John Edmark

John Edmark, a professor of design at Stanford University, has mashed together geometry and art to create these 3D printed kinetic sculptures based on the Fibonacci sequence -- a series of ascending numbers. What's more, these complexly structured pieces are designed to whirr into motion when placed under a strobe light.

In this mesmerising video shot and edited by Charlie Nordstrom, the 3D printed sculptures are captured on camera at 24 FPS with a 1/4000 shutter speed, while whizzing around at 550 RPMs.


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The effect creates a stunning optical illusion as the petals and ridges perpetually fold in and out of one another in a dizzying spiral. The camera's frame rate is synchronised with the rotation speed, allowing the sculpture to be captured by one frame of the video, each time it twists to roughly 137.5 degrees -- an angle more commonly known in geometrical terms as the "golden angle".

Inspired by the idea of constant change in nature, in his artist's statement, Edmark remarks that this shifting quality is best conveyed with the "language of geometry". It is the same maths that formulates the shape of pinecones, for instance, which are also constructed in a spiral pattern. As each cone comprises of a pair of spirals, which twist up in opposing directions, their organisation mirroring a pair of consecutive Fibonacci numbers -- for instance, a pinecone might have eight spirals from one side, and 13 from the other.

Celebrating math's ability to be "precise", Edmark asserts that the questions that he is trying to answer about spatial relations can only be addressed with "geometry's exacting constructions".