"Darwinian Straw Mirror" (2010) by Daniel Rozin

computer, custom software, video camera, screen display or projector
dimensions variable
edition of 6

"In the basis of this software art piece is Darwin's theory of random mutations followed by natural selection as the basis of evolution. In the case of Darwinian Straw Mirror, the evolutionary pressure pushes the piece to resemble the viewer's image, and as time goes by the software gets closer and closer to this goal. The process begins with the software randomly generating thousands of straw strands, with random placement on the screen, random rotation and random color (grays), then for each strand of straw, the software applies a process of selection, evaluating if the addition of this straw makes the overall image closer to the image of the viewer, if it does, then the straw stays, if not, then the straw is removed. By persistently repeating this process time after time, an abstract approximation of the viewers image emerges. As the image gets closer to that of the viewer, the evolutionary pressure lessens and even though the underlying process continues, less straws are added and eventually the image seams to become static, but any movement of the viewer will change this by resuming the pressure and the relentless straws will resume their dance. Graphically, the constraint of creating an image from elements that are endless straight lines is one I find very interesting, It is one that I am investigating in the piece X by Y as well, trying to image detailed scenes with endless lines alone creates interesting images that accentuate some features (elongated straight ones) and represses others (small, local detail) this creates an outcome that may resemble a quick charcoal sketch, but one must remember that this is all an outcome of a regime of randomness and selection." - Daniel Rozin

bitforms.com/​daniel-rozin-gallery.html

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Daniel Rozin
• bitforms gallery nyc
• bitforms
• mirror
• installation
• sculpture
• new media