Abe monthly // February 2024
aBe monthly // February 2024
Dear friends and supporters,
After years of delay, it has finally happened. You are seeing my first ever newsletter. It can be scary to do something for the first time, so I will get done with it without overthinking :-)
Last night, after dinner, I decided to play. That is, write code just for fun. I wish it always felt like that: not knowing what I will create, no deadline, just a first step and allowing myself to be surprised by what I encounter. The result did not look that interesting when I decided to stop and go to sleep. It was rather flat.
When I woke up this morning, I turned my laptop on again to push the code online so I could download it in the studio. I normally do this when I stop working, but last night I was too tired. I'll change a thing or two before pushing that code - I told myself. After 90 minutes, this is how it looked like:
I am quite happy with the result. The image was generated on the 6th anniversary of OPENRNDR, the tool I used (and contribute to since 2020).
Some people prefer to see and feel. Other people value the geeky details. In that case, here it goes: it is a simple geometrical design with 12 layers composed with additive blend mode, each layer with a 4-point Bézier curve with increasing stroke weights and blur amounts. The colors interpolate from orange to blue, and the color brightness in each curve undulates over its length to provide depth. Tiny segments of large circles are revealed in each curve, with color aberration and hash-blur applied to them. A Perturb effect makes the curve edges less smooth. Finally, the subtle vertical gradient background (in OKLab color space) uses a hash-blur effect to remove banding.
Coming exhibition in March
Only one month remains until my first solo software exhibition! It will take place at the studio of Johan Lorbeer, in Maxstr. 21, in Wedding Berlin. The planned dates are March 21st to 23rd, and I will show 4 artworks: a projection on the main window of the venue, another projection on a wall, one work on a small tablet and one more on a large vertical display. Four computer programs generating real-time organic visuals. I will share more details in my next e-mail.
Photo of the month
Hobbies, I have many. Drawing, playing synthesizers, making things, photography... My experience with cameras is almost purely limited to digital models, and it started in 2001. That's the year I left Mallorca, went traveling and ended up in Berlin. Two years later, my DSLR camera arrived. I carried it everywhere, and it felt so special and valuable. In the following years I did three solo photo exhibitions (1 2 3). But something changed before moving to Finland. My interest shifted further into creating and exploring worlds via computer code. I gave my camera, five lenses, flash and many other parts away in 2011, and started taking photos with a phone. Uninspired by the lower image quality, photography became a tool to capture memories.
Fast-forward to 2024: I recently upgraded my phone and I am enjoying shooting and sharing photos again. Here is one I shot last weekend after a long walk in Britzer Garten. I find such shapes and biodiversity very inspiring.
I can see how combining photography, video and code may become more frequent in my next projects. For one, it is a way for me to go away from the keyboard, explore the world out there and later connect it to my code-based creations.
And this, my friend, is going to be the end of newsletter 1 :-)
I'm looking forward to the next one! ps. Do you find this e-mail too short? Long? Should it go more into details? Include more images? I will be very happy to hear from you.
Have a wonderful week! ^_^
aBe PaZoS SoLaTie
Art & Code