Magna Mutatio
Magna Mutacio is the title of a series of works that explore the transformation of a selected territory over time, specifically the transformation of cities, landscapes, bodies of water and glacial formations. European Space Agency satellite data are used for this analysis. The transformation of the territory is mapped, which, given its size and the long period of observation, could not be perceived from the viewer's perspective. The work thus offers a macro view of the subject.
Artemis Gallery presented a collection of works in the form of a translucent panel, generative prints and a 3D printed object. The concept focuses on the Portuguese capital Lisbon, the transformation of its greenery, the expansion of housing and the changes in the water quality of the flowing Tajo River over a period of six years.
For its observations, Magna Mutatio uses datasets from ESA, whose Copernicus programme deals with Earth remote sensing. ESA provides records from the Sentinel 1-5 space satellites, which probe the Earth's surface using radar and electromagnetic sensing. The detailed data from the satellites serve as a medium for a specifically designed algorithm that generates an image based on the embedded data from a given location. The algorithm used by Magna Mutatio is a kind of laboratory working according to pre-set criteria. The different processes interact with each other and create new situations. This generative process is the main mechanism in the Magna Mutatio concept. Through a new perspective, the work communicates its language of generative prediction and algorithmic visualization of a reality that is constantly changing, just like the world around us.
The work Dilucidus through a translucent panel allows the observation of a complete transformation in time. The three generative graphics - Viridis (greenery), Urbs (buildings) and Flumen (water flow) - printed on the canvas record at one point in time the average of the overall events in the area over the six years. The 3D printed object Tellus completes the collection with a tangible set of reliefs reflecting the dynamics of the visualizations.
