about
ICARUS is an interactive short film that serves as an introspective reflection on our relationship with the environment. We invite viewers to participate the films with their own image. As videos shot during New York Shutdown unfold, viewers ‘ images start to intertwine with the footages. All of the videos and webcam footages are processed live using physarum growth algorithm. As we find similarities between the growth of the mold and growth of the human progress, we want to explore the question, how do we utilize our agency for the better of the environment.
Development
The physarum growth algorithm is inspired by Sage Jenson and Nicolas Barradeau’s amazing works. I used GLSL/THREE.JS to implement the algorithm, and use webcam/video feed as input textures to guide the growth of the physarum mold to achieve the effects in the film. Some of my early exploration and WIP documentation can be found in my future sketches series, NO102, NO103.
Credit
A film by Kevin Peter He and Rui An
Music by David Alexander Currie