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Nature's Golden Ratio Inspires 3D-Printed Zoetropes

John Edmark's sculptures spin with the beauty of mathematics found in nature.
Images courtesy the artist

Fibonacci Zoetrope Sculptures from Pier 9 on Vimeo.

Designer John Edmark’s 3D-printed Fibonacci zoetrope sculptures come alive as they spin beneath a strobe. Every time they turn 137.5º—a number known as the golden angle—a synced flash of light creates the apparent motion of an infinitely spiraling structure.

“If change is the only constant in nature, it is written in the language of geometry,” Edmark writes in his artist's statement. Inspired by the same mathematics found in nature, such as in the shapes of pinecones and sunflowers, Edmark created these works as an Autodesk Pier 9 artist-in-residence. For the video above, instead of using a strobe, the camera was set to a very short (1/4000 sec) shutter speed in order to periodically "freeze" the image of the spinning sculpture.

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Enjoy John Edmark's recursive zoetropes below, and follow these Instructables to make your own.

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