LO 2 – Generative Art

Michael Hansmeyer – Zauberflöte (2018)

Grotto set design for Mozart’s Magic Flute, directed by Romeo Castellucci

As an architecture student, I was first interested in this project because the creator was an architect. Michael Hansmeyer is an architect who focuses his works on generative thinking, “thinking about designing a process to generate objects.”

He maximizes his creativity by exploring with computational “natural and artificial” accidents.

For this project specifically, the goal was to produce forms, shapes that “appear synthetic and organic” at the same time. The results were not foreseen as there was a continuous regeneration of the form with the computer until satisfied. There were no references or inspirations prior to the project.

I find the collaboration of generative design and an opera unique and compelling in terms of architectural, computational, artistic, aesthetic purposes. It creates new spatial experiences and sensations that one cannot create with human ability. I admire the high quality, rich details in the result as well as the architect’s confidence and control between the fine line of chaos and order. His imagination of the unimaginable is quite intriguing. 

Description of the piece itself: “The geometry was voxelized and partitioned into the nine distinct elements that are visible on stage. Four elements descend from the ceiling, while five others are rolled into space.”

Reference: http://www.michael-hansmeyer.com/zauberfloete