Algorithmic art by Samuel Monnier

“My compositions are instances of algorithmic art, namely art produced by algorithms. An algorithm is a set of unambiguous rules applied to some data to produce a result. The algorithmic artist does not create a work directly, but rather devises an algorithm which will yield a work.

Most of my compositions are constructed on the idea of “pattern piling”. Copies of a simple pattern are created at various size scales and are merged together. This technique allows to produce images so complex that they could never have been imagined, let alone realized, by a bare human mind. Each of them forms a little abstract world, where shapes and colors are combined according to simple rules to produce a highly complex picture in which the observer’s eye can wander and get lost.

Algorithms are still largely unknown as a medium of creating visual art. Hopefully these works will awaken the interest some art lovers and artists for this innovative technique.”

“What On Earth?” takes you deeper into the mystery of the crop circle phenomenon than any film has done before.

Against the breathtaking backdrop of the circles themselves, filmmaker Suzanne Taylor engages with a fascinating community of visionary artists, scientists, philosophers, mathematicians and educators from all over the world, including Paul Akkerman, Karen Alexander, Francine Blake, Allan Brown, Polly Carson, Tim Carson, Denni Clarke, John Paul DeVierville, Baroness Edmee DiPauli, Andy Fowlds, Simon Peter Fuller, Michael Glickman, D. Hughes, Bert Janssen, Palden Jenkins, Isabelle Kingston, Nick Kollerstrom, Barbara Lamb, the late John Mack, Charles Mallett, John Martineau, Kerry McKenna, Stanley Messenger, Andreas Müller, Michael Newark, Janet Ossebaard, Daniel Pinchbeck, Lucy Pringle, Shawn Randall, Beth Rice, Chet Snow, Andy Thomas and the late Paul Vigay.

Gorgeous, haunting, and full of wonder, “What On Earth?” is the kind of horizon-expanding documentary that will literally change the way you see the world around you, and has been hailed as the best documentary on crop circles ever made.