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Concept & Inspiration
In this project, I explore the concept of impermanence, the idea that everything is in a state of constant flux and change, through creating an interactive piece formally and conceptually based on a mandala. Mandalas are representations of the universe in Hindu and Buddhist philosophies. In Tibet, Buddhist monks create very detailed and visually rich mandalas with sand as a meditative practice; once the mandala is completed, they destroy it and let the sand return to the water and the soil as a symbol of the impermanent nature of ourselves and everything around us.
"The mandala is basically a representation of the universe, a consecrated area that serves as a receptacle for the gods and as a collection point of universal forces"
Additionally, I have been fascinated by circular patterns and sacred geometry for over a decade. As Buddhist and Hindu representations of the universe, mandalas combine these two passions and offer a fertile terrain for exploration and creation. I am also fascinated by generative and parametric design and the creative possibilities digital technologies offer to artists and designers, which I applied to create the project Evanescent Mandala.
In my exploration, I was conceptually and visually deeply inspired by Cosmos, a book and mini-series that marked my childhood, the visual style of science fiction movies such as Tron and The Matrix, and the work of Op-Art artists such as Jesus Rafael Soto. These sources sparked my imagination and served as inspiration for my work.
Creation Process
Inspired by the sources and concepts presented before, I started my artistic exploration by "playing" with shapes, colors, patterns, lines, and visual styles using Adobe Illustrator as a digital sketching tool.
With a preliminary idea of the desired output, I created a program using Processing to generate a basic mandala using translucent circles. Then, I tweaked the code to make the mandala change its complexity level based on the mouse's movement.
Through a series of iterations in the coding process, I finally achieved a design closer to my initial intentions, which offered a high level of variability and visual possibilities.
The next step involved exploring multiple color and behavior variations through an iterative process of making and testing different alternatives and sharing them to receive feedback. Finally, one of the variations was selected for the final version of the interactive piece.
Results
In progress...
Tools
To create Evanescent Mandala, I used Processing—"a flexible software sketchbook and a language for learning how to code within the context of the visual arts"—because it's a programming language intended to create visual and interactive content easily and with limited programming knowledge.
With Processing, I was able to create hundreds of mandalas in a short time by experimenting with a few variables, such as color, transparency, position, quantity, or line weight.
Additionally, Processing allowed me to create an interactive piece that reacts to the audience’s behavior, which, in turn, allows people to experience how their movement transforms the projected mandalas in real time.
What's Next?
In progress...
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