Kubikino is a project by artist Carolina Melis, with the support of creative coder Enrico Penzo. The work is informed by notions of choreography, modular pattern composition and character design.

Kubikino is an idiosyncratic face, made of a combination of graphical elements and colours generated by code. Using an essential library of geometries - all deriving from the circle - and primary tones, the code randomly creates new faces resembling human physiognomy, animals and traditional masks.

Through the deliberate reference to a face, Kubikino prompts contemplation on the traditional notions of identity, similarity, and persona, as well as the ongoing need to establish one's own representation within a community - from traditional masks to digital avatars. For centuries, human identity has been a source of cultural fascination, with the word "identity" stemming from the Latin term "identitas," signifying both "sameness" and “oneness.”

Inspired by Bruno Munari's "Faces," a collection of abstract portraits created using basic geometric shapes and lines, Kubikino reflects on the simplicity, playfulness, and power of design to communicate across cultures and generations.

Drawing upon the influential dance theories of Rudolf Laban and Merce Cunningham, Kubikino's device process for the creation of its faces is underpinned by a sophisticated framework of modular pattern composition. The project's generated output is organised into a grid-based structure, where each section corresponds to a phrase, and the relationship between the various sections collectively generates the final composition. Referencing Laban’s Movement Analysis, each section is paraphrasing LMA's four key components: body (loop), shape (direction), dynamic (colour), space (relationship within the space).

Kubikino also adopts the principles of "chance" and "structured improvisation" articulated by avant-garde pioneers John Cage and Merce Cunningham in the 1960s. The Kubikino identity is constructed from a selected array of animated graphics, rules, and paradigms that correspond to motifs, scores, and ensembles found in conventional art forms such as dance, music, and paintings.

Kubikino

This is my algorithmic love letter to a forefather of mathematical art: **M. C. Escher**.

To commemorate 125 years since his birth, my goal was to honor Escher’s enduring influence by reworking his iconic motifs into a medium that embraces mathematics as much as he did.

I gave it the name **Escherly Seeds** because its meaning is three-fold:

-	_Metaphorical._ This work can be seen as representing the seeds that Escher planted in the minds of the artistic community, and I make several references to his work. Concave and Convex (1955) and Waterfall (1961) were the main inspirations for up to three distinct optical illusions hidden within this algorithm. Expect Escher’s love of polyhedra – a few of which can be seen in Stars (1948) – to make appearances too!

-	_Arboreal._ This metaphor is illustrated as a tree with surrealist botanical components. It starts out, drawn on paper, as a root network from which a stem sprouts, branching into a fully developed crown with leaves, flowers, and/or fruit. Flowers are depicted as enlarged polyhedra with special properties, and fruit are cyclical structures inspired by the iconic Penrose triangle. Fruit can also, on occasion, be ripe with its own seeds, thus completing its life cycle. The pencil-to-3D effect is a reference to Reptiles (1943) and Drawing Hands (1948), except I take the metamorphosis to the present – becoming fully chromatic, dynamic, and interactive. The seed is planted in Escher's world, and blossoms into ours.

-	_Cryptographic._ Generative art is, in a way, the craft of making pseudo-random _art_ generators. Each output is the result of a cascade of calculations caused by one unique numerical seed, and in this case, it just happens to be an “Escherly” seed! For those curious about the details, I tried to avoid excessively obfuscating the code.

The viewer is encouraged to play with the artwork! In an effort to make the tree feel alive, I used an equation called the Kuramoto model which, most notably, mimics the flashing patterns observed in species of synchronous fireflies. Each cube is animated by an internal “clock” which is weakly coupled to its nearest neighbors. Interacting with these clocks will cause them to align, giving you the ability to synchronize or desynchronize certain areas of the tree.

Thank you to all who helped me along the way, no matter the weight of your contribution.

Special thanks: Jiahui Cai, Vincent Cohen, Daniel Bothner

Escherly Seeds

Lumina engages in the delicate interplay of curved, organic lines and abstract forms, weaving a surreal narrative filled with rhythm and dynamism. It illustrates dreamy imagery of cosmic phenomena such as electromagnetic waves, magnetic reconnection, and gravitational pull. In its composition, Lumina balances fluid and structured elements, vibrant and muted tones. The artwork’s glitchy and distorted textures, reminiscent of cosmic noise and stellar interference, further enhance its spatial narrative, offering a visual echo of the cosmic phenomena.

Lumina lies in its balanced integration of organic and digital elements. The first layer of the artwork, crafted with p5.js and a fBm shader, forms an organic texture, adding a swirl to give dynamism and generates diverse color palettes; establishing a visual field. This organic layer is then intertwined with a digital layer, where a custom fragment shader introduces subtle distortions and glitches, adding depth, complexity and luminance to the pieces. The inclusion of noise (and its artifacts) and various mathematical functions imbue the collection with a dreamlike ambiance.

**URL Parameters:**
?resolution=5000  :  to render as 2812x5000 px
?resolution=4000  :  to render as 2250x4000 px 
?resolution=3000  :  to render as 1687x3000 px (default)

**Press [S] in live view to save as .png**

This work involves intensive GPU processing. It's advisable to use modern hardware and ensure your browser's hardware acceleration is enabled for optimal performance. Using the Chrome browser on a desktop equipped with a high-end GPU is highly recommended.

See website for more details about the collection.

Lumina

Drawing inspiration from the intricacies of nature and the physics theories that model it, "Fluiroso" (derived from "Fluidos Ruidosos") delves into the mesmerizing depths of Fluid Dynamics. This is achieved by implementing an accelerated solver for the Navier–Stokes partial differential equations.

Initial density and velocity are placed leveraging Perlin noise, and a selection of up to ten random velocity sources are positioned throughout the area. Augmented by other parameters such as boundary conditions and viscosity, the algorithm embarks on a dynamic journey tracing the solver's outputs over time. 

The resulting animation renders a delicate dance of brush strokes where the fluid becomes painter. The culmination is a repertoire of abstract pieces that evoke movement and invite viewers to discern emerging shapes and silhouettes.

Once the animation pauses to spotlight the artwork, viewers can engage with the piece and press 'p' to restart the movement. While many pieces continually evolve, others settle into a graceful equilibrium.

Fluiroso

The Amoeba is a study of repetition, patterns, and harmony. The code repeats simple shapes in different positions and sizes until they build up to form a colorful and lively Amoeba. View in live mode to watch it dance. Press [1] - [4] to adjust rendering quality. Press [s] to take a snapshot of the Amoeba. Charity: 25% of sales for the first 24 hours will be donated to Meals For Unity, a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to reducing food insecurity among marginalized communities in the New York City area.

Art Blocks Presents

Amoeba #170

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