"Oscillation II" by Anna Lucia

Anna Lucia is an artist and engineer based in Cairo, Egypt, where she creates generative artworks. Her uniquely vivid approach combines mathematics and algorithms with traditional feminine crafts such as textile work. Notably, she collaborated with the renowned quilters of Gee’s Bend for the project “Generations” in 2023, which showcased physical quilts created from Anna Lucia’s software-generated patterns. She harnesses software to engage with audiences through interaction, virtual reality, and animated installations. Her artwork has been shown internationally at Vellum LA, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami, Decentral Art Pavilion in Venice, and Bright Moments in Mexico City.

Anna Lucia’s animated work “Oscillation II” continues the research of using varying wavelengths to drive periodic visual elements, allowing the composition to move in and out of phase over time. Like Erik Satie’s “furniture music”—which is the foundation of ambient and minimalist music—short movements are repeated, and in the case of “Oscillation II” they can be repeated indefinitely. The dithered textures used in this work echo cathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions as well as denim textures. The patchwork grid that Anna Lucia has become known for is both amplified and dissolved by organic forms that wash over the work.

The artist plays with the tension of anticipation: hoping more elements will appear as the artwork progresses, then accepting that nothing more will be added. The work continues on infinitely, within the constraints of its parameter space, inviting a surrender to things as they are. Ambient music informed by randomness, such as Brian Eno’s Discreet Music, is visually translated to this ambient visual artwork.