Spiral del Tiempo (Time Spiral) (2005)
Flash graphics. In colllaboration with Luis Rico and Lynn Margulis.
Santiago Ortiz’s Spiral del Tiempo was developed in collaboration with designer and artist Luis Rico and biologist Lynn Margulis after the team had been experimenting with interactive zooms in a conventional straight line (e.g., time flowing from one end of the line to the other). The spiral was a compelling next strategy in that it relates both to Western and Eastern cultural sensibilities, in both ancient and modern times. With Spiral del Tiempo, users pass through eras of geologic time represented by the spiral. The present time is at the center, and time expands in each section approximately by factors of 10.
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Espacio Escala (Scale Space) (2005)
Flash graphics. In collaboration with Luis Rico and Lynn Margulis.
Like Spiral del Tiempo, Espacio Escala draws its inspiration from Charles and Ray Eames’ film and book Powers of 10. Espacio is an interactive experience simulating the travel of several beings and celestial bodies in exponents of 10. This piece combines scale ladders and zooms, forms often used to portray inaccessible time or size scales. By navigating with a scale ladder, a diagram that often includes a ruler to show relative size, users can zoom through different size scales. While the size scales are not precise, the core idea is to approximate an experience evocative of the wide spectrum of scale relations between living organisms.