Hydra Series – 7×7: Complete Cycle

The “Hydra Series – 7×7: Complete Cycle” is a nearly 13-minute looped video, projected as white light onto a surface. The Hydra Series began as an exploration of controlled randomness within a fixed grid system, originally authored in the Processing programming language, as a series of static images to be rendered using a pen plotter (drawing robot). The Complete Cycle, authored in the Unity game engine, breathes life into the once-static series of images, animating the focal node randomly across the grid until each node has been visited just once. In the reference assets, a 1080p, 2800 lumen short-throw Optoma projector is used. The video is accompanied by ambient audio, synchronized with the movement of the focal node.

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Installation
This should be projected at a minimum size of 8′ x 8′, but benefits from a larger scale projection. With sufficiently high-powered projectors, this can be presented on most any surface (e.g. brick / textured walls), but with the projector I currently have (2800 lumens), a light, plain surfaced wall is ideal.

Hardware Setup
Digital projector – short or long-throw based on the chosen environment

Raspberry Pi – serves as the video source and starts the looping video automatically upon startup (requires power, HDMI cable to projector, audio cable to speakers if used)

Speakers (optional) – the video is accompanied by a slow, undulating sound, similar to a heartbeat. A chime plays as the focal node moves from point to point.

Indoor vs Outdoor – This has never been presented outdoors. The only requirement for outdoor presentation would be a waterproof environment to house the hardware (projector, raspberry pi, and optional speakers).

Theme and STEM Roots
At its core, this project is code-based art. Bezier-curves are dynamically drawn and animated over time. Bounded random values result in a visual that appears organic in nature. While rendered in 2D, this is authored in a full 3D environment, providing a full range of motion for the curves in space.

Note: Some of the attached photos show supplemental digital frames in the installation. I currently have 3 digital frames and a small holographic display that have additional items from this series (a 7×2, 2×2, etc.). I’m open to including these in the exhibit as well if there’s interest.