Small grids, large grids, grids within grids, some colors, lots of colors, inward motion, outward motion. 🌹 The work is responsive, it will adapt to any screen size and resolution.

Dive

A study of color in motion. Beams of light ebb and flow like ocean waves, their colors softly blending to form dreamy gradients.

Light Beams

DIVERGENCE
Divergence, a never-ending abstract motion work, reacts to audio and touch inputs.  Dive into stacks of deterministic layers to explore emerging patterns, and fine-tune the audio reactivity to your preferences.  

You may wish to use the controls to wander within Divergence until the aesthetic feels right to you, or complements your audio input.  Navigating the art in this way gives a tangible window into my artistic process.  My aesthetic is influenced by the music I listen to as I code. I enjoy experimenting and looking for the art in the algorithm.  This can mean playing with overarching ideas, but also making many small changes until I find consistent visual appeal over a range of outputs.  

Divergence exhibits animations changing over time in expanding, textural layers.  It elaborates on concepts I’ve developed in previous works: my approach to color in phase; linear motion in Parade; interlacing lines and expansion/contraction in Kaleidoscope; and the noise textures of Sift.  Newly explored is continuous animation with touch and audio inputs, which affect the viewing position in time and space.  

A common quip in the Art Blocks community is that motion art has a penalty. Many enjoy a final product that is printable to frame at home.  As technology advances, I believe it is equally important to create work that can only exist on a screen, and is unique to digital art. Larger displays are catching up to the artistic space and becoming more accessible, but I also want my work to be approachable immediately.  Keeping the code lean and performant allows it to run well on a range of screen sizes and processor powers, from mobile devices to multi-story displays.  There has been discussion that a body of motion work takes a long time to sift through, as it needs to be viewed live.  In consideration of this, I made Divergence immersive, rather than a static experience. I want the extra time spent with it to be fun and entertaining.  

Usage: Navigate left/right to traverse the timeline; navigate up/down to travel through the layers and expand/contract the patterns.  Please see “Display Notes” for further instructions (user input, audio reactivity, url parameters).  Accessibility is important to me, so Divergence accepts inputs from touch, keyboard, mouse, and gaming controllers with an analog stick.  

*Photosensitive seizure warning: These artworks contain flashing colors and moving patterns.

Divergence

## The Concept

Ad Extremum Terrae explores visual storytelling in a form of generative art. The project tells a story of the tragic end of all existence in a distant universe, long since forgotten. Any given individual output depicts a passing moment, captured during the final breath of each dying world. The once peaceful landscapes were torn apart, deforming and reshaping their natural geometries and thus the reality itself in a surrealistic fashion.

Each image is drawn to vaguely mimic a pencil-like texture. Firstly to remind of something familiar and subsequently emitting a peculiar and eerie feeling. Did this event happen and was it witnessed by a carbon-based life-form?

The project invites the viewer to ponder the different scenarios of what might have transpired in the past that lead the universe to its doom. Although one interpretation can be deciphered from the partially corrupted transmission below, it is not necessarily the true explanation.


The only thing that is known, is that all life ceased to exist in this ancient universe long time ago. Its tale lives on, but only as a memory and as a reminder to us all that life can be fragile and fleeting, albeit beautiful and precious.

## The Story

*”If anyone listens .. …. recording …. ….. ….. .. a warning …. …. will happen .. your world. We didn’t …. …. .. our universe, ……. we drained … ….. resource ….. .. couldn’t sustain … life …. any longer. The great collapse .. moments away … this will .. … end .. our story. Do not …… our mistakes. Most importantly … …. prevent ….. …. ……… ….. world .. … ……. ……… at any cost. This is our final transmission.”*

Just as the transmission ends, a sudden flash of dreamlike images flashes through your mind, leaving a vivid imprint. These were the final moments of an ancient, distant and long forgotten universe. The rush is too much to handle and you faint. You wake up and immediately start looking for the recording but it's gone. You remember everything as clear as day, but was it just a dream?

## The Details

There are several main scenes, which depict the specific stage that the end has advanced to. The predominantly or entirely black and white and the muted palettes give a sense of silence and solitude. Meanwhile other palettes disturb that calmness. Some palettes remind of colors in nature, but most are chosen and used in unnatural manner touching the style of expressionism.

Pressing "s" saves a screenshot at any point during the rendering. Pressing "p" pauses and unpauses the rendering. Pressing up or down arrow increases or decreases the drawing animation speed.

Ad Extremum Terrae

Today the base orbiter has started to move. Oscillating harvesters had the ability to generate an enormous amount of self-sustaining energy. They seem to establish parallel communication in resonance with cosmic frequencies but I find myself unable to decode the signal into anything meaningful.

Art Blocks Presents

Dive #88

Rafaël Rozendaal

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