Inspired by the work of computer graphics pioneer John Whitney, Elena is a simple iPhone toy that allows you to create beautiful Lissajous wave patterns that gently oscillate across the screen. Tap and hold to create a new pattern – the longer you hold a finger down the bigger your pattern will be. Whilst your finger/fingers are down move them around to change the style of the pattern, then release to let your patterns drift free. Use Elena to pass some time, let your mind drift or to simply play.
It’s a very simple little app that I primarily created for my niece to play with. She loves my iPhone and just loves to press things to see what happens. Though it has to be said her favorite thing to press is actually the home button! Oh and she loves anything with fishes swimming around. So this iPhone is just a simple “press something and pretty things appear”. That’s it. It’s not art. It’s a throwaway, disposable distraction in the form of some pretty algorithm.
Available now from the App store.
Elena was made using the wonderful openframeworks