computers burst into billions of particles in maxim zhestkov's digital art film

russian artist and motion designer maxim zhestkov centers his practice around the impact digital media has on shifting boundaries of visual language. for his latest piece ‘computations’, he presents an experimental film that speculates a distant future when computation moves from the opaque ‘black boxes’ of our electronic devices into the real world.

images courtesy of maxim zhestkov

comprised of billions of particles, these dynamic systems can be seen swaying and undulating in perfect synchronization. they appear in various settings, illuminated by a flash of color that turns them from densely ominous creatures into electrically charged dancers. zhestkov describes them as ‘floating networks of small transistors—some kind of strange computing organism.’

‘these are benevolent thinking machines that visualize, calculate, and communicate, through coordinated movement and coloured illumination,’ he adds. ‘they are artfully embedded in architecture, perform in space, and demonstrate how each tiny element contributes to the construction of an elegant, emergent whole.’

the first art films maxim made were in monochromatic palettes and mostly concentrated on movement and physics. this new work follows his other recent art films including elements, layers, and volumes, which similarly explore the relationship between the ‘real’ and the ‘digital’ through complex structure made using 3d modelling software.

project info

artist: maxim zhestkov

title: computations

date: 2019