Motion

These four pieces come from a series of studies that I've done over the past year in which I've used a physics simulator to create movement. By simulating gravitational forces, springs, masses, momentum and friction, the shapes in the artwork both attract and repel. By tuning the simulated forces, the works generate different kinds of motion. In the first piece motion is the result of the user input. With no input the piece eventually stops moving. The remaining three pieces use gravitational and spring forces to create inherently chaotic systems. Their quest for stability results in perpetual motion.

In a painting, each brushstroke records the motion of the artists hand. The painting is the result of the accumulated movements of the artists hand over time. In software, it is the algorithm, not brushstrokes, that creates the visual nature of the work. An algorithm is also a record, in a sense, but not of motion. An algorithm is a set of instructions that describes actions and logical relationships. It is a record of many potential actions that can be enacted when the algorithm is executed.

You could say that the algorithms in these artworks store many potential motions. The actual movement that occurs when the algorithm "plays out" may vary widely depending on actions that the user takes as they interact, but the movement is still generated by the algorithm and so has the character given by that algorithm. The algorithm is a record of decisions made by the artist, to allow or disallow possibilities, for instance to create strong attractions or repulsions, to slow the motion down, or speed it up. In these works I am encoding potential for certain types of motion: attraction, orbiting, bouncing, slow motion, fast, rotation, linear. These qualities are the building blocks of the artwork, but what plays out on the screen is motion. It is action over time.

by mark napier (potatoland.org)

Requires Java 1.4 available at Java.com. See potatoland.org/openjava for samples of physics code.

Special thanks to Creative Capital and The Alternative Museum for supporting the development of the physics code that was used in these pieces.