Magic Carpet, Origin of the world

Miguel Chevalier’s virtual installation Magic Carpets – The Origin of the World spreads out across the floor, covering it with a huge interactive carpet of light. Drawing its inspiration from the world of biology, microorganisms, and cellular automata, the work presents cells that multiply, divide, and merge in abundance. Every two minutes, a new colored universe comes alive under the footsteps of the visitors, creating an infinite light painting. Vivid, color-saturated spirals gradually give way to unstable megapixel patterns. Cells, the basic elements of life, hybridize with pixels, the basic elements of digital life. As visitors pass by, their displacements create disturbances in the trajectory of the cells, transforming the kaleidoscopic visual symphony underfoot. Via digital art, Magic Carpets revisits Islamic art, and especially mosaics – reminiscent of pixels – to whose craftsmanship they pay homage.

Magic Carpet, Origin of the world, 2023 ©Miguel Chevalier, Software Cyrille Henry & Antoine Villeret
Commissioned by RCRC and Riyadh Art