Prix

The Prix Ars Electronica Archive is a collection enabling search and viewing of all the submissions since 1987. The award-winning projects are documented with catalogue texts and audio-visual media. All other submissions can be searched by title/artist and displayed with year, category in list form. Please cite the credits (artwork name, artist and photographer) and only use the materials if your article is related to Ars Electronica. 

Computer Animation 2020

Computations

Maxim Zhestkov
Computations is an experimental art film directed and designed by Maxim Zhestkov at Zhestkov Studio.

It speculates a distant future when computation moves from the opaque ‘black boxes’ of our laptops and devices out into the world. He boldly envisions lush dynamic systems, which he compellingly describes as “floating networks of small transistors—some kind of strange computing organism.” Evoking both supercomputers and synaptic structures, the shapeshifting forms are serene and enigmatic.

The complex systems at the heart of Computations sway and undulate in perfect synchronization. Comprised of billions of particles, they are more than the sum of their parts—they are thinking machines that visualize, calculate, and communicate through coordinated movement and colored illumination.

Elements rise and fall, clusters lock into place, and there is an underlying sense of order governing the ornate spatial choreography. The forms are artfully embedded in the architecture, perform in space, and demonstrate how each tiny element contributes to the construction of an elegant, emergent whole.