30x30 Redux–Alive–Traces of Experience/Atheist Prayer

Previous works in the Gravity Engine series of series have featured 3D output not obviously readable as such. This new work represents a step towards readable 3D forms in 3D space + time.

Returning to themes of global conservation while COP26 ensues in Glasgow, Alive–Traces of Experience utilizes randomized text excerpts from an academic paper—“Funding for nature conservation: a study of public finance networks at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)” (Anyango‑van Zwieten et al, 2019)—to highlight the gap between lived experience and the scale of socioeconomic change required to bring us in line with a flourishing biosphere.

The subtitle Atheist Prayer refers to the prevailing dilemma—our urgent need to meet what science is telling us with action.

Each piece in the triptych utilizes 10 clips of 30 characters each. 10x30=300, 300x3=900, 900=30x30, referring to calls for 30% of the biosphere to be protected by 2030. The location and angle of each of the individual shapes in the composite is determined, within a defined range, by the text input. The forms are intended to seem simultaneously alive and synthetic.

The Anyango‑van Zwieten et al paper focuses on a networked approach to understanding conservation finance flows, taking the WWF as a case study.