Perturbación del orden

Generative image made up of a regular structure of square shapes. It starts from a geometric organization based on repetition and shows a calm initial movement. When the mouse gets close, a localized disturbance occurs: only the squares near the cursor are altered, while the rest keep their original behavior.

Technical, aesthetic, and conceptual development

I took Vera Molnar, a pioneer of computational and generative art, as a reference. I used a 16 x 16 grid of squares on a 512 x 512 pixel canvas. The repetition is built with for loops. I added movement through sin() and cos(), which generate small displacements, and transformations such as translate() and rotate(). Mouse interaction changes the behavior of nearby elements: when the cursor enters their zone of influence, the squares receive stronger displacements and rotations through random(). The grayscale value varies according to each square’s vertical position.

I was not looking for a fixed image, but a system of rules that determines the squares’ behavior. The structure stays ordered through repetition and a slight, pre-established movement. The mouse introduces a specific disturbance: nearby squares shift and rotate more intensely. I was interested in the relationship between a pre-established system and the possibility of momentarily altering it through user intervention. The code works as the set of rules that defines the piece’s behavior.

I relate the piece to José Luis Brea’s ideas in Redefinición de las prácticas artísticas (s. 21), where he defines artistic production as “an operator that effectively inserts itself into a given system, destabilizing the balance equation that governs it” (Brea, 2008). The grid works as an ordered system, and the mouse introduces a localized disturbance. I also draw on Breve (y desordenado) antiglosario sobre el arte electrónico: “no technical specification of the medium should ever be considered a relevant feature for an aesthetic categorization” (Brea, 2002). The code and p5.js do not define the piece by themselves, but rather the operations of repetition, movement, transformation, and disturbance.

Bibliography

• BREA, José Luis. (2002). “Breve (y desordenado) antiglosario –o diccionario de tópicos– sobre el arte electrónico”. In La era postmedia. Salamanca: CASA Editorial, pp. 4-8.
• BREA, José Luis. (2008). “Redefinición de las prácticas artísticas (s. 21)”. In El tercer umbral. Murcia: CENDEAC, pp. 106-113.
• MOLNAR, Vera. Artistic reference.

Brief resume

Celeste Aquino (2004) is a digital and musical artist with a focus on drawing. She studies Multimedia Arts, where she develops her interest in image, animation, programming, and digital media.