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 🌐

As the temperature reads 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius), the hottest on record in the spot where I stand, my shoes are melting into the asphalt and my vision is blurred. I wonder how we got here from those rainy springs and where we will go. The heat’s visible haze makes me doubt the possibility of future Augusts spent outdoors. It is in this haze that *chaos comes with the summer haze* takes form. 

My inspiration is from both beauty and fear - the beauty of the land, the water, the flowers, the beauty of paint and code, the beauty of humanity – the fear of panic and mob mentalities, the fear of incongruity and environmental collapse, the fear of humankind. It is from the obsessiveness, visual overload, content overload, and our aching yet hopeful eyes as we stare towards the horizon.

*chaos comes with the summer haze* is specifically aligned with my art practice, which for decades has attempted to address technology, climate change, human irrationality and human rights, while being unencumbered by limitations of medium. Whether it is dragging paintings in the ocean, writing a new constitution, or encoding this Project, all have the same goal - creating impressions that are pleasing while acting as guideposts or warnings. Here, I’ve ratcheted up the intensity of everything. The breadth of coloration, brushstrokes and variety of possible outputs push dramatically in a way only possible through the generative process. Many times, I feel the code taking over the composition with the intent of heightening the chaos itself, perhaps adding an exclamation point to the warning therein.

Visually, it is symptomatic of both human and earthly chaos. The earthly ‘gestalts’ are the seas rising and the clouds gathering. The ‘meltdowns’ are the human brushstrokes that feel panicked, despite being controlled. They are haphazard, geometric and duplicative. They obscure reality. The handpicked colors touch the rainbow of possibilities, but are affected by that summer haze. The ‘shadow frequency’ demonstrates content overload, duplication and machine learning, all creating further feelings of distress.  There are layers and layers of possibilities – of coffee stains, of visual heat, of faces, of ideas, of dimensional portals, of the future...

*The Rising Edition* 

The first 46 minters (tokens #1-46) will receive *The Rising Edition* physical collection as a gift, which includes:

* A unique print of the minter’s piece, printed on archival Hahnemühle German etching paper, mounted on 16” x 12” (40.6 cm x 30.5 cm) varnished maple board, signed and titled on verso. 

* A sculpture featuring a porcelain blanketed rock - discovered, shaped and fired by the Artist. 

* A limited edition hardcover, linen wrapped visual compendium chronicling the conceptual theory and production of the work, signed and numbered.

Please visit the Project’s website for images of the Rising Edition and further details on the Project.

*Controls*

p - for a high resolution (6000 x 7200 pixels) printable version 
s - to save the image as a png file

chaos comes with the summer haze

Neophyte MMXXII is my ode to the computational beauty of nature. Generative plants grow from nothingness, bloom, fade away, and regrow anew. Each NFT produces a unique species of simulated plant life, and new varieties within that species arise over time. 

The emergent qualities of the genetic code cause Neophyte to ebb and flow between stability and unpredictability. Long term observation is rewarded, as the longest cycles take several hours to complete. These qualities combined, result in artworks which may be cyclical and relatively stable, or may never repeat themselves. 

Neophyte MMXXII is the culmination of an artistic inquiry spanning ten years, five software development environments, and a dozen artworks. If you’d like to learn more about this history, please visit my website.


A note to collectors: 

Collectors of the first 25 editions to be minted may request a signed 19.5x12" (50x30cm) printed circuit board artwork commemorating the release of Neophyte MMXXII at no additional charge. See @sterlingcrispin on Twitter or sterlingcrispin.com for more details.

Neophyte MMXXII is released under the NFT license 2.0, so collectors are free to make prints of their token, and commercialize them within limits. See the NFT license for details.

Neophyte MMXXII

OCTO GARDEN produces tightly wrapped spiral forms resembling moss or lichen. Occasionally, those structures will unfurl, revealing a beautiful Octopus. Some appear highly ordered. But others are more unruly.

Octo Garden

An evolving generative art project, inspired by the longing to connect with nature. It explores the relationship between art, code and nature. - "Becoming the Mountains and Rivers". 
The series explores the mythic idea of a time that came before, when we were one with nature and ourselves. This landscape refuses to hold still. Instead, the viewer is asked to contemplate about being the constant in this ever changing space. They are the only thing that can create a true moment in an otherwise fluid and dynamic world. The piece invites viewers to become fully immersed in the landscape, to contemplate their own inner zen and to feel a sense of calm and peace as they watch the land, water, and sky move and flow. It is an invitation to appreciate the beauty of nature and to reflect on the endless yearning for completeness that we all experience at some point in our lives. Like a postcard that transports us to another time, or a memory that provokes feelings of longing and missing, "Longing" invites us to reconnect with ourselves and to find peace in the ever-flowing river of life in the current moment.

The piece uses generative code to create a space where one can appreciate the beauty of nature while gaining a new perspective on how we perceive art. Instead of presenting viewers with the conventional form of a painting’s static view-through-the-window, Longing takes viewers into a living and breathing artwork. Just as nature moves in patterns that we know how to anticipate but can’t predict, Longing also moves in ever-evolving patterns that are both comforting and surprising. In this way, Longing challenges the static nature of painting while testing out where digital art can take us—is this a form of art that is in sync with nature? Or does it take us further away by inserting additional layers of mediation? Longing does not answer these questions, but it helps us contemplate possible responses, and pushes us to reconsider the nature and purpose of art in the 21st century.

Technical details
Immersive~ The artwork would fit any format ratio and resolution, hit full screen to widen the view and experience the work in landscape formats.

Evolving~ Movement: Time lapse after draw starting at the featured time and transitioning to the local time of the work, when local time is settled the work will display the current time and evolve the sky with it. Accompanied with the slow movement of colors ramps in the landscape, and water rippling.

Output~ 
~Press "s" to save a .PNG file at any stage at current resolution. 
~Press "p" to render and save a high resolution .PNG file for print x3 current resolution.

Created and developed by Ronen Tanchum and Ori Ben Shabat

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Time Atlas 🌐 #254

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