Murmuration

Tiny Art for All

My project is a multi-layered artwork inspired by the forms of bird flocks and other natural grouping behaviors, composed of forms on transparent sheets which will be added over the course of the summer.

Murmuration is the specific word for a flock of starlings. The purpose of forming such large flocks may be to evade predators, share information, or to find a place to roost as a group. Individuals of a large flock or other grouping decide how to move based on 3 principles:

• Separation – each bird avoids colliding with its neighbors
• Alignment – each bird heads in generally the same direction as 6 or 7 of its nearest neighbors
• Cohesion – stay in the general vicinity of the other birds

The movement and form that come from this are an emergent phenomenon, arising from the interaction of many individuals with no apparent leader.

The characteristics of flocks are of enough interest to scientists that in 1986, Craig Reynolds created a program named Boids that simulated the motion and behavior of a flock. Several places online where you can play with Boids are:

https://eater.net/boids

https://boids.cubedhuang.com/