Urban Rhythms


  Urban Rhythms is an artwork by Jody Zellen that functions as a metaphor for how people navigate in and through urban space. It is a creative interpretation of the paths people travel when they wander through the city. Using animated stick-like figures as a stand in for urban inhabitants, Urban Rhythms is a code-based exploration of how people move in urban spaces.

Contained within this app are a series of sketches that explore gestures specific to the touchscreen — tapping, swiping, tilting — to direct the movement of the figures that populate the screen. Urban Rhythms can be used as a drawing tool, a game, and as data visualization.

Urban Rhythms was made using openFrameworks for iPhone. The flocking algorithms are modifications to code originally written by Daniel Shiffman. David Nolen coded the motion of the figures. Jeremy Rotsztain adapted the code for the iPhone.

Acknowledgments:

This project was supported in part by an Investing in Artists grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation and the City of Santa Monica Artist Fellowship Program.