Abstract AV visuals create a utopian space by giving entities behaviors that defy physics — metamorphosis, merging, spawning

A recurring aesthetic move in abstract live cinema is the creation of a ‘utopian’ or surreal space: abstract elements are given behaviors that no real object could have — metamorphosis (continuous transformation), merging (fusing into one another), and spawning (generating new entities). Because these behaviors do not obey the laws of physics, they evoke a separate, imaginary world. Schacher notes they are reminiscent of biological processes at microscopic scale, the oceanic domain, or physics at cosmic scale — realms we know only through images, hence purely virtual. Designing such behaviors is a deliberate compositional choice that heightens disembodiment and pulls the viewer into a virtual space, rather than merely decorating the screen. For a generative-visuals artist this is a concrete design target: give forms life-like yet impossible dynamics.

Examples

A Hydra/GLSL patch where blobs continuously morph shape, absorb each other, and split off new blobs — metamorphosis, merging, spawning. The motion reads as micro-organic or cosmic, never as a recognizable everyday object, producing a surreal utopian space.

Assessment

Name the three physics-defying behaviors Schacher associates with the utopian space, and for each sketch one concrete way to produce it in a generative visual system (e.g., Hydra). Explain why these behaviors increase the sense of a virtual space.