2017 Bridges Conference Short Film Festival
Risto A. Paju
Filmmakers
Statement
I discovered the art of iterated function systems (IFS) in a fractal mathematics course during the summer of 2015. Having no background in visual arts, this opened up a weird new world of expression to complement my endeavours in music and theatre. As an occasional maths and science teacher, I could always use fresh reasons why a young person should take up mathematics. With these pictures, I hope to make a strong case for artistic fascination and dismantle the cold, hard image of science.
Films
I make live OpenGL animations of iterated function systems, where the function parameters evolve by a random process. Here that method is contrasted with my earlier pointwise technique, which I described in my Bridges 2016 paper. The IFS comprises two Möbius transformations, and the same random process is used throughout the film.
The OpenGL part reveals new details as it works around some inherent limitations of the method. To overcome the fixed, limited coordinate space, I use texture wrap-around which produces a wealth of quasi-periodic artefacts. In addition, I modulate the alpha levels to mimic the variations in point density.
Besides graphics programming, I take pride in creating my own music for all of my short films.