DEUTSCH
Terapixel Artworks In A Class Of Their Own
“
I don't create very many top-class digital artworks. In fact, I've only created two in over 50 years: a 1.3-terapixel artwork (MAGIC CARPET, 2023) and a 143-gigapixel artwork (UNLIMITED, 2022).
Both are united not only by the absolute pixel-perfect precision in the execution and the gigantic image format. The seamless, huge image motif, which is infinite in all directions, is also unique worldwide. The arrangement of the tens of thousands of individual motifs as a terapixel giant circular ornament is also unrivaled. There is currently nothing comparable. For this reason alone, you should not miss the current documentation.“
Yours
Norbert Czekalla
***
MAGIC CARPET (2023)
With 1.4 trillion pixels (1,331 gigapixels = 1.3 terapixels), MAGIC CARPET is currently the only real terapixel artwork in the world.
MAGIC CARPET, the only real terapixel artwork in the world, was completed on October 26, 2023. But the project itself is not finished. MAGIC CARPET will continue to be enriched with further interesting individual motifs in the future. Until I can't think of anything new or my computer stops working or my hard drives gradually forget MAGIC CARPET.
Apart from its format (the largest digital work of art in the world), MAGIC CARPET has a whole range of features that cannot be seen anywhere else - and certainly not in medium or even larger image formats.
1. MAGIC CARPET is the world's first real terapixel artwork.
2. MAGIC CARPET is currently the largest digital artwork in the world.
3. MAGIC CARPET is the largest single ornament ever created.
4. MAGIC CARPET is the world's largest infinite pattern on all sides.
5. MAGIC CARPET is the largest circle ever painted.
6. MAGIC CARPET is the world's largest all-round infinite motif.
Your portrait on MAGIC CARPET!
MAGIC CARPET is the world's first true terapixel artwork.
Today, the familiar large digital formats are created by special robot-guided cameras and then assembled into a large whole using software. Popular motifs here are cityscapes or well-known works of art. The resulting digital images are detailed reproductions of well-known subjects.
MAGIC CARPET, on the other hand, is designed as a complex composition. MAGIC CARPET combines a whole series of unique selling points to create a fascinating structure of more than 1 trillion pixels. And with absolute precision and attention to detail. These characteristics make MAGIC CARPET not only the first real digital work of art with more than 1 trillion pixels, but also a masterpiece.
Figure: Size comparison between MAGIC CARPET and the Reichstag building in Berlin
1,331 gigapixels - 1.3 terapixels
at 300 dpi resolution 128.00 meters x 80.00 meters = 10,240 square meters of image area
MAGIC CARPET is currently the largest digital artwork in the world
As of today (15.6.2024), there is no other digital artwork with 1.4 trillion pixels apart from MAGIC CARPET. The reasons for this are complex.
On the one hand, there are technical barriers to implementation, as there is no software that can process such gigantic image areas. Another critical factor is time. Huge amounts of image data have to be stored, retrieved, processed and moved. Some sophisticated and creative solutions are required just to get around the technical restrictions.
On the other hand, image composition works according to completely different laws to those of conventional image formats. The artist is not only faced with the question of how to design a picture surface that is larger than a soccer pitch, but also what content should be conveyed on this incredibly large picture surface. Simple image compositions are completely inappropriate here. Especially if you attach the greatest importance to absolute technical perfection and detailing.
MAGIC CARPET is the result of 13 years of observations, hypotheses, conclusions, insights and experience.
Some of the more than 200 previous pictures explore partial aspects of the overall motif of MAGIC CARPET. Some, for example, show seemingly chaotic motifs that actually form a seamless pattern on all sides. Thousands of randomly thrown individual motifs also come together almost incidentally to form an infinite motif on all sides. Or a circle with a diameter of exactly one kilometer squeezes itself onto one square meter of picture surface and its arcs simultaneously form a completely symmetrical ornament and an infinite pattern. And all of this with absolute pixel-perfect precision.
Despite all these special features, MAGIC CARPET consistently follows the traditional conceptual approach: Design, composition and layer-by-layer application of the individual subjects to an incredibly large picture surface.
All this together makes MAGIC CARPET not only a digital work of art, but a solitaire in digital painting. There will undoubtedly be even greater digital works of art in the future. However, it remains uncertain whether they will be masterpieces like MAGIC CARPET.
MAGIC CARPET is the largest single ornament ever created.
The ornament is formed from the shape and arrangement of circular arcs. These are designed in such a way that they continue along the opposite edge of the huge picture surface. In this way, they come together to form the largest single ornament in the world - over one hectare in size. The transitions are flowing and without any irregularity - in all directions: horizontally, vertically and also diagonally. See also the following illustration.
MAGIC CARPET is the largest all-round infinite pattern in the world.
Figure: 9 total picture areas, here: 3 x horizontal, 3 x vertical
(corresponds to an area of 384 meters x 240 meters)
Each of the individual groups of motifs has its own color characteristics. The size of the individual motifs and the density of the arrangement also influence the appearance of a motif group. This results in significant differences between the individual motif groups.
By cleverly designing the areas between the curved ornamental lines with individual motifs from a group of motifs, a pattern is created as if by magic. In the case of MAGIC CARPET, this is the world's largest all-round infinite pattern to date.
(see below for individual themes and number of individual motifs per motif group)..
MAGIC CARPET shows the largest circle ever painted.
Damit ein Gebilde aus einer Vielzahl von Linien zum ebenmößigen Ornament ohne erkennbarem Bruch wird, bedarf es einer For a structure made up of a multitude of lines to become an even ornament without a recognizable break, it requires a certain order and a certain form. In the case of MAGIC CARPET, this is a circle. The art of forming a complete circle on an area that is far too small now consists of cutting out and arranging the arcs in such a way that they continue the circle beyond the edge of the picture on the opposite side, so that there are no creases or gaps overall, but also so that no part of the arc is left over.
This is realized in MAGIC CARPET. The arcs are actually designed in such a way that they come together on the picture surface of MAGIC CARPET to form the largest complete circle ever depicted in a work of art (approx. 936 meters in diameter, almost 3 kilometers in circumference). To experience it in its entirety, you would have to lay out 9 copies (next to each other) times 12 copies (on top of each other) = 108 copies of MAGIC CARPET. However, this would require 1.1 square kilometers of free space.
Figure: The arcs form a perfect circle with a diameter of 936 meters and a circumference of almost 3 kilometers.
(for clarification, see the soft dotted line)
MAGIC CARPET is the largest all-round infinite picture motif in the world.
Ornament and pattern and circle are the order in the MAGIC CARPET cosmos. However, MAGIC CARPET is held together by millions of individual motifs, which come together to form the ground, background, middle ground and foreground.
In order to create an infinite overall image motif in detail, tens of thousands of individual motifs must end at one edge of the image with absolute precision and then continue at the opposite edge. However, this requires absolute pixel-perfect precision when applying each individual detail. But the effort is rewarded. MAGIC CARPET is therefore not only the largest all-round infinite motif in the world, but also has the potential to continue growing.
Thanks to this unique feature, MAGIC CARPET can be used to create even more powerful terapixel artworks and even petapixel artworks in the highest resolution and of almost limitless size.
MAGIC CARPET only works through absolute pixel-perfect precision.
Like all monster formats, MAGIC CARPET is made up of a large number of image segments. Each pixel is applied individually to the painting surface so that they fit together absolutely seamlessly in all directions and can also form an infinite picture motif seamlessly.
For me, "seamless" always means pixel-perfect. And "pixel perfect" means: absolutely no irregularities.
If you put 4 copies of MAGIC CARPET together (2 next to each other, 2 on top of each other), all 4 meet at one point (see center of figure A; the light yellow square corresponds to 4 square meters of picture area). Figure B shows the 4 square meters of this contact area. Figure C shows the same spot, but greatly enlarged.
There is absolutely no irregularity to be seen, not even in the wafer-thin lines. And this despite the fact that the 4 corners of the picture are 80.00 meters (vertical), 128.00 meters (horizontal) and 150.94 meters (diagonal) apart. That's what I mean by absolute pixel-perfect precision!
Figure: 4 opposite corners of the image merged together
You won't find these features anywhere else on a work of art, be it analog or digital. And certainly not in this size.
Contents
Key technical data
The structure of MAGIC CARPET
Primer and background
The middle ground
The foreground
Other motifs
The picture content
Development of the picture format
The title of the artwork is no coincidence
MAGIC CARPET - Digital art without artificial intelligence
Important for art collectors!
Development steps at MAGIC CARPET
Gigapixel artworks and terapixel artworks as an opportunity
Video clips on the subject of infinite motifs
UNLIMITED - 143 gigapixel perfection
Key technical data
The structure of MAGIC CARPET
In contrast to the usual gigapixel images, MAGIC CARPET is not simply a series of several thousand individual images whose lateral connections have to be smoothed with an algorithm. All the individual motifs of MAGIC CARPET are applied pixel by pixel as if they were a single huge painting surface. This is the only way to achieve a sophisticated overall motif, which is made up of several independent image layers.
Priming and background
Wikipedia: "In medieval painting, the grounding was multi-layered and thicker than the paint layer."
MAGIC CARPET takes up this tradition. Logically, however, this does not make the digital image thicker.
1st layer: To save time when creating a seamless background, I developed a perfect seamless image motif. It is 23,624 x 23,624 pixels in size (2.00 m x 2.00 m at 300 dpi). It shows several thousand colored spheres in photo quality. Together with layers 2 and 3, they form the background of the image.
2nd layer: The 2nd layer forms a circular colorful ornament. Its center is outside the middle. In this way, its perfect symmetry is not immediately recognized.
3rd layer: The same applies to the 3rd layer of the base coat. The diameter of the shiny ornament is identical to that of the 2nd layer. However, its center is located at a different point in the drawing file.
As the partial image motif obtained in this way can be joined seamlessly on all sides, the base coat can be produced relatively quickly by placing this partial image on top of each other several times. With MAGIC CARPET, this means 64 x 40 = 2,560 of these partial images.
Figure: 2 x 2 = 4 of 2,560 partial motifs that can be joined seamlessly on all sides.
(4.00 meters high, 4.00 meters wide)
The middle ground
Motif groups and number of individual motifs in the middle ground
Preparation of the individual motifs
A closer look at the many thousands of individual motifs reveals that they were not simply copied one-to-one, but had undergone extensive preparation beforehand. Before being applied, the formats were adjusted, the colors adapted and the majority of the individual motifs were given a border and a structure.
All foreground motifs were then reshaped in parallel perspective and slightly distorted horizontally and vertically. This creates a vivid overall impression on closer inspection.
Figure: 1 of 14,634 processed individual motifs from the monumental film BEN HUR
The foreground
In order to largely preserve the elaborately designed layers and image areas of the background and middle ground, a loose network of curved lines extends across the entire image area as the foreground. If you follow these lines, the result is a complete circle of almost 3 kilometers in circumference and at the same time a perfect seamless ornament on all sides. At 128 x 80 meters, it is the largest single ornament ever developed. So far, so good.
As the line is approx. 80 centimetres wide, a monochrome line would cover around 2,300 square meters of picture surface without any content. But that would not be challenging enough to produce and not exciting enough as a result.
In order to meet both requirements, a few thousand individual images were elaborately modeled into parallel-perspective cubes. It is a self-contained group of motifs with their own memories from Val Gardena (South Tyrol) and the surrounding area.
Figure: cube-shaped color objects in the foreground.
I didn't make it easy for myself when designing the individual cubes either. Some appear closed; in others, one or more cube faces have been omitted. The surfaces of the majority of the cubes even appear differently transparent. The cubes have an edge length of around 50 centimeters. 12,356 of them come together to form this gigantic and fascinating ornament.
Further individual motifs
What comes next on the picture plane? I was already impressed and fascinated by the works of Georges Seurat as a teenager a good 50 years ago. This enthusiasm for pointillism and neo-impressionism continues to this day. It prompted me to rebuild numerous well-known works of art from dabs of color. The first 250 individual works created in this way show works by Boecklin, Braque, Canaletto, Caravaggio, Courbet, Dali, Da Vinci, Feininger, Friedrich, Hausner, Magritte, Picasso, Renoir, Seurat, Turner and Vermeer. Once around 2,000 individual motifs have been collected and prepared, they will be applied to the picture surface at the beginning of 2025.
Figure: Detail of a painting by Canaletto rebuilt with dabs of color
The individual motifs are always around one square meter in size and surrounded by a border just under 4 cm wide. The border quotes the colors of the motif in a darkened form. Around 3.5 million dots of color are required for a single picture. The finished image motif, including the border, is then optically structured. To ensure that the individual images fit harmoniously into the logic and composition of MAGIC CARPET, they are redesigned in parallel perspective before being applied to the picture surface.
Figure: Example: 4-square-meter section of the lower left corner of the MAGIC CARPET picture with size comparison
(These 4 square meters correspond to just 0.04 percent of the total picture area!)
Center: Canaletto completely rebuilt from 3.5 million dots of color, redesigned in parallel perspective and applied to the picture surface with slight transparency
Other motifs are old advertising photos, images of people, landscapes, buildings, etc. At first glance, the selection is arbitrary. But there is a personal memory for each of the numerous individual motifs.
The picture content
MAGIC CARPET has a rather autobiographical character. This digital work of art is intended to prevent personal memories and events and people important to me from being forgotten. The individual groups of motifs are the placeholders for this.
In the course of our lives, personal experiences, experiences, world events, fulfilled dreams, stories, true and false information combine to form memories. The result is a confusing web of something that can hardly be described. But if we happen to come across almost forgotten images, they can trigger a huge avalanche of memories.
Development of the image format
Which gigapixel image format should you choose when there are (almost) no more size restrictions? For UNLIMITED as the first real gigapixel artwork, the 1,024 square meter image area at 300 dpi resolution was just right. It was the first of its kind.
With MAGIC CARPET, it wasn't quite so simple. The format had to have a recognizable reference to UNLIMITED as well as give an indication of its own digital DNA. And the traditional theory of harmony was also to be honored in the form of the golden ratio.
These key data ultimately resulted in a picture area of 128.00 x 80.00 meters: exactly ten times the size of UNLIMITED. 2 to the power of 7 meters wide and 5 by 2 to the power of 4 meters high. With so much 2-HOCH, it's easy to recognize the digital. And at 1.6 to 1, the aspect ratio almost reaches that of the golden ratio (1.618 to 1).
The title of the artwork is no coincidence
MAGIC CARPET - where is its magic hidden? It can't be the giant format. It is impressive but not really magical. Magic deals with hidden properties and effects. To approach the magic of MAGIC CARPET, you need access.
From a distance, the viewer's eye perceives mottled surfaces and lines. One could be forgiven for thinking it is a giant carpet. If you approach this structure, you realize that it is not the pile of a carpet, but thousands of individual images.
If you enter MAGIC CARPET at any point and then follow one of the numerous lines, you will notice that it describes a gentle arc right up to the edge of the picture. If you then continue on the exact opposite side, you realize that the path will probably never end. You are walking on a circular path. After almost 3 kilometers, you are back where you started your walk.
The circular path is loosely covered with cube-shaped formations. Their surfaces show images of places from the Dolomites - a mountain region in northern Italy that is not only popular with hikers. To the left and right of the path, you pass various themes. Some are part of world history, others are from 20th century entertainment, art and culture.
If you take a closer look at the individual motifs in the background, middle ground and foreground along the four edges of the picture, you will notice that many of them are cut off. If you turn to the opposite side of the picture, you will see that the missing part is there.
This also applies to the individual motifs in the four corners of the picture.
But what does that mean? Well, you can cut the carpet vertically at any point (digitally), swap the two parts and then put them back together again. Everything fits together. There will be no irregularities in the motif. There are no seams. This process can be repeated as often as required.
This also works with a horizontal cut. There will be no visible seams, neither in the overall motif nor in the sub-motifs. This also applies to the interaction of the arcs to form a complete circle. It always works. The overall motif can even withstand diagonal cuts.
If you were to stick MAGIC CARPET on an advertising pillar 80 meters high and approx. 40.74 meters in diameter, the image motif would have no beginning or end horizontally. You could move around the column without noticing any interruption in the motif. It is the same with a tube 128 meters long and approx. 25.46 meters in diameter, but in a giant hamster wheel.
MAGIC CARPET - digital art without artificial intelligence
„To the horizon and then quite a bit further. When you turn around, there's nothing left.“ The only limits that still seem to exist here are storage space, time and, unfortunately, your own ability to think.
But actually, I got lost. Mediocre human intelligence, a simple computer, a few dozen self-developed programs, the right conclusions, a lot of time and one wrong turn eventually led to MAGIC CARPET.
My most loyal companion was the computer. It has exactly the qualities I need for my art: it is stupid; it works much faster than I could and it does the work with absolute precision. And it does exactly what I want - at least most of the time: together with a few dozen self-developed programs, it arranges any partial motifs exactly according to my ideas on a picture surface of any size. He willingly prepares hundreds of thousands of individual motifs in several work steps and presents them to me for inspection. It can even happen that I leave the random arrangement of the individual motifs to him - within precisely defined limits, of course.
Important for art collectors!
If you buy MAGIC CARPET, you will not only receive this unique work of art, but also all its predecessors (221 digital originals since 2012 plus UNLIMITED). And watch out! Also all its successors! Because MAGIC CARPET is not the end of the digital and content possibilities. Perhaps this unique work of art will grow into a 5.2 terapixel work of art or even further.
In any case, new groups of motifs in various forms are constantly appearing on the huge image surface. As an art enthusiast, with MAGIC CARPET you are not just acquiring a single work of art, but its complete development from the first pixel in 2012 to the last pixel at some point in the future.
In 1935, Heidegger formulated The Essence Of A Work Of Art as follows: "The work builds a world within itself." And that is exactly what MAGIC CARPET does - build a world.
If you have any questions, please contact me directly: an@nczekalla.de.
You can find the 221 digital precursors since 2012 here.
(Please allow a little time for this page to load).
The development steps of MAGIC CARPET
Your portrait on MAGIC CARPET!
Simply send me a digital portrait photo of yourself to my e-mail address: an@nczekalla.de. If you have several photos, please send me each photo in a separate e-mail.
An image file should be at least 2,000 x 2,000 pixels in size (approx. 4 million pixels). Please do not send any pictures of children or grimacing photos. These will be sorted out.
What do I do with your photo?
Before a program transfers your portrait to the screen, I will first adjust the cropping (square), size and color. Then a program rebuilds your portrait from 3 million dots of color and adds an approx. 4 cm wide border (approx. 500,000 dots of color). Now your portrait is 100 cm x 100 cm in size (11,812 x 11,812 pixels, 300 dpi).
Figure: Portrait created from 3.5 million color dots with border and signature at bottom right
(11,812 pixels x 11,812 pixels, 100.00 cm x 100.00 cm, 300 dpi resolution)
Another program then performs a parallel perspective redesign. The result is then later applied somewhere on the picture surface.
Figure: parallel-perspective reshaped portrait
Gigapixel artworks and terapixel artworks as an opportunity
Does it even make sense to produce such huge works of art? MAGIC CARPET measures 128.00 meters by 80.00 meters with its 1.3 terapixels at a resolution of 300 dpi. This gigantic digital work of art covers more than one hectare! The overall motif can be captured from a great distance. However, a high level of detail in high resolution makes no sense at all. This is because you have to be able to get within about one meter of the surface of the image in order to view the details that have been precisely worked out.
But how do you deal with such a detailed image surface in a sensible and meaningful way? Well, so that art enthusiasts can get an overall impression of the composition and its complex interrelationships, 4 reproductions, each 2.40 meters wide and 1.50 meters high, which can be arranged seamlessly next to and/or on top of each other, are sufficient.
There are two methods for capturing all the details. One is digital as a virtual walk across the screen. The other, qualitatively higher, is analog. Here, the entire picture surface is reproduced and laid out on photographic paper. The audience can then walk across the picture surface. I consider this variant to be the more successful. However, the costs for the reproduction alone are between 0.5 million and a good 1 million euros, depending on the quality of the photographic paper used.
MAGIC CARPET was not developed to present itself as a digital sensation. MAGIC CARPET is simply the current status of decades of digital design development. An entity like MAGIC CARPET was never planned - it was the inevitable result of a whole series of observations, hypotheses and findings (see also the video clips below). And with completely natural AI - Artistic Intelligence.
Video clips
Topic: Findings on image motifs that can be seamlessly connected on all sides 143 gigapixels illustrate the insignificance of format and subject boundaries in the creation of innovative digital artworks. The infinite image motif illustrates the ease and precision with which my tools allow infinite image motifs to be created absolutely seamlessly.
illustrate the insignificance of format and subject boundaries in the creation of innovative digital artworks. |
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illustrates the ease and precision with which my tools allow infinite image motifs to be created absolutely seamlessly. |
