Lukas van de Vrande - Moving paintings

The ‘moving paintings’ I have created are based on a mathematical principle: the lowest common multiple. The ‘paintings’ repeat themselves, and using this principle, you can calculate how long it takes for them to repeat themselves. The repetition time for the various ‘paintings’ ranges from 4 days to 85 million years.

The ‘paintings’ can be switched on and off using a switch, and every time you switch them off, you have a different composition on the wall. You can see that the movement is very rational; all the mechanics are at the front, nothing is hidden. Yet the movement doesn’t feel logical; there’s too much information for the brain to predict what’s going to happen. As a result, the movement you see feels more organic than mechanical. Is that the case in nature too?

The works are also a metaphor. The ‘paintings’ are meaningless machines; their movement is pointless, yet fascinating and, hopefully, uplifting. Long live movement!