LO2-Generative Art

Meander – Robert Hodgin

“Meander is a procedural system for generating historical maps of rivers that never existed”

I find this project especially interesting and inspiring because it is a representation of art that transcends time. Hodgin not only uses animations of rivers on a map, but also 3d representations that depict the effect of these rivers on the surrounding terrain, as well as the overall topography of the area. As an architecture student i find this super unique because it combines animation and art with useful information that can make predictions based on the condition of the earth.

The algorithm of this piece seems to involve the usage of vectors to produce bends that form the curves of the appearing rivers. Hodgin was inspired by the artist Harold Fisk, who first created these maps that visualize time along with engineers in the US Army Coup. in 1944. It’s fascinating that now, with more evolved technology, idealizations of many artists in the past can be produced by later generations.

Meander