Tens of thousands of particles are traversing the force field, leaving a trail in their path. The sum of their trails reveals the face of the eldritch horror hidden in a token hash. Some look like smoke, some look like tentacle-mouthed elder gods. What do YOU see there?

"Summoning Ritual" is an exploration of generating emergent pareidolia-inducing shapes using particles, symmetry, and a set of force fields. 5142 bytes of javascript is just enough to summon visions of ethereal beings.

Requires a WebGL-enabled browser. Renders in real-time. Speed and quality depend heavily on the canvas size (the particle size and count are functions of the canvas size). Keys l(ow),m(edium) and h(igh) switch rendering quality. Keys 1-5 control the rendering speed.

Any similarity to actual deities, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Summoning Ritual

Perpetua is a collection of generative weavings.
 
Fabric emerges from a series of binary choices as horizontal threads go over or under vertical threads. These decisions are interconnected, systematic, and give rise to an infinite variety of patterns, making weaving an ancient generative art. In essence, weaving is a practice of meticulous matrix multiplication calculated in threads. 

We construct each Perpetua image, just like many weavers do, as the product of three binary matrices (the “treadling”, “tie-up”, and “threading”). This kind of design schematic is called a weaving draft and it allows us to converse with traditional weaving patterns and symbols while also extending into alien weavings that would be physically impossible to produce.

Perpetua

A geometric composition of a contrasting middle "heart" and an outer "soul". The seed of the symmetrical heart is broken into varying amount of chambers that are calculated to keep its corridors at the exact constant width in order to preserve its rigid mathematical character, yet provide enough space for variety for interesting geometrical patterns. The composition is balanced by a contrasting loose intertwining soul spreading to the borders of the passepartout that, along with the lining, give the piece a feeling of antiqueness. Heart and soul may also contain anomalies and unusual palettes. 

a heart and a soul

Pointila explores what happens when you combine the meticulous dots reminiscent of Pointillistic painting techniques with the channelled randomness of generative art, whilst also examining how subtle changes in parameters can paint similar forms in different styles.

Pointila is designed for display and interaction. Clicking on a live mint will trigger an animation loop between the primary and secondary palettes, click again to pause. Press 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 on your keyboard to change glitch state. Press S to download a high resolution print.

Pointillism emerged from a collision of art and science in late 19th century French painting. Developed by Georges Seurat, his appeal to science, rigour and order built upon the broken brushstrokes of the Impressionists, as painting began to reckon with the emergence of the new technology of photography. Unbeknownst to Seurat, this response to one technology would foreshadow another – that of digital displays and pixels.

Rigour and order was manifest in the distinct dots of colour that give Pointillism its name. From a distance, the eye mixes these dots into vibrant, luminous scenes. This optical mixing bears a striking similarity to the way pixels work to display images on screen for us today.

“It’s done mechanically?” was a question posed at an 1894 Neo-Impressionist exhibition. The answer then was no. Pointila is both more and less mechanical than the Pointillist work that provoked the question. More, in that the hand of the artist has been replaced by the work of the computer – an extension of Seurat's efforts to remove the free hand of the artist. Yet less, with the ultimate position of each of the millions of dots decided randomly, unknown to the hand of the coder.

The Pointila algorithm first divides the canvas into columns. It then traverses the canvas dropping dots along those columns. From just a handful of layers, landscapes emerge. They take on a variety of forms: from rolling plains and steep canyons to jagged peaks and dreamy moors. Some are sharp and tense, others hazy and ethereal. They are coloured with handpicked palettes and animated with bold glitches – a nod to the shared optics of Pointillism and pixels.

Subtle changes in initial parameters give rise to similar landscapes painted in different styles. Faint echos, perhaps, of the different styles we see from Seurat in the numerous studies related to his masterpiece Un dimanche à la Grande Jatte.

Pointila

Inspired by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. Made with an interest in color theory and a love for color in general.

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