This project is the culmination of seven months of careful and methodical exploration around the crystallization process of potassium phosphate. I captured nearly 150,000 photographs, taking one photo every minute, in a continuous time-lapse to document the slow transformation of matter.

The images were taken using a Canon 5DSR and a Canon R5, in macro photography, to reveal the intricate details invisible to the naked eye. I explored various forms of crystalline growth, in Petri dishes and on other paper materials, fusing scientific observation with visual aesthetics.

Sound design also played a key role in this project. Each sound was carefully crafted to accompany the growth of the crystals, enhancing their movement and amplifying the visual texture for a fully immersive sensory experience.

(Direktlink, via Laughing Squid)

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

The idea of this experimental macro video was born from lack of traveling due to certain events in 2020 and desire to showcase the capability of the awesome Pocket 2 camera as not only a great blogging device, a good b-roll camera, or super gimbal for travel, architecture, etc short films, but also an amazingly capable machine for creative experiment right at your home.

We use different inks, alcohol, soaps, and other different mixture of household chemicals for creating liquid art of flow and movements.

It was a challenging but really fun project as we have never shot macro with inks before nor have we done it with Pocket 2 (I believe this type of video with ink is the first to be shot on this device). It took us 3 weeks of pure experiments, try and error, to get the right effect with inks and chemicals.
And 1.5 weeks of shooting after that, using DJI Pocket 2 camera with and without a macro lens to gather more than 7 hours of footage (690 GB of clips).
The post-production alone took 1.5 weeks for the entire Origin short film.
An interesting fact is that only about 1.6% of all shot clips went into the film.

(Direktlink, via TYWKIWDBI)

Using alcohol inks, pigments, sparklers and a laboratory agitator, I wanted to imagine a nuclear explosion from an artistic point of view.
Strongly inspired by the special effects of the Oppenheimer film, Trinity is a code name. It represents the first nuclear test by the United States armed forces on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project.

We filmed 90% of the sequences in my kitchen. Just fire was filmed in the studio with a Highspeed camera.

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

Exploration of a macro cosmos is a theme for this short film. The ink and glitter make the compositions like the outer space and I love to dive into that. I started that journey in my previous film called Velocity (Velocity 4K HDR) and continue the journey in this one. I implemented new techniques and new materials including the magnets and different liquids and inks.

A total of 12 hours of footage was captured for this film and only less than 1% of best shoots were used in edit.

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

EMITTER is an experimental fluid art film which was created with a semi-automatic paint drop system. Since the beginning of my career, I exlcusively focused on chemical reactions and fluid motion on the macro and micro scale. But over time, I developed several visual methods on bigger canvases to create alive paintings which unfold over a longer period of time. To achive this, I apply a thick base layer of paint and then start to add other colors with droppers or by pouring. As the amount of paint is higher than what the canvas is able to absorb, the paint drops down from all edges of the canvas and onto my desk below. What I noticed for years is, that the constant dropping leads to fascinating and complex colors layers one cannot create by hand. I started to capture what was happening out of frame instead of focusing on the color flow on canvas and collected footage over time.

(Direktlink, via The Awesomer)

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

Abiogenesis is the study of how life originated on Earth. It is a complex and mysterious subject, and scientists have proposed many different theories to try to understand how life first emerged.

Presented here is a conceptual reimagining of the „lipid world“ theory which postulates that life originated from lipids forming membranes which would then envelop matter and nutrients to form protocells. Biological cells as we now know them can be thought of us membranes within membranes.

aBiogenesis from Markos Kay on Vimeo.

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

(Direktlink, via Book of Joe)

Velocity is my third experimental short macro film. “A colourful journey though uncharted cosmos” was the slogan and driving force behind this new short film.
Idea of creating this film came from observed similarity between glittery ink and cosmos. During the last two films I couldn’t shake the feeling that sparkling glitter with dark ink backgrounds on one hand and colourful pigments on the other reminded me of a distant galaxies, galactic clouds, nebulas and other cosmic bodies.

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

We are a product of biological evolution that started its own evolutionary process in the virtual space. Isolated from human control by design, digital intelligence defines its further evolution by itself, slowly growing into an independent subject that will eventually redefine our physical and virtual realities.

Detached from biological, it is a digital-born inhabitant of the metaverse. Will it manifest itself in any three-dimensional shape or will it outgrow our form-oriented reality?

For centuries to come, Artificial Organisms, unfamiliar creatures of the new world, will exist in the digital universes, exploring and building them without our guidance. Perceiving these creatures from our point of view, we can only imagine how they will look, projecting our outdated beliefs onto the unknown future, where might no longer be a place for us.

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

(Direktlink)

(Direktlink)

This project was initiated by a job I did for the National Palace Museum of Taipeh. The museum ran an exhibition on culture treasures of the history of Taiwan in 2020. I was hired to create fluid and abstract interpretations of some iconic items, a collection of several drawings and artworks. I decided to develop my existing methods further, stepping away from stock paints and ink and creating most of the paints myself. One important aspect was to implement natural colors and realistic earth tones to the color palette and focus more on details than on a commercial look with punchy color and contrast.
Over a period of 4 months, I experimented with natural substances like sand, stone powder and historic pigments. Some of these supplies are rare and expensive, for example jade and malachite powder.

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

As with all my art projects, in «beyond the horizon» I used simple materials to create a new visual experiment.
Behind this project there are dozens of shooting days, during which hundreds of gigabytes of photos and videos were filmed with Sony a7RII and Sony a7RIV. There were 5 final versions of this video, which I reworked adding new footage again and again.
While working on this project, I was faced with the constant following of the ideal shot, which is so close and distinct, but constantly disappears beyond the horizon.

(Direktlink)

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Unity-1.gif

Neues und wieder sehr schönes Augenzuckervideo von Rus Khasanov, den ich samt seiner experimentellen Farbkunstwerke hier schon des Öfteren mal hatte.

A couple of months later, as a result of experiments with various ingredients, I found an easy and stable way for the paint balls to be attracted to each other, merged and not burst. When you master the technique, you can already playfully turn the flaws into advantages: now in the bursting paint ball I see not a nightmare, but a bright colorful explosion which reminds me of fireworks.
Also in this video, the bokeh effect plays a major role. Some people reproach me that my work is not sharp, and that I shoot with a small depth of field, but I never saw this as a problem, but on the contrary, I see this as beauty.

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

Was wir als Augenzucker bisher eher aus der Mischung von Wasser, Milch, Ölen, Farben und Tinten kannten, hat Thomas Blanchard jetzt mal mit Kaffee veranstaltet und ist mit seiner Kamera dann ganz nahe rangegangen. Das sieht großartig aus und wenn man dann noch den Geruch von frischem Espresso in der Nase hat. Mhmmm… Erstmal ’n Kaffee.

„“Oooh !! My Delicious Coffee“ is an experimental dreamlike video rocking us smoothly through circular moves. The visual compositions have been created out of paint, oil and Coffee.“

(Direktlink, via Maik)

ΔNOMΔLY ist is a short film combining travel footage from Iceland with visual effects. I traveled to the ‚Land of Ice and Fire‘ in October 2017. With a concept in mind of what I wanted to create I teamed up with Benni, Markus and Johannes of Wildboar 3D Studio. Luckily the guys shared my vision so we worked on this passion project together.

https://vimeo.com/301339739
(Direktlink)

„The Empire of C“ is an experimental dreamlike video rocking us smoothly through circular moves.
The visual compositions have been created out of paint, oil and soap liquid.

(Direktlink)

What do you think about on the train?

A short music video containing 3D visuals experimenting with strange perspectives dreamed up while travelling on the train to work. With music from friends.

(Direktlink)

Volumes is a Full CG art film by Maxim Zhestkov exploring the juxtaposition of emotions with the laws of nature. Billions of colourful particles dance, play and communicate with each other in an eternal hypnotic ballet governed by the invisible wind of fate.

(Direktlink)

Wunderschöne farbenfrohe Experimente, die Thomas Blanchard mit Farbe in Wasser macht.

(Direktlink, via Sploid)

Elements is an experimental art film by Maxim Zhestkov about nature, physics, art and love. More than 2 billion elements / particles governed by tensions and forces of nature were used to tell stories and show emotions through the motion of collective behavior.
The film is a trial to explore the idea that everything around us and inside us is made from simple elements / blocks which can be arranged in complex relationships and become compound structures. We could project this idea into emotions, behaviours, thought processes, relationships, life, planets and the universe.

https://vimeo.com/231737519
(Direktlink, via Colossal)

Ich liebe diesen Scheiß wirklich.

Macro video de ferrofluid en couleur.
Chemical Bouillon is an artistic project studying the graphic aspect of chemical reactions. The goal is to find and isolate natural patterns by mixing every strange product we can lay our hands on. This results in a colorful mess that will sometimes turn into an amazing abstract video we’re happy to share.

(Direktlink, via Sploid)

Der Regisseur Thomas Blanchard hat sich mit dem Fotografen Oilhack zusammengetan und zusammen haben dieses nahezu unfassbar schöne Video voller Farben, Seifen und Ölen gemacht: Galaxy Gates.

It is the result of a 4 months long job. Due to the very high selection standards, less than 2% of the shots taken were used to create this immersive video.
First, paints are mixed, then they are “opened”, a specific process that we have worked out while on a trip in Japan.

(Direktlink, via Colossal)

The origin of color. Matter springs from empty chaos. First pioneers grow, reproduce, and evolve. Until finally…extinction. Entropy must always increase. An experimental 4K ambient film with paint and oil.

https://vimeo.com/213800672
(Direktlink, via Laughing Squid)

(Direktlink)

Der russische Grafik-Designer und Filmemacher Ruslan Khasanov hebt das hiermit auf ein neues Level, in dem er seine Fluids zur Musik synchronisiert. Dazu Makros davon in 4k. Wunderschön.

https://vimeo.com/198116920
(Direktlink, via TCP)