Module 1: Generative Art
Siena Cizdziel, 9/20/2022
Group: Evan Kirkiles, Ansel Bobrow, Alice Zhang, Siena Cizdziel
We developed a program to discover the mapping of screen space to physical space in LEEDS. The code, images of the space, and README with more information are located at this repository: ‣.
One of the unique things about generative art is that it has the capacity to evolve over time. Through exploring generative art, I began to notice the parallels it shares with nature: patterns, randomness, evolution over time, movement. I thought the best way to demonstrate this was through a dynamic piece of an aerial view of a landscape, particularly one with water, using the screens in the space as windows looking from above.
In the initial stages of planning, photos like these inspired me to try to create a wave, making an image like this dynamic.
To begin, I used techniques such as parametrization and trigonometry to create a wave that spanned the expanse of the six screens; I wanted this to be a seamless, continuous connection that linked each screen together, to create a cohesive piece in the LEEDS space.
Afterwards, I saw an opportunity to break this pattern with randomness, through color and objects. I wanted to introduce a manmade element into my landscape, complete with bright colored objects and unpredictable movements, to show the impact of humans on natural spaces. The beach marries both natural and manmade; looking out at the ocean, we see the patterns and movement of nature, but turning back to the sand, we can see people crowding the beach, coming and going periodically.
A photo I took at the Dollywood amusement park last year. I loved the colors!
An umbrella in my art piece.
A bird’s eye view of a beach… water, sand, and people.
Of course, I don’t have the capacity or time to create a lifelike dynamic image in Processing. So instead, I made my own, somewhat more abstract, take on a beach from above, making sure to highlight the randomness, color, parametrization, shapes, and movement characteristic of dynamic generative art. I hope you enjoy!
Because LEEDS consists of six projector displays spread unevenly along a wall, I wanted to create a cohesive image that spanned the screens. I decided to make one large wave that passes through the center of each screen. This wave would be coded to match the physical space in between each window, so that it looks to be continuous behind the wall. Because of the way the displays are mapped horizontally to vertically, this required a lot of additional math and testing in the physical space.
To fill the rest of the window space and create the illusion of movement, I created a textured background of squares of various opacities and added the random opening, closing, and spinning of colorful umbrellas across the screens. Umbrellas are randomly assigned to locations across the six windows, so there is no deterministic count of umbrellas in any one screen.
I first coded my entire piece in p5.js, under the impression that I would display these images fullscreen in two separate browsers (one for each display). Testing this in the physical world presented a problem: I could not easily communicate between two browsers to start the waves at the same time. I ended up rewriting all of my code in Java in Processing, so that I could manually make my full screen fill up both displays. Though this was a pain, in the end it was the best choice.