CLOCKWISE

A visual
paradox of
space & time

CLOCKWISE

Clockwise (2021) is a generative and experimental audiovisual piece that explores the concept of space-time, Zeno’s paradoxes related to the infinite subdivision of the units of measurement of space and time (dichotomy and arrow paradoxes), and their experimental abstract audiovisual representations.

It was a wonderful opportunity to explore recursion programming technique in animated visual outputs, and concretelly in diferent polygon subdivision algorithms. It was a nostalgic back to Maths and Technical Drawing lessons in school, remembering how to draw regular polygons, and calculate centroids, intersections, bisections and many other geometric concepts.

The project started during an experimental studio session with composer/producer Daniele Carmosino and composer/pianist Mark Aanderud. During the session they modified the piano adding a layer of tissue paper between the piano hammers and the strings, creating a beautiful percussive crispy sound that inspired a very rhythmic improvisation by Mark. That was the base on which Daniele created the rest of the track, recording an opera singer and live horns and manipulating the sound through analogue gear. The track was then mixed and mastered by Juan Ribes at Ribes Mastering.

The abstract analysis of the world by mathematics and physics rests on the concepts of space and time.

James J. Gibson

Once the music was composed, I generated the Clockwise visuals through creative programming with the use of different algorithms of recursive polygon subdivision, motion graphics techniques, computational complexity (cellular automata and generative grammars), randomness, audio-reactivity based on the analysis of the fast Fourier transform (FFT), and a touch of human-machine interaction.

Clockwise: (adjective / adverb) “in the direction in which the hands of a clock move”.

Cambridge Dictionary

Different geometric patterns emerge chaotically in the audiovisual piece as they are recursively decomposed and subdivided using randomness, noise and data extracted from the audio to determine the polygonal subdivision technique to apply, the color palette to use, 3d transformation properties (position, scale and rotation) and many other visual aspects. The visual research and design was inspired by the mosaics of the pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi and the tapestries of Gunta Stölzl and the Bauhaus school, but applying a very close approach to pixel art and visual music.


FULL VIDEO


FAVE OUTPUTS

GEOMotion 1

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GEOMOTION 2

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GEOMOTION 3

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GEOMOTION 4

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GEOMOTION 5

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Geometric Motions


FESTIVALS & EXHIBITIONS

oct 2023

16ª BAIXADA ANIMADA

Mostra Ibero-Americana de Cinema de Animação. Curtas Ibero-Americanos. São João de Meriti, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. http://www.baixadaanimada.com.br/

SEP 2023

Digerati Emergent Media Festival

Digerati Emergent Media Festival (Formerly Supernova Digital Animation Festival) at Denver, Colorado. USA. https://www.denverdigerati.org/

MAR 2023

Happy Valley Animation Festival

Happy Valley Animation Festival at Digital Arts – School of Visual Arts (SoVA) State College, Penn State. USA. https://happyvalleyanimationfestival.org/

FEB 2023

QUANTUM SHORTS

Quantum Shorts at Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, Singapore. https://shorts.quantumlah.org/

NOV 2022

Cinematika Festival

Cinematika Festival (24th Nov, 2022). Category: music video. Sopot – Poland.
http://cinematika.pl/

NOV 2022

17 Days Video Series

Western Michigan University, Gwen Frostic School of Art. Kalamazoo, Michigan. USA. https://17days.wordpress.com/

NOV 2022

CICSEP 2022

China International Conference of Science and Education Producers. Category: Science Animation. Haidian District, Beijing – China. http://www.cicsep.com/

AUG 2022

ELO(KUVA)KUU

International short film event in Koskikeskus, Tampere (4th – 19th, Aug. 2022) – Finland. Category: experimental / animation short films. https://www.galleriakyy.com/elokuvakuu

AUG 2022

Hiroshima Animation Season

Hiroshima Animation Season 2022 | Visual Poetry. Jury’s Personal Pick by Daito Manabe. Kakomachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima City – Japan. https://animation2022.hiroshimafest.org/en/

MAy 2022

ALC videoart festival

Museoverse” at MACA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante). Plaza Sta. María, 3 Alicante – Spain. https://alcvideoartfestival.pb.studio/2022

sep 2021

ATHENS DIGITAL ARTS FESTIVAL XVII

ADAF 2021 – “Tactus” | Hybrid Edition. Videoart Category. (Sept – Oct 2021). Athens – Greece.
https://www.adaf.gr/

SEP 2021

SIMULTAN FESTIVAL XVI

“Unstable State of Things” – Simultan Festival (Sept 2021). Multiplexity, Timisoara – Romania.
http://www.simultan.org/2021/  

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