FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

Slick Alien-Horned 3D Sculptures Seem to Spin Forever

‘BLOOMS 2’ is here to entice, astonish, and make you excited about math.
GIFs via

With a tessellating texture and self-moving body that hops into action as if balanced on a turntable, an elegant 3D sculpture dazzles with its pristine mathematical design. Engineered by the technically-deft John Edmark, the artist and hyper-learned student of mathematics, the mesmerizing abstract contraptions come to life in BLOOMS 2.

The new sculptural offerings are a riff on a previous design—the original BLOOMS, whose smash-hit video currently stands at 10.4 million views on Vimeo.

Advertisement

Behind BLOOMS 2’s technology is an unexpected activation tool: strobes. The self-contained sculptures begin animating shortly after beginning to spin, when exposed to a strobe light. Edmark notes, in the video description, the significance of the golden ratio, or mathematical entity phi, Φ = 1.618033988749895…, known as the value found in nature that forms the spirals of pinecones and sunflowers.

As Edmark notes in a statement, he employs the tireless standards of math for his artistry, “because the questions I’m trying to formulate and answer about spatial relationships can only be addressed with geometrically exacting constructions. Mathematical precision is an essential ally in my goal of achieving clarity.”

Visit Edmark’s website, here and follow him on Instagram.

Related:

Industrial Robot Reprogrammed to Get Bored and Curious Like a Living Thing

MIT’s Ultra High-Def 3D Printer Creates Futuristic Death Masks

3D-Scanned Sculptures Create an Alternate Universe in this Short Film