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Variations on Pi: Mathematically Derived Light Paintings

Based around the variations of the number pi.

Mathematics and robotics are two disciplines more usually associated with science than art, but not when it comes to using the mathematical constant pi to create generative light paintings. Artist Nils Völker has used this irrational number as the conceptual and formal basis for a series of 50 light paintings he’s called Variations on Pi, which you can purchase from his site.

Völker explains the process:

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Each one of these paintings is based on a different range of consecutive decimal places of the number pi (3,14159… the mathematical constant which is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter).

Whilst a Machine equipped with 16 LEDs moves around, a timed exposure photo is taken from above. The digits define if and where a circle is drawn but also the colors and angles. All together, 3,861 decimal places were used to create the whole edition

The resulting concentric circles are not unlike the dispersion effect of rain falling in still water, except these are created by light waves and not water waves. To see exactly how this effect was achieved check out the making-of video below where you can see the rotating machine in action.

[via Today and Tomorrow]