Blooms

John Edmark’s 3D-printed Blooms (2014-2022) are sculptures designed to animate when spun under a strobe light. Their animation effect is achieved by progressive rotations of the golden ratio, phi (ϕ), the same ratio that nature employs to generate the spiral patterns we see in pinecones and sunflowers. The rotational speed and strobe rate of the bloom are synchronized so that one flash occurs every time the bloom turns 137.5º, the golden angle (the angular version of phi). Each work’s particular form and behavior is determined by a unique parametric seed that Edmark calls a ‘phi-nome’.