Algorithmic Photography

Digital technology offers humans the opportunity to experience the world around us in ways far beyond our physical senses allow. Alex May has created software that acts like a new kind of camera that reveals the complex, and often unnoticed, patterns of movement of the world that surround us. The algorithms he has developed expose the branching paths of ants nests, the exploding murmuration of starlings, and the brightly coloured swarming of people as they navigate architecture.

Algorithmic Photography is an ongoing series of photographs and videos by Alex May that reveal the hidden motion of the world around us through the eye of the computer.

May uses digital cameras and computer code to create composite images from thousands of frames of video, capturing the world in motion in a single frame. Taking inspiration from traditional chemical photography, May replaces the pinhole camera with a viewfinder-less GoPro and photographic film with an algorithm, watching the image develop in his ‘dark room’ software.

Like using different types of film, each algorithm is designed to capture specific information, from bold swathes of colour as people travel through the shot, or subtle movements in nature that are too slow or small to be perceived by the human eye, such as the movement of clouds, raindrops, and insects.

News

• A World Without Us Revisited - August 18, 2020
  IMPAKT revisit their 2018 exhibition “A World Without Us” in light of the global pandemic. Alex May has a body of new work in the exhibition.
• Talk: Digital Arts Practice in the time of the Pandemic - July 20, 2020
  Alex May will preview new work in response to the pandemic lock down, exploring the opportunities and drawbacks of dissemination of digital arts online.
• TECHnique Interview - March 24, 2020
  Richard F Adams speaks to Alex May, a British contemporary artist whose practice forges links between art, science and technology through a wide range of digital new media.
• Trebuchet Audio Interview - January 4, 2020
  A recording of the live interview from Trebuchet’s Time & Space talks event in October 2019
• Trebuchet Talks – Time & Space - October 8, 2019
  Trebuchet talks featuring: “Psychohorology” Jordan Baseman (Royal College of Art) “Painting Objects in Dynamic Space” Alex May (Artist) “Dark Matters” Malcolm Fairbairn (Kings College London) Hosted by Kailas Elmer (Trebuchet) Space Soundtracks by Danny De Matos (Lisbon Kid) Showcasing a mixture of Art, Science and Culture Trebuchet talks is an energetic evening of discussion, drinks and discovery. FREE event but registration required Laylow10 ...
• Intelligent Machinery Exhibition - September 9, 2019
  This exhibition and events programme critically explores robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and bio-computation through a series of installations and robotic artworks.
• Artistic Exploration of BioRobotics and Sequencing - January 31, 2019
  Alex May gave a talk about art science collaboration, robot art projects, Flow State, Sequence VR, sequence music, and algorithmic photography at the SynBio and Art conference at Warwick University.
• Algorithmic Photograph shortlisted for the British Photography Awards 2019 - November 26, 2018
  “Trails of Birds Over Merlin’s Cave” was shortlisted for the British Photography Awards 2019 in the Birdlife category. The algorithmic photograph was taken in 2018 on a trip to visit Tintagel Castle in Cornwall and captures five minutes of birds flying above the crashing waves next to the sea cave where, according to Arthurian legend, Merlin ...
• Algorithmic Photography Latest TV interview - April 22, 2018
  Alex May was interviewed by Latest TV about his Algorithmic Photography project. https://youtu.be/1lv3dGQ4leI
• Exhibition at Texas A&M – March 2018 - February 4, 2018
  College Station, Texas– Art, science, and technology combine in a fascinating fusion as the Wright Gallery of the Texas A&M College of Architecture opens their latest exhibition Anna Dumitriu and Alex May: Recent Works, running March 5-8, 2018. Through their innovative approaches, British artists Anna Dumitriu and Alex May have established themselves at the forefront of ...

Background

May’s Algorithmic Photography technique for generating these images was first developed in 2008 as an interactive artwork called “Statues Also Die”. It was part of a series of video projection mapping audiovisual installations situated on the south bank of the River Thames in London, created by Alex May and Martin A. Smith for the InTransit Festival.

The installation takes a real-time video feed from a camera and creates a composite image from elements that remain still. This technique followed on from the ideas developed in an earlier work, Shadows of Light.