Paul Prudence

from http://www.transphormetic.com/

"An autotroph (from the Greek autos = self and trophe = nutrition, is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light or inorganic chemical reactions. Constructed using simulated video feedback."





Built with VVVV, Talysis applies the properties of signal feedback in the same way one might use a recursive function within a computer algorithm to build self-similar & complex structures.

Richard A. Kirk

from http://www.richardakirk.com/

"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion" -- Sir Frances Bacon.

"Richard A. Kirk is a prolific Canadian visual artist and illustrator. His fine art work is centered on images that explore the liminal space between imagination and reality; a pictorial space where a personal iconography manifests in protean forms that challenge conventional notions of the beautiful and the grotesque. Richard is interested in the forms found in nature, the morphology of plants and animals, and the effect of time on materials. Richard works in a number of mediums including: pen and ink, silverpoint, watercolor, and oil. He also works with found materials such as metal, rust, rubber, fossils, bones and text."

John Pierro

http://johnpierro.com/

Nervo.tv

Nervo is a design and animation studio led by Nando Costa & music by Darrin Wiener.

birds were done in part with processing

http://nervo.tv/

On Haekel

from "Brief Instructions to Viewing Haeckel's Pictures"
-- By Olaf Breidbach

"For Haeckel, the illustration is not a depiction of existing knowledge, but is itself the acquisition of knowledge of nature. The truths of nature are seen. Accordingly, Haeckel's Art Forms in Nature is not merely a set of examples, which with each detail reveals part of the whole. It demonstrates naturalness itself. By revealing the form of nature, knowledge of nature may be ascertained, which, according to Haeckel, should not be restricted to branches of natural science following experimental agendas. Knowledge of nature is "natural aesthetics". Accordingly, aesthetics are nothing more than reflections of nature itself. Nature, which develops out of and into itself, is "beautiful".


"Our knowledge -- which has developed in and is subject to the laws of nature -- is in itself nature (and, according to Haeckel, nothing more). The draftsman, his sensory organs, his motor activity, are results of a development with which, in the end, nature merely represents itself. Haeckel's comprehensive conception of the world, his adherence to monism, which he expounded upon in Die Weltrathsel (Riddle of the Universe), is based on this notion of knowledge of nature and natural beauty and the biologism derived from it, but which appears purified in monism itself. Art Forms in Nature is also to be interpreted as part of this weltanschauung."


"Consequently, the pages of Art Forms in Nature took on a further dimension for Haeckel. The fact that the illustrations are "aesthetic," beautiful, and that this beauty is found in the smallest facets of nature -- such as in unicellular organisms or in the medusae of the deep sea -- demonstrated to Haeckel that one finds in the smallest living things what distinguishes, or what at least should distinguish, humans in their judgements: "spirit". The beauty of these miniscule creatures revealed to him the natural quality of one of the largest forms of life -- human beings. Haeckel maintained that to be part of nature is to be an element in and the result of the evolutionary process. Accordingly, the phylogeny of forms is simultaneously the phylogeny of the spirit."

Michael Hansmeyer

Lindenmayer Systems: Introduction
by Michael Hansmeyer

"For centuries, architects have been inspired by nature's forms and geometries. Their designs have been influenced by nature's structures, proportions, colors, patterns and textures. Architects have incorporated these influences in what has been primarily an empirical process.

It is only in the past decades that much of the underlying logic and mathematics of nature's forms has been better understood. In the late 1960s, the biologist Aristid Lindenmayer proposed a string-rewriting algorithm with which one can model plants and their growth processes. This theory is known as L-Systems.

More recently, advances have been made in architecture in the field of modeling and visualization. Specifically, the integration of scripting languages into CAD applications enables direct visualization of objects generated using algorithmic processes.

This project examines whether these two developments together open up new possibilities in the field of architecture. Can the logic of nature's growth processes function as a generator of architectural design? At what scale and at what level can L-systems be applied to the production of architectural form?"

http://www.michael-hansmeyer.com/

Felix Machines

from gasworks.org

"Felix’s Machines are a series of extraordinary mechanical instruments put together by the artist and musician Felix Thorn in his South London bedroom. The project, which began in 2006, is continuously evolving and will do so throughout and after its time at Gasworks. During the exhibition, musicians and producers will respond to Felix’s Machines in a series of events exploring its musical potential.

When connected to a computer, Felix’s Machines translate Thorn’s compositions into mechanical actions performed by customised drums and piano parts and animated by solenoids, springs and motors. In this way, an electronic means of production is transposed into an acoustic output. Each element of the machine has its own light emitting diode (LED). In the darkened space of the gallery, this creates an arrangement of coloured projections illuminating the sound source and synchronised with the music.

Felix’s Machines developed from the artist’s desire to have his compositions played without a performer. As such Thorn looks to focus the listeners’ experience onto the visual representation of the music’s structure: combining sound, visual motion and flicker into an experience that stimulates and intensifies perception."

download > > openmusicarchive.org

Andy Goldsworthy "River's & Tides"

Andy Goldsworthy's art involves the use of natural and found objects, to create both temporary and permanent sculptures which draw out the character of their environment.

"I find some of my new works disturbing, just as I find nature as a whole disturbing. The landscape is often perceived as pastoral, pretty, beautiful – something to be enjoyed as a backdrop to your weekend before going back to the nitty-gritty of urban life. But anybody who works the land knows it's not like that. Nature can be harsh – difficult and brutal, as well as beautiful. You couldn't walk five minutes from here without coming across something that is dead or decaying." -- Andy Goldsworthy



I found this endearing and quite hilarious!

Liquid Journey (Gary Stasiuk)

http://www.liquidjourney.com/fitc/index.html

new illustrations

by agraphia

The Visible Human Project

"This movie contains over 1800 cross-section images of a male body. To obtain these images, the body of an executed murderer was embedded in gelatin, frozen, sliced crosswise into more than 1800 millimeter slices, then digitally photographed - resulting in over 15 gigabytes of data."