Dezeen Music Project: UK producer Max Cooper has collaborated with digital artist Andy Lomas to create the visuals for his new music video, which simulates the growth of cells.
Created for Cooper's track called Seething, Lomas' video features a ball of virtual cells, which move, grow and mutate into various forms throughout the course of the song.
Lomas created the visuals using software he developed to emulate biological cell growth. By adjusting certain parameters in the virtual system, such as the forces between cells or the source and quantity of nutrients, a variety of different forms are created.
"Each animation is basically showing a simulated growth system as it develops over time," Lomas told Dezeen.
"They all start with the same simple ball of cells, but by having slightly different rules and strengths of influences between the cells they transform into very different final forms."
In the final minute of the video, the balls of cells start to grow upwards, creating shapes reminiscent of flowers or trees.
"The plant-like forms are exactly the same system, but with one change," Lomas said. "Instead of the light that is used to generate nutrient coming equally from every direction, the light just comes from above. By only making that simple change you go from much more animal or bacteria-like [structures] to plant-like [structures]."
The animations in the video are more about exploring the aesthetics of biology, rather than representing a scientifically accurate model.
"The model I'm using is a deliberately simplified one compared with the real world, but very much inspired by ideas from biology," Lomas said. "The directions I pursue are also determined by developing those that appear to create forms that I think are aesthetically intriguing, rather than being a pure piece of science."
Lomas believes that his work with computer graphics and animation shares many of the same theme's as Cooper's music.
"There is a lot of common purpose in what I'm trying to do with my own art and Max with his music," he said. "We're both interested in experimenting, and exploring issues of growth and change."
