**Blind Spots** is a series of abstract intimate portraits that distill human existence into two elements, the hidden essence of consciousness and the tangible shell of personality.

These elements are represented in the form of a glass sculpture. The first element within the sculpture, akin to a black hole, is a shape that defines itself through the surrounding characteristics it draws in. This halo of characteristics, like a beautifully radiant glass cover, symbolizes the constructed personality. Casting light on these black shapes, shielded by the identities they exhibit, the algorithm invites us to question our perceptions of those we encounter. How deeply do we truly know the people in our lives? It challenges us to consider if changing the perspective could alter our perception of them, while also offering the opportunity to simulate such a change with the help of animation. Perhaps the nature of our identities is as varied as the angles from which they are viewed?

Blind Spots serves as a depiction of my mental journey, transforming abstract thought patterns into a solidified artifact in the medium of generative art. The narrative is inspired by the diverse ways in which we perceive each other, a theme born from countless personal encounters. From a technical standpoint, it steps into uncharted territory for me, being the first artwork to emphasize high-resolution printing capabilities while maintaining real-time animation, a central element in my artwork. It is also my first on-chain project, prompting a restructure of the previous workflows.

Visually inspired by *Iittala - Kaleidoscope* exhibition, which displayed a mesmerizing interplay of glass sculptures and light, Blind Spots features a gradient backdrop punctuated by black shapes that undulate under the influence of a transmission shader, mimicking the iridescent shimmer of pearls. The geometry of the glass cover is crafted through the algorithmic movement of two curves revolving around each other. To produce high-resolution images suitable for printing, a bucket rendering technique with overscan was developed.

Articulated through two elements within each portrait, Blind Spots presents a visual metaphor for a human. This duality also echoes our presence on social media — carefully crafted showcases projecting a polished persona while concealing the authentic self. Together, the elements form a unique character from every point of view.

## Controls
- [ click ] - toggle animation
- [ s ] - save the current frame as an image

## URL parameters (see display notes)
- [ ?animate ] - animation on by default
- [ ?fill ] - responsive version to fill the browse
- [ ?width=x ] - render image with x width
- [ ?print ] - enable high-resolution mode (eg. ?print&width=10000)
- [ ?grainSamples=x ] - between 1 - 10
- [ ?refractSamples=x ] - between 1 - 5

Blind Spots

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

Immaterial is a long form generative series exploring synthetic biology and botany through a combination of algorithms inspired by natural systems, such as recursion, growth, fluidity and fractal-noise. Originally influenced by the underlying structure of fungi gills, the series explores a wide range of formations and life forms, referencing possible futures where digital and organic systems merge. Through an interplay of 3D- and 2D-aesthetics, each iteration of the series generates a unique tapestry of shades and shapes aimed at creating space for interpretation, rather then directly mimicking the natural world.

Although each individual output of the algorithm ends up as an (almost) static composition, the motion leading up to this point is integral to the concept and experience of the artwork. Like in nature, simple rules define how the complexity of organic material unfold from a set of initial conditions. In this series the viewer is exposed to the process of how a seed grows into a fully fledged organism, revealing the underlying rule-based structure of both natural and digital systems.

_Immaterial is best displayed on vertically oriented screens. To ensure optimal performance, please view the artwork in a modern browser (preferably chrome) on a computer with a decent graphics card._

Keys
[space] - Pause animation
[s] - Download image
[w] - View wireframe

Immaterial

From chaos we find order.

With Dead Air I hope to find just enough order in a form of chaos that I've worked with from my earliest code-based artworks: analog video and television noise, or static.  Static is chaos at its simplest and finest; random, confused pixels with no organization fighting across the screen.  But amongst this chaos, a beauty can be found. Even in the act of giving it a name, we start to turn the chaos into order, the random pixels into static. The individual pixels, looked at closely, still show the characteristic trait of disorder, but as a whole, its an idea we understand.

Dead air is the concept of silence during a broadcast, and here I imagine it to represent the loss of a signal, the static taking over to kill the order that was present before. All individual blocks in these outputs are made up of static: random pixels with just a hint of order to turn them into art. In the end, we have a grid of squares, with each square made up of its own square grid. The entire work is created from these small individual squares or pixels, over a half a million tiny pixels building up to the full work. Zoom in and you can see the chaos, zoom out and you see the order.

Each square of the larger grid can be seen as its own separate generative work, with a random mix of pixels drawn for each.  There are three types of patterns used: random, shaded, and gradient.  Random patterns are absolute static: random pixels of two colors, four colors, or any random rgb value.  Shaded patterns are random individual shades of a single base color.  Gradient patterns can be straight or centered.  Straight patterns increase or decrase randomly from the top or left, while centered patterns randomly select more or less pixels near the center.

As these patterns are selected for each output, a layer of order is needed to give some meaning to the work. Bitwise operations, Perlin noise, and trigonometric functions are used to create a flow between patterns, building on my knowledge from past grid based works like Over the Air, Ode to Untitled, and Mellifera.  Once the final work is drawn, we are left with static static: a still image, made up of individual chaotic pixels, with just enough order to make art.

Each work can be oriented in four different configurations using the S (Spin) and M (Mirror) keys.
High-resolution, print-ready outputs are available with the 1 (3000 x 4500), 2 (6000 x 9000), and 3 (9000 x 13500) keys.
See Display Notes for more information.

Dead Air

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