a certain way, and the visuals I landed on communicate my feeling better than anything I can put into words. Through Curved Air is about the challenge of communication. Regardless of the medium, I can never be certain that the message I intend to send is the message that is received.

Through Curved Air takes inspiration from musical minimalism, where repetition is used to highlight changes in rhythm and harmony. Every output is created by repeatedly copying a single shape. Each copy only has meaning in relation to the other shapes nearby, and that meaning changes with the context around it. Delicate structures form and are subsequently obscured by further layers, and though they may be hidden, they still affect the perception of the final image. Clicking on the canvas will start or stop the looping mode, where the image is recreated in a slightly different way. New facets are exposed as the composition changes yet remains the same. Just as I spend my days trying to share my inner experience through my art, Through Curved Air uses each shape and each loop and each token hash to attempt to create a common feeling between myself and the viewer.

Through Curved Air also takes inspiration from the paintings of Joan Mitchell. I was drawn to her expressive strokes, vibrant colors, and use of negative space, all of which come together to give a more intense feeling of looking at a landscape than just looking at a painting of a landscape. Her energetic marks clearly communicate that there is a human being behind the art. The marks of generative works are often similarly representative of the underlying process, but instead of drawing focus to the artist behind the piece, they draw attention to the algorithm. To convey human emotion in the way I intended, I had to use a subtler algorithm.

The technical tools to convey this emotion are tools I have been consistently developing in my practice. I love making generative art because I can design a system where I understand how all the components work, but they can still come together to produce a result that surprises me. The algorithm behind the compositional variation in my earlier works Coquina and Primordial is one I continued to evolve, and it rests at the heart of Through Curved Air. In fact, I pushed it further than ever, using it to create the individual shapes that form the building block of each output. This emergent variation permeates the work and results in surprising images that more closely resemble paintings than anything I made previously. I believe the potential for surprise is key to conveying emotion through code. When the possibility space of the algorithm grows too large to understand, the mind wanders to the person behind the algorithm. Perhaps the human element is the struggle to understand, or the struggle to be understood.

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Through Curved Air #12

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