Shader

FRAGES is the diminutive of “fragment” which is the part inside the code that controls the display of the pixels on the screen.The title of this project thus derives from a very precise term inside a technique called "shader" which has free up digital image from most of its constraints and which can be compared as the equivalent of Gutenberg's press for graphics.

What is fragment?

Frages is a project born in Athens, during the lockdown. It is the fruit of visual explorations that mixes coding and graphic design. It aspires to be a new way of creation that uses generative systems to enable the emergence of new behaviour. The generative process has the unique quality to perpetually morph into an infinite number of variations which favors the spontaneous encounter of new shapes. It both guides creation and frees it from a preconceived final result.

Each visual we encounter is a “fragment” of the source code that generated it: if we were to execute the code again, countless new visuals would be created. This is why, in this project it felt essential to us to display the code in its raw form (computer language) along with the "visual fragment" it originated. This felt natural to achieve complete transparency of the creative process.

The open display of the code, consequently, allows a direct access to the entire system from which the fragment was collected, and to its infinity of siblings.
With the physical prints of one of these variations, we are making a finite decision, a statement. It is a total contrast in form with the perpetually shifting original object with which you can interact and observe the never-ending generation of itself (changing up to 60 times per second!).

About Cosa Mentale
Born from a shared interest in the aesthetic and experiential potential of digital technology, the collective brought together Célia Bétourné and Louis Cortes. They share a working background in graphic design and interactivity. Cosa Mentale explores digital material and its expressiveness, through interactive and immersive installations, performances and visual creation that showcase the infinite forms of this material.
Holders of a reasoned approach to the digital medium, their creation leads to the making of DIY (Do It Yourself) interactive systems and utilizes generative techniques. This allows the use of open-source technologies that are both light in weight and a window to other mediums.