Ben Strauss

Pursuit of Equilibrium: Chapter 2 — Pendulums

What began as a practical simulation tool to plan physical pendulum photography evolved into a living generative system. Each work is generated by a code-based model of a Blackburn pendulum, a coupled pendulum system where two oscillations with different periods interfere to form intricate Lissajous curves.

Rather than idealizing the math, the system embraces reality. Damping, period error, phase offset, amplitude decay, and asymmetry are intentionally encoded, mirroring the imperfections of physical motion. As energy dissipates, structure emerges, evolves, and settles. The final image is a fossilized trace of that process.

Every token includes an interactive animated mode that draws the artwork in real time using its own physics, then erases and repeats indefinitely.

This is not art inspired by physics.
It is physics expressed as art.

The Universe is the algorithm.
The code is the pendulum.
You are the witness.

Pendulums

Pendulums

Insights