︎︎︎ Back
From October 23 to November 17, 2021
INFIN.1.IRIDESCENT.STREAM -
![]()
infin.1.iridescent.stream is a new annual solar simulation by artist John Gerrard.
This is not a record of a thing, it is a virtual representation of a world - a meticulously constructed reality, modelled, textured, coded and animated digitally, then realised in real time by a game engine. This is data, made manifest visually.
In the work, a digital twin of a female d’albertis python performs ouroborus, biting her tail while moving in a figure of eight. This performance is responsive to heat conditions across the year in real time, slowing at night and growing faster in the day alongside the changing of the seasons in the real world. A virtual camera in the work moves at the speed of the earth's turn, from ground level at dawn and dusk to directly overhead the python at the middle of each solar cycle.
John Gerrard has commissioned an original composition for this work from techno pioneer Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman. This composition unfolds using bronze.ai – a new technology that allows music creators to harness AI and machine learning as creative tools for composition and arrangement. This annual score is non-static, generative and augmented.
In nature, iridescence functions to both attract mates and repel predators. Here a solar serpent, who symbolically recalls Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, speaks of light in the context of climate warming – where the sun becomes a destructive force, alongside the risks we take in ignoring ancient rhythms of exchange and balance.
Ouroborus is an ancient symbol of rebirth and renewal exhibited to coincide with COP26 - the UN climate change conference in Glasgow and Brûlures - the 3537.org climate program.
![]()
From October 23 to November 17, 2021
INFIN.1.IRIDESCENT.STREAM -
John Gerrard + Richie Hawtin + Bronze.ai
infin.1.iridescent.stream is a new annual solar simulation by artist John Gerrard.
This is not a record of a thing, it is a virtual representation of a world - a meticulously constructed reality, modelled, textured, coded and animated digitally, then realised in real time by a game engine. This is data, made manifest visually.
In the work, a digital twin of a female d’albertis python performs ouroborus, biting her tail while moving in a figure of eight. This performance is responsive to heat conditions across the year in real time, slowing at night and growing faster in the day alongside the changing of the seasons in the real world. A virtual camera in the work moves at the speed of the earth's turn, from ground level at dawn and dusk to directly overhead the python at the middle of each solar cycle.
John Gerrard has commissioned an original composition for this work from techno pioneer Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman. This composition unfolds using bronze.ai – a new technology that allows music creators to harness AI and machine learning as creative tools for composition and arrangement. This annual score is non-static, generative and augmented.
In nature, iridescence functions to both attract mates and repel predators. Here a solar serpent, who symbolically recalls Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, speaks of light in the context of climate warming – where the sun becomes a destructive force, alongside the risks we take in ignoring ancient rhythms of exchange and balance.
Ouroborus is an ancient symbol of rebirth and renewal exhibited to coincide with COP26 - the UN climate change conference in Glasgow and Brûlures - the 3537.org climate program.
