HD Traffic

Description

HD Traffic (2009) is a digital artwork that can react dynamically to real-time information streams taken from the Internet, and reflect the pulse of human movement that is embodied in the flow of traffic and other data. It combines Piet Mondrian’s rectilinear compositional style, with particular inspiration coming from Broadway Boogie Woogie and Simon’s love of jazz improvisation with the emergent dynamics of object oriented programming.
From simple rules Simon can coax cubes to form realistic traffic patterns, stopping and starting at intersections, passing each other and avoiding collisions, and even ending up in a giant traffic jam. His software endlessly varies the visual elements of the scene such as the number of vehicles, the street sizes, traffic lights, car speeds, background colors and many more. Like traffic on a city street, the basic patterns are the same but the details never repeat.