This film was only available during the Computer Baroque online exhibition, which ran from 14 April-14 July 2009.

Software and Animation Karl Sims
Sound Robert Moore, BLC Sound
Thanks to Frank Foster, Hybrid Arts Inc
Hardware Connection Machine CM-2

This piece contains a collection of dream sequences created using 3D particle systems techniques. Behavior rules are applied to thousands of individual particles to model complex phenomena such as an explosion, a snowstorm, a tumultuous head, and a waterfall. Data-parallel computation was used to perform physical simulations on thousands of particles simultaneously, one processor for each particle.

Karl Sims was one of the first major figures to emerge in artists’ computer animation at this time. Particle Dreams and Primordial Dance are two less well known works that show how he was able to present his computer graphics research at MIT in a way that brought out what was both scientifically and artistically original about it. Particle Dreams shows some early 'sketches' of particle systems, while in Primordial Dance Sims developed a technique that 'evolved' mathematical equations to produce such breathtaking visual artifice that it seems to challenge our human parameters of what constitutes an image.

Karl Sims studied computer graphics at the MIT Media Lab, and Life Sciences as an undergraduate at MIT. He is the Founder and President of GenArts, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which creates special effects software for the motion picture industry.