I've been fascinated with the idea of using the Computer to visually enumerate all possible states in a system. Typically, a long-form art collection has 100s of mints, chosen from billions of billions of possible outputs. However, it is totally possible and (in my opinion) fascinating to explore much more constrained systems, ones where we can express and appreciate each item of the enumeration in the context of all possible outputs.

This series, "7 Factorial", represents one of the simplest possible enumerations, namely all of the ways to permute (order) a set of items. The permutations are drawn as sorting networks, visualizing each permutation as the displacement of its constituent elements. With 7 items, there are 5040 possible permutations. Yet despite such a simple formulation, the range of outputs is both surprising and beautiful.

In celebration of this minimal, structured, yet spontaneously-arising diversity of forms, each of the 19 mints available in “7 Factorial” will be a randomly chosen permutation of 5040. To properly appreciate the full parameter space, and contextualize each of the 19 chosen mints within it, each minter will later be airdropped the full 5040 permutations with the 19 “realized” editions highlighted.

7 Factorial

circles is a generative script composed on a letter-sized piece of paper (8.5” x 11”). while circles is a digital artwork, the material of the piece refers to the dithering found when printing on common b/w laser printers. each output is a step by step guide on how to draw a circle ... programmatic interferences of time and light distorts each attempt to render a circle(s) creating compositions of imperfection with hopes to create something new.

◯ circle(s)

I have been long interested in education and generative art, approaching them separately most of the time. This artwork tries to get them closer in my practice, by letting the experiencer of the piece finish it by creating a part of it with a rule-based system, to mimic what the system does but at a smaller scale. This little game is not just a playful addition, but a fundamental part of the artwork, without which the piece is not complete.  The title is drawn from the idea that generative art can take you to explore every corner of a given space of possibilities, finding the strange things (extrañezas) along the way. Also, exploring the what ifs when some rules are broken. And experiencing it in first person.

The piece aims to show various parts of how I create my pieces, by showing the different layers it is composed of and letting the experiencer finalise the artwork by having to recreate step by step what the algorithm has done to create the intermediate work. Art has this tremendous power to engage, to attract, to let the observer get carried away in their own inner world as a reaction to what the piece proposes. I believe the positive impact of a piece in the experiencer can be then increased if they can understand better the process that creates the piece.

The piece creates a base layer of colour shapes, rather informal and basic. It then uses vertical lines to add rhythm to it, and a distortion layer to generate a more intricate canvas. The lines layer is then used again to act as a mask, effectively creating windows into the layer with the simple shapes. The experiencer then has to find the way to ask the piece to play a game (hint: most of my pieces accept written commands). When they are rewarded with this possibility, the piece writes in the browser console (press cmd+shift+i / ctrl+shift+i  to see it in most browsers) a set of instructions of what to to next. The experiencer can then finish the piece with their own intent. In a way, it's a performance of the piece. A way to make it more personal. Or to just wander around with no intention. Relaxing our thoughts with pure play is something we seldom do as adults, yet it is the source of new thoughts, ideas, or a way to find inner equilibrium.

Aesthetically, it is furthering the exploration of colour that I have been doing in most of my pieces. A clear reference to me is František Kupka series of paintings made of vertical lines, of which "The cathedral" is one of the best known. While I had this in mind, I abandoned my original intention of creating a tribute to that series, but ended up visually close in some outputs.

The piece allows for further control. The instructions are written to the browser console when loading the piece. They can also be found in the Display Notes section, or in my website, https://www.iillucid.com/extranezas. A quick summary: press s to save current image, v followed by 1, 2, 3 or 0 to see all the layers in the image. Please try to find the hidden _game_. The piece is not complete without it.

Extrañezas

la caverna deals with the impossibility of seeing the absolute truth given our subjective minds and our subjective world. The title is a tribute to Plato’s allegory of the Cave, included in his work Republic. It does not only deal with the fact that what we perceive is affected by our senses and our mental state, which is a function of our genetic inheritance plus our life experiences, current and past, but it also is a reflection of today’s world, where a fabricated reality is no longer distinguishable from what it really is. What is reality today?

The artwork creates a set of basic volumes, inspired in the platonic forms, which represent a potential ideal reality. It then presents a distorted view of that reality through several steps of distortion. The artwork also presents, in separate tokens, the undistorted reality and a representation of the layer that transforms that reality into what the observer can see in the first token.  The two tokens that represent these other elements will be available to redeem for free at a later stage to collectors who own the first piece (this token) at the time of claiming the rest of the triptych. The three tokens are included in the price of the first token’s mint. 

The artwork allows to refine the view (simulating more light, creating stronger images) pressing "r". You can save the current image pressing "s". You can decrease/increase the resolution appending in live view the URL parameter ?globalResK=2 (for example). By default, globalResK is 1. You can go as high as your graphics card can handle.

Made with vanilla javascript and glsl, no additional libraries or external dependencies. Thanks to @greggman @iquilezles @piterpasma for sharing knowledge about webgl and raymarching. I hope I know something someday to share that little bit.

Tested to work fine on Chrome, Safari, Brave on macos, Chrome, Safari, Firefox iOS, Edge Windows. Firefox macos fails to render the image correctly. Please check before you purchase.

la caverna

Ephemeral Tides is an exploration of the mesmerizing dance between chaos and control where unpredictability meets order. Each iteration of Ephemeral Tides brings forth a unique and fleeting moment, inviting viewers to embrace the beauty of impermanence and the subtle harmony that arises from the convergence of seemingly opposing forces. Experience the ebb and flow of Ephemeral Tides.

Press the "S" key to save the image, or "P" to export a high-resolution print.

Art Blocks Flex

Ephemeral Tides

Ryan Bell

About Ephemeral Tides

Ryan Bell

Open algorithmic edition

Additional details

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