Before the storm

"Before the storm" is part of the live minting experience at Non Fungible Conference Lisbon, June 7-8, 2023.

This is a work about the moment when the forces of nature are gathered, but not yet released.
It is about the need for home and shelter, in tension with the need to go outdoors.
It is about stillness and anticipation.
It is about the possibility of emptiness in a world with too many things.
It is about the unsettling closeness of beauty and danger.
It is about climate and the possibility of impending catastrophe.
It is about atmosphere and all that hangs in the air but remains unseen and unsaid.
It is about clouds and complex transient weightless architectures in the sky and the secrets of form without substance.

It is also about the algorithmic simulation of traditional media, like printmaking or ink drawing, and bridging the gap between two ages of art that often look like strangers to each other.

This work is animated. Press “Run” to see the drawing process.
100% code – no assets. Made with p5.js.

Controls:
[SPACE] to play/pause
[r] to restart the drawing
[f] to toggle fullscreen
[s] to download capture
[2] to [9] to generate and save a hi-res image at multiples of the original 800 x 1000 resolution. Please note that rendering at high resolutions can be slow.

(“Before the storm” is also a tribute to a beautiful and disturbing movie. Can you spot the reference?)