"Go" Philosophy in Black & White
This is an interacting motion graphics project describes the Chinese Go Chess.
By Jinyuan Li
Synopsis
The project is about the Chinese Go. The standard square of the Go board is formed by the vertical and even intersecting 19-second vertical and horizontal lines, forming a symmetrical, concise and perfect geometric figure. Chinese Go master Wu Qingyuan textually said: Go is actually a tool for the ancients to watch the sky. The chessboard represents the starry sky, and the chess pieces represent the stars.
There is only one type of Go chess piece, with hundreds of pieces, and there is no difference in the level of strength of the pieces, nor any difference in nature and function. It is like the concept of "atom" in ancient Greek philosophy. The atomicity and elemental nature of the chess pieces symbolizes the essential existence of the universe's matter, and also metaphors the basic property of matter-objective reality. The elemental nature of Go chess pieces is also manifested in its repeated use. The pieces that are eaten can still be put into battle and obey the law of immortality in the universe.
The color of the chess pieces. Go pieces are indistinguishable in nature, and they are divided into black and white in color. Since ancient times, people have described Go as a black and white world. Go two looks at the distinction of color. The black and white of Go is mainly influenced by the ancient Chinese yin and yang theory. According to the ancients, "the yin and yang, the heaven and the earth are also Dali". The moon is yin and the sun is yang; female is yin, male is yang; cold is yin, summer is yang, and so on, forming all things and everything. The black and white characters of Go symbolize the second level of yin and yang, thus showing various changes of retreat, advance and retreat, offensive and defensive on the all-around chessboard representing the world.
The shape of the chess pieces, which is a circle, is a closed shape, symbolizing the basic shape of the universe. In the universe, as large as stars and as small as elementary particles, they are all round or nearly round. The mysterious flying saucer looks like a chess piece.
Methodology
“Go” Philosophy in Black & White, is an interactive motion graphic. It mainly coded by classes, particles, vectors, arrayLists, Perlin noise and interacted by computer keyboard and mouse. You can change the motions by key “1”, ”2”, ”3” and interacting each motion piece with mouse moving.
When you type "1", three graphics will be displayed on the screen: atom, sun and moon, and universe, which respectively represent the atomicity and elemental properties of chess; endlessly, by Oracle's "sun" and “moon”, which basically abstracted yin and yang and the basic shape of the planets in the universe are round. When you type ”2”, there is a universe with thousands of stars, giving an embodiment experience, when you moving mouse. When you type ”3”, the flow motion will appear, shows the continuous and endless, symbolizes the history and culture passed down from generation to generation.
The Go chess observes the mysteries of the universe the understanding of the way of nature and the way of life, which is what I want to express.
Reference
https://forum.processing.org/one/topic/switching-modes-using-number-key.html;
Daniel Shiffman, Nature of Code, Particle Systems;
Daniel Shiffman, Nature of Code, introduction, Perlin noise, flow field;
openProcessing.org;