When does a work stop being the representation of our world and become art?
Can we appreciate a work of art without measuring it with our space-time parameters?
In Time Atlas 🌐 the link with our Earth shaped over millennia through the urbanization process is explicit.
Time Atlas 🌐 uses geo-referenced city data intensively and displays it randomly in geographic areas, showing the current time of each city, whether it is currently exposed to the sun, at night or at dusk by changing the reference color palette . There are over 200 cities collected in its monumental internal archive, each with its own latitude and longitude values, UTC and DST time, number of inhabitants.
Each instance shows a square of our land, the cities arrange you in a grid that respects the distances in proportion. The background rotates to the current value of seconds which is the same all over the world. It is potentially composed of 8 geometric elements that can be present with different probabilities.
City clocks can be of 4 different shapes; the length of the pendulum that rotates with the time of the seconds is composed of 5 elements that combine randomly but the length of the pendulum corresponds to the number of inhabitants of that city.
The elements of the composition can be turned off and on again thanks to these keys:
[c] toggle cities
[w] toggle watches
[b] toggle background
Finally, there is the Written Circles variation. It takes up a past work of mine with the same title and in my initial idea it had to be the only aspect of Time Atlas 🌐. The salient feature of the Written Circles display is that it does not have a rotating background but, for each city, the crown of minutes is proportional to the number of inhabitants, therefore interesting moiré effects are obtained in superimposition. 

Time Atlas 🌐

A curious child, bored and uninspired,
Grasped a pen and a blank sheet of paper.
With a flick of the wrist, he began to draw,
Making small dots upon the page, unsure of what was in store.

But as he connected each dot with a line,
A diamond shape began to take form.
He smiled with pride as he looked upon his creation,
A masterpiece born from idle exploration.

Years passed and the boy grew into a man,
Sitting beside his computer, lost in thought.
A flash of inspiration brought him back to that day,
When he first discovered the beauty of the shape he had wrought.

He picked up his brush, and with a steady hand,
Began to recreate the shape once more.
Each stroke a memory, each line a reminder,
Of the wonder and joy he felt as a boy before.

With a final flourish, he sat back and admired,
His new creation, a work of art.
And as he looked upon it, he felt a sense of triumph,
For he had captured the magic of the child in his heart.

Imagine holding a pen and drawing with it backwards,
As if each layer of ink would lay under the stroke before,
A dance between past and present,
A fusion of childhood wonder and adult mastery, forevermore.

Backwards

In this collection, each mark on the digital canvas is made by text of the algorithm that created it. When viewing Symbol 1, you’re viewing its code – logic becoming art.

If you look closely at an oil painting you may see brushstrokes. If you look closely at an iteration of Symbol 1, you'll see snippets of the code that generates the piece itself: text from for() loops repeated over and over; the Random() function itself weaving through the piece; and the hash code, like an artist signature, displayed on the bottom right.

Organic and mechanical forces have long been in tension in art and architecture. Art nouveau's floral  curves vs. art deco's industrial geometry, Jackson Pollock's declaration “I am nature” vs. Andy Warhol's confession “I want to be a machine,” etc.

This conversation continues in generative art. One collection might appear surprisingly organic, as if crafted by hand; another might appear strictly computer generated, showing the expressive power of machines.

Symbol 1 joins this conversation, offering another way to synthesize the natural and the mechanical. Just as a crashing ocean wave could be explained mathematically by the forces that generated it, an image in Symbol 1 appears almost chaotic while revealing the logic that created it.

About the title: Symbol 1 is a term from First Principles, a chapter in The Mathematical Analysis of Logic (1847) by George Boole, a founder of modern logic. For Boole, “symbol 1” represents “the Universe comprehending every conceivable class of objects, whether actually existing or not.”

Symbol 1

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

**:: UMK [Ultra Mechanika]. Beyond technology ::**

Imagine a world where technology not only advances mechanically, but also adapts and changes in response to its environment. 

In this view, machines could evolve into a variety of forms, from biological and organic to architectural and industrial, each with its own unique capabilities and characteristics.

The UMK algorithm could be thought of as a life form that has evolved from a seed. Its DNA defines the way in which it grows and develops.

**:: Motivation ::**

UMK expands my previous explorations of the interaction between humans and technology. 

Previously, In the "Defrag Trilogy" (link in the website), I narrate a tale spanning three chapters, exploring the emotions we encounter as we mature amidst a technologically world. The conclusion: technology emerges victorious every time.

This time, I delve into the idea of a world where human intervention is not necessary, showcasing a hypothetical scenario where machines operate and evolve independently. What would self-evolving technology look like?

**:: Aesthetics ::**

As a devout admirer of Manga and graphic novels, the style of the artwork is centered around creating a hand-drawn, captivating one-page masterpiece. 

With UMK, I embark on a journey of maximalist illustration. A path that pushes the boundaries of my previous creations to achieve  figurative pieces that are both visually stunning and unpredictably intriguing.
 
This maximalist approach is designed to evoke a sense of wonder and exploration. The intricate use of textures and interlocking geometries invites the viewer to dive into the artwork and be entranced by the details and nuances. 

**:: Animation ::**

Animation is crafted to captivate and hold the viewer's attention. Sit back and savor the mesmerizing construction mechanics and the gentle flow of the subtle elements in the background.

**:: Final words ::**

In UMK there is a touch of the clean and dreamlike drawing of Jean Giraud (Moebius), the intricate technological structures of Katsuhiro Otomo, or the biomechanical orgies of H.R. Giger. These are some examples of artists who have left a lasting impression on me and whose works continue to shape my aesthetic sensibility.

Art lies within the code itself. When we view the outcome on the screen, we are witnessing the crystallization of the algorithm at a specific moment, under certain conditions. The code is immutable and the results are mere coincidence. 

Enjoy UMK.

**:: Interaction ::**

You can restart the animation or save it as a hi resolution PNG image.
Tap the screen or mouse click to show the reset/save buttons.
Also you can use keys: 'S' to save , 'R' to restart

Art Blocks Presents

Time Atlas 🌐 #54

Paolo Tonon

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