Tell as a bit about yourself ,How did you come about to create psychedelic animations, what attracted you to this kind of visual aesthetics?
It was with an old Apple Iie that, as a 9 year old, I would discover the thrill of letting a computer crunch some numbers to create weird and mesmerizing images. I find it’s a similar passion or pursuit found in the art of making time lapse visuals. That is to say, using technology to discover beauty that is more or less invisible to the naked eye.
Where your inspiration comes from and What are the motivations for your work?
With my fractals or video warps (because they are not always pure or true fractals) I get very inspired by the random button! Indeed, for the last 12 years the random button on “ArtMatic”, the main software I use, has permitted to me glimpse at what was possible. They comes the very enjoyable tinkering part of the process. Trying to see what works and what does not is very much part of the pleasure. Strange and interesting combinations, something even organic looking/moving seem to appear. My computer essentially because of a very expensive Etch-A-Sketch Rorshach generator run by a flesh bot.
In your YouTube channel you mentioned Lucid Dreaming and Time Lapse as your special passion, can you expand on that? Do you practice lucid dreaming your self? and In what way does lucid dreaming effect and influence your art?
Although rusty at the moment, I do indeed practice lucid dreaming. Are you dreaming right now? How would you know?
I have very serious plan to directly tie in my art to lucid dreaming in a very exciting way. Over 10 years ago I had a very successful “on camera” lucid dream. That is to say, I setup a camera to film me while I was dreaming. The more scientific aspect of this was that I was also wearing a mask that detected when I was in REM sleep. This make would not only blink soft lights in front of my eyes but it was also hooked up to an external light that would flash when I had a dream. After every dream sequence I would get up and note my dreams. In the morning I’d get up create a short video talking about the dreams and my approach towards lucidity. On one of those nights, and while being broadcasted live on the web at www.lucid.tv (many years before YouTube) I had a lucid dream.
The project was meant to inspire others to give lucid dreaming a try. It also opened the door to the idea that technology could be used to share a dream. It was very crude but it was the first baby steps.
The current focus, and this will soon be a Kick Starter project, will be to purchase more advanced gear so that not only could a computer “see” that I’m dreaming but it could also receive input from me to trigger events. When lucid in a dream I could affect my breathing for example. Some have had success with clenching their dream fist and having their real fist move slightly. These signals or inputs could then be used to trigger projections, web interactions… see where I’m going… I’m going to tweet that I’m dreaming!
At the very least, I’m going to use EEG or similar tech to drive fractal/warp software using my brainwaves/brain states/bio rhythm. With practice, what I achieve during waking I can achieve during dreams.
Ultimately, a joint dream web effort will happen! It’s just a matter of time! We are right here right now!
Can you tell us a bit more about your special interest in fractals? What do they mean for you?
They are a way to challenge my view of the world. Some believe we are pattern recognizing machines. What I like is seeing how my thoughts and emotions react to patterns. As with lucid dreaming, awareness is something very special to me. Are you dreaming now? How would you know? When the computer spits out a particularly inspirational fractal… something that makes you go “wow” then you feel a certain way. It’s hard to explain. It’s almost like describing a deja vu feeling. You know you saw this somewhere, you know it “means” something but you can’t put your finger on it. But “it’s” happening and if you are aware that it’s happening you get a sense of dept that you do not normally have.
Which programs and methods are you using to create your art work? Can you expand a bit about the process of your creation?
I started using ArtMatic 12 years or so ago. It would take the computer 1 night to render an HD fractal/video warp. I can now render a minute of HD video in that same time frame.
I’m currently focused on creating pieces for Full Dome. It’s a circular screen that is position above the audience. The challenge is to create or adapt pieces so that the experience offered is mesmerizing and not vomit inducing! It’s a wonderful new direction for me since the crazy resolutions (sometimes up to 8000 by 8000 on a 15 meter screen!) permit me to really showcase some of my favorite “aspects” or “areas” or interest. Mainly, I’m really intrigue by what I call the “close to infinity” visuals. These are visuals that turn a little into Moire patterns or “snow”… In a small screen it’s just snow… but on a huge screen some people report that they’ve seen incredible moving geometries. I’m just starting to explore this and it’s very exciting.
One of my pieces “Gremlins Ate Stephens Ego, Still Hungry” will be premiering at the Full Dome festival in Jena in Germany in May of this year.
check michel’s you tube channel to watch more of his work:
http://www.youtube.com/user/lucidtv
check michel’s home page:
