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statement Scientific data stored as electronic bits is seldom perceived with an artistic and critical eye, and specially with a willingness to abandon and go beyond its complex numeric scientific nature it was meant to depict. But in fact, scientific computational research offers a virgin, infinite, constantly renewing medium where the average researcher explores a digital abstract space and strives to create visual snapshots of relevant scientific information. This space, like any natural space, can be seen, explored, and photographed relying on certain persons sensitivities to in effect create unique arousing art. Beyond any intentional accuracy or even erroneous science this medium abounds in abstract intricacies. Thus it is apt to be rediscovered and exploited as a full rich canvas of artistic expression. The same way Franz Kline mastered a seemingly simple use of broad strokes into a meaningful abstract form, so can we strive to find color spaces, data subsets, particular points of view, and space decompositions to create emotional pixel collections. A process that could be thought as exploring a digital scientific path across Abstract Expressionism. This art is born from delicate moments of inspection and introspection. Simple changes in a color transfer function or a tap of the mouse changing the view point, alters the image completely. These are fragile moments of art found in a scientific space. Moments that in most cases go unnoticed, and are often lost. As lit pixel images, or as magnetic imprints on a disk surface, they have but a limited life. This work stands on its own, as abstract art, in spite of its origin. Horizonte is a piece extracted from a simulation of a shockwave hitting a solid wedge-like object. The angle of infraction creates internal pressure waves, which concentrate around the objects surface folds. Intuitively this image confronts the user with a receding surface with clear turbulence to it. This surface seems to break or fold with second surface on a brighter white path, as if it was a horizon line. This in fact is the main shockwave moving across the object. The image thus offers two stark contrasts. One is the changing visual depth of the image, while the second one is the conflicting duality between a perception as a peaceful panorama versus the less obvious pictorial of a violent shock. These contrasts have the ability of moving a viewer back and forth from serene to unbalanced or weary. technincal statement In the classic sense, art has been characterized as any human expression that conveys a sentiment or state of mind from an artist to its audience. Such expression may take birth from countless basic mediums. However, those sources rich in intrinsic value, carry over added sentiments that an artist must account for, and in most cases will utilize to covey additional meaning. As such, it is then possible that scientific data, residing in disk drives and tape decks of supercomputers, could be a source for art just as rich and natural as a piece of marble or a set of paints have proven to be. This image was created from the volume rendering of a time-step of a simulation of a shockwave propagating across a solid wedge (data courtesy of Caltech's ASCI/ASAP Center). The data is stored as a 12bit volume in a grid size of 2000x400x400 voxels. The software utilized to create the rending was VoV, a graphical user interface to TeraRecons VolumePro 1000 volume rendering card. The color transfer function was hand created using a simple pencil line drawing technique offered in VoV; manipulating each of the base red, green, blue, and opacity bands individually. Resulting colors and composition shown are direct consequences of choices made by the artist, and are output directly from the volume rendering software without any further manipulation. Notice that similar to the grain in a photograph or the texture of the canvas in a classical painting, some pixilation and color steps appear in some regions as a direct consequence of the characteristics of the data. This supports in further exposing the audience to the true foundation of the art. However, this work stands on its own, as abstract art, in spite of its origin. This piece is printed on canvas. Size: 32nx24in. links [Caltech ASCI/ASAP Center] Caltechs enter for Simulation of Dynamic Response of Materials, part of the Academic Strategic Alliance Program of the Department of Energy's Accelerated Strategic Computing Inititative http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/ASAP/ [VP1000] TeraRecon Realtime Hardware Volume Rendering Solutions. http://www.terarecon.com/products/volumepro_prod.html [VoV] Volume Visualizer software by Santiago V. Lombeyda, California Institute of Technology http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/projects/teravoxel/results/vov |