Solitude is a study of negative space, contrast and void; made with combinations of 6 different particle systems. It's about the loneliness, energy dependency of our species and our interest towards monumental constructions.

The Idea Behind the Collection

The main idea behind Solitude is pretty simple; two or more particle systems starting from different locations and behave differently when they reach to a certain area.

We also used this kind of approach on some of our long-form and curated artworks; such as Nasusara and Hapna on fxhash and Palsa and šakhar on versum.

The main focus of this collection is to have a high contrast between inside and outside of the circle (which we call power source). Rather than just changing particle angles in the circle, -like we did in Hapna and Hapna v2.- to highlight the contrast and bring the circle to the foreground we played with coloring.

Limiting the usage of coloring only in the power source gave the opportunity to work with black and white on the rest of the canvas to create a sense of “void” with the usage of negative space. This also amplified the feeling of loneliness we seek throughout the collection.

Making-of

First, started with working on taming the particle system algorithm.

Then started experimenting with just one color inside the 'power source'.

The other important issue was the lighting; having a large power source/dying star should have an impact on the structures such as illuminating what's near to it. To express such scene we wrote a small algorithm which is changing the saturation and brightness of the outer particles when they come closer to the power source.

Creating the texture of the power source was the most fun of all. It relies on a combination of XOR operator and modulo noise.

Inspirations

hollow (by mrkswcz) is one of the main inspirations for this collection. Every time we browse through hollow, it always evokes the sense of loneliness and the void within these majestic and sublime spaces. Thus while creating Solitude, we also carried these feelings within.

Tesseract (by Studio Yorktown) also played an important part as an inspiration to Solitude with its futuristic high rise structures.

Closing Thoughts

While creating Solitude, we had a background story and accompanying soundscape composition in mind.

The story;

In 3541, when Solitude was far from its former glory, the high council was assembling; it's now time to find a new way to live. It has been centuries since our people started to harness the power of the stars, but they used every last bit of power to serve as a mass effort to bring people together and strengthen solidarity. But now just a few remain.. With a shortage of manpower and energy, everything decayed so quickly. Now this isolated civilization is built upon the dying stars and waiting for the eternal void.

It's time for the high council to assemble for one last time to decide what to do next…

After releasing the collection on fxhash, we prepared an auditory experience; Solitary. It comprises clusters of sounds and multi-layered soundscapes. Solitary tells us the story of Solitude; how this civilization declined through time and space by using spectral & gradual composition techniques. This piece is exclusively composed as an abstraction of the story of Solitude to accompany while experiencing the collection.

To create a big-sounding spectral textures, Ilgın stretched the intro of his piece; Woodbots by using Paul’s Extreme Sound Stretch. Starting with “tonal” sound clusters and gradually adding harsh layers to express how everything decayed so quickly. A short percussive section enters to amplify the feeling of time passing by and then the destruction begins with the basses and harsh timbers. There are lots of hidden details which can be heard in consecutive listening.

We continued the story 1/1 curated editions from Solitude with a unique feature and a special color palette - Desolated Solitude.01-02;

After the assembly of the high council, it is decided to abandon Solitude. Now this great city faces an inevitable dissolution.

And as a bonus, midjourney's take on Solitude with an image prompt: