Fluid Leaves

I chose this Fluid Leaves project from the Processing exhibition. This project is a way for variable patterns to be continuously created and printed. These patterns were generated by simulating tea leaves floating on steeping tea. A brute force shape packing algorithm makes sure that none of the leaves overlap. The initial patterns were basic geometric functions, but they were developed to include fluid dynamics. In addition, the structure of each base leaf form can be customized with every iteration. The number of veins, distribution, rotation, length, and etc can all be changed so that the leaves can have the most organic shape.

This project started out of a tea boutique in Xian, and they use these randomly generated designs on their cups. I thought that this was a really elegant way to come up with new, unique patterns for printing.

Stippling

Robert Hodgin

Hodgin created a stippling algorithm for reproducing images as dot patterns using p5js. Whenever an image is loaded, the pixel information of that image is stored in an array. The space on the screen is populated with magnetic particles that spread out by pushing away other particles.

Particles that need to represent blackness grow smaller and their magnetic charge diminished accordingly. Particles that need to represent white grow larger as does its charge. After adding a thousands of particles into the scene, you will be able to get particles that spread out in an organically pleasing manner.

This project is called Fluid Leaves and it was created by a designer from New Zealand called Reinoud van Laar for a tea boutique called ‘Tee & Cupp.’
Inspired by the leaves used to brew tea, leaf patterns are generated to be printed on paper cups. Because the algorithm is random, each paper cup is unique. The designer started with geometric functions, and developed a fluid aesthetic to match the movement of tea leaves in water.
I found this fascinating because it was a physical application of processing to a product for a business, rather than a strictly digital work.

I chose meme.garden, which uses the word searches of its users to create “gardens” as shown in the picture above. As the user searches for words, they are “planting” a seed from their word. The tree grows based on the the user’s interactions with the words associated to their search and as well as other users’ trees. These word searches and interactions reflect what the user is interested in, and thus with time, these trees can represent the user’s changing interests. While this may not seem like a traditional form of art, the interactivity of the piece and what it says about the user, is to me in fact art.

The girl in the picture has two different sides, one side is plain and dull but the other side is colorful and exciting. Normally a lot of people see engineering as “dull”, “boring” and “nerdy” but I think engineering can also be a  different form of art. We can use programming languages to create moving images and make sound.

When I first saw this picture, I immediately feel like this girl is just like me. There are two sides of me, one side is just quiet, boring and even a little bit nerdy at times; but I also have this side of me that is creative, artistic and fun. I love technology and engineering but I also cannot stand only doing engineering stuff, so I think IDM is perfect for me because its the combination of both. Engineering and art can be very different but they can also be very similar to each other.

Multiverse is an artistic installation created by fuse that visualizes the multiverse theory concocted by Lee Smolin. The installation is composed of a digital display projected on a vertical screen and mirrors at it’s foot and head to generate an infinite number of reflections of said display. The display cycles through images generated by an openFrameworks application. While the physics in each generated image remains constant, randomly assigned parameters allow the application to generate a variety of images as infinite as the universes they represent.

There is an ingenuity in this work that fascinates me. The artist brilliantly captures the daunting concept of infinity through the parallel mirrors and randomly generated scenes whilst maintaining the constant of life and death through the physics. Furthermore, there is a remarkable poetry in allowing randomness to act on the piece as the enigmatic universe acts upon us.

Zach Lieberman worked on a software that allows you to use your eye’s movements to create art. The image in the picture is composed of arrows that are going through different directions, creating words that are a yellow color. The darker color in the back that is like a red/orange color and black lines that give it the letters a 3D effect. In the back of the words there are turquoise shapes that are different sizes. The image spells out the word “tempt”.

I really think that type of concept is unique because being able to use a software that allows your eyes to create art is different and something that is not really seen.

The work was created by user Playgrdstar using p5.js. It is constantly changing its shape , angle, diameter and colour. It constitutes  shapes in different dimensions. The distortion  seems random as the shapes transit, but shapes before and after distortion are programmed to have specific characteristics. They look symmetrical from time to time.

This image fascinates me because it’s a combination of randomness and computation. The blob looks just like the view inside a kaleidoscope, or pinkish ink dropping in water unpredictably. But codes can actually take control of this randomness and make it predictable and measurable. I’m excited about what programmers can do to create ‘rational’ artworks.

I was browsing through the list of artists listed on the site, and I came across Mary Flanagan’s [unnatural elements: avatar portraits]. The project initially took on a focus on how our “virtual personae and figures [that] we create in online space” compare to our personae and figures in reality. The team used computer software to construct a 3D portrait without using other commonly-used “Hollywood” software to smooth out the rough edges that most films do. During the project, Flanagan and her team realize that the computer is creating a portrait that has a stark resemblance to that of natural edges and shapes, specifically rocks and earth. Flanagan describes that the computer is disturbingly more “realistic” and natural than reality itself, in a way.

What made me take interest in this project is the initial focus of the project: how our virtual selves compare to our real selves. Our generation grew up with social media and other mediums from a very early age–not as early as younger kids–but nevertheless, we are very accustomed to social media and online networking. The twist that this project took was very interesting personally: how our virtual figures, when constructed entirely by a computer, is disturbingly more realistic than our own selves.