These are 3-D printed sculptures designed to animate when spun under a strobe light. The placement of the appendages is determined by the same method nature uses in pinecones and sunflowers. The rotation speed is synchronized to the strobe so that one flash occurs every time the sculpture turns 137.5º—the golden angle. If you count the number of spirals on any of these sculptures you will find that they are always Fibonacci numbers.
For this video, rather than using a strobe, the camera was set to a very short shutter speed (1/4000 sec) in order to freeze the spinning sculpture.
John Edmark is an inventor/designer/artist. He teaches design at Stanford University.
Visit John’s website here: web.stanford.edu/~edmark/
and Vimeo site: vimeo.com/johnedmark/videos
Learn how he made these sculptures here: instructables.com/id/Blooming-Zoetrope-Sculptures/
And more about the Pier 9 Artist in Residence program here: autodesk.com/air
Music – “Plateau” by Lee Rosevere – freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/Farrago_Zabriskie/Lee_Rosevere_-_Farrago_Zabriskie_-_03_-_Plateau
Cinematography and editing by Charlie Nordstrom