Intro
Cathedrals is a solo creative coding project and my first step into creative technology. The idea was to create an audio visualiser, but the project also branched out into an exploration of design research, visual systems and self-directed concept development. With no given direction, I wanted to create a visual that combined the intricate and immense architecture of gothic cathedrals with the digital aesthetic of retrofuturism. Eventually I ended up with something that seemed reminiscent of glitchy holograms.
Concept
The concept began with the contrast between two visual worlds: the historical significance and intricate detail of gothic architecture and the synthetic modern energy of retrofuturism. By experimenting and combining these ideas I eventually settled on the concept of these architectural forms being portrayed through a digital system, like a pixelated hologram. I played around with the thought of this visual being a futuristic, or rather dystopian, representation of these man made architectural works of art. Where in the far future, perhaps the only way we see these buildings is through holograms because the real deal might no longer exist. It was this speculative idea that pulled the concept together.
Process
As I did a broad visual exploration with some experiments to finally set me on the visual direction I wanted to go into, I looked into various churches and cathedrals from around the world and used them as source material for the system. I knew I wanted to take something that was real, and to let it be reinterpreted by a system. I also played around with various practical ways to build the system. Chopping up an image of a cathedral and letting the system stamp it around, to see what kind of impossible architecture it would come up with. This experiment inspired me to allow the final system to “dream up” its own imaginary gothic skyline.
Development
The final system was programmed in Processing using Java. It is generative in the traditional sense of creative coding: instead of using AI or Machine Learning, the visuals are created by a combination of programmatic rules, pixel analysis, noise and procedural variation. The system reconstructs source images with geometry that is variable in size, creating different resolutions and densities that change dynamically and procedurally. This creates a hologram-esque glitchy effect that was very in-line with the concept. The project included both a singular cathedral mode as well as a landscape mode.
Outcome
The final result was an audiovisualiser with adjustable BPM that transforms gothic architecture into reactive digital holograms. Although it was an early project, Cathedrals became an important starting point in my practice because it was an introduction to creative coding and designing systems rather than working on a singular visual or output. It showed me code could become a visual instrument, something that enables atmosphere and variation with a set of rules.
