The Art and Animation of David Aughenbaugh
Turning off the chatter allows deeper, more creative aspects of consciousness to come forward. The more time you can spend in a flow state, the better.
NeuroAesthetics
Also known as Neuroarts, this is an emerging, interdisciplinary field that studies how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the brain, body, and behavior. It explores how our brains and bodies react to art, beauty, music, and our surrounding environments. The field blends neuroscience, psychology, and the arts to understand how these experiences impact human perception, emotion, and well-being.
People can benefit from these experiences out in the world, not just through computers and phones. I have been experimenting with custom screens and projection installations.
San Francisco, California
360º wrap-around projection screen installation
This was a temporary installation, created during my residency with the Gray Area Arts and Technology Incubator Program in 2023.
Created as a proof-of-concept for the use of custom projection screens for this purpose.
Escondido, California
360º wrap-around projection screen installation
This is a permanent installation, funded through a major grant from the Escondido Community Foundation. It is in a public space in the North County Mall, allowing people to discover it spontaneously.
Viewers can spend as much time as they choose experiencing the exhibit.
The circular screen is a way to allow many people to experience an immersive version of the animation. A fully spherical environment would be possible, since the animation exists for that, but the cylindrical screen design is more accessible.
As it turns out, the overhead circular screen allows viewers to spend time focused on the experience if they choose, or simply pass through. The piece can exist in a high traffic area. Rather than needing to be sectioned off with controlled access, it is freely available.
so, What’s it all about?
Art
The images and animations I make are abstract, colorful and feature an infinite zoom experience, with a seemingly impossible amount of detail. Art functions directly in the subconscious of the viewer independent of reason or meaning. I seek images that are evocative but not literal, to stimulate the viewer’s own creative imagination.
Hypnotherapy
In addition to studying art, my interest in human consciousness and trance states led me to study hypnotherapy, eventually becoming certified as a clinical hypnotherapist. I couldn’t have guessed how these interests would come together. The work I am now doing is focused on how visuals and sound can be used to affect the mental state of the viewer, quieting the thinking mind, calming the physical system and stimulating deeper aspects of consciousness.
Neuroaesthetics
By combining neuroscience with psychology and the arts, this growing field explores how sensory encounters physically alter our brain chemistry and nervous system. There is enormous opportunity to improve peoples’ lives, reducing stress, calming the mind, and activating deeper aspects of consciousness.
VFX
I have had a thirty year career in visual effects, eventually working on feature films, including an Oscar win for Visual Effects as part of the VFX team on the film First Man, starring Ryan Gosling as Neal Armstrong in 2019. Now I am applying these technical skills to my work in neuroarts.
interesting. what else?
Immersive VR 360º
Immersive experience is a natural fit for what I am doing. I have created versions of my animation as 360º fully immersive VR environments, cylindrical displays, and rectangular theatrical experiences.
Bigger than the Galaxy
Once I completed the first animation, I started to think about it. How big does the source image get by the end of the animation? The answer surprised me—believe it or not, larger than the Milky Way Galaxy!
collaboration with peter gabriel and others
I enjoy the cross-pollination that comes from collaboration. I am working with musicians, including Peter Gabriel, Jean-Luc Ponty, Jade Warrior, Robert Powell, Perry Vasquez and others, using both commissioned music and existing tracks. The work with Peter Gabriel can be found on his website 5050.dev
LG TV
I am working with LG Electronics, featuring my visuals on LG televisions in 150 countries worldwide. This is part of the LG Gallery+ feature on TVs manufactured in 2025 and beyond, and older sets through webOS Re:New. So look for that on your LG screens with the LG Gallery+ App, and find my work in the CODAworx section. LG Gallery+ announcement
Animation
I create these animations digitally, using years of practical experience as a visual effects artist in the film industry.
My interest in human consciousness and trance states led me to study hypnotherapy. Combining these interests, my work is focused on how visuals and sound can be used intentionally to affect the viewer’s mental state.
The Surrealists said that art functions automatically on a subconscious level.”
Worlds within Worlds is an experiment in how to maximize this effect. It avoids narrative and literal “meaning” but instead uses evocative imagery and a flow experience to quiet the thinking mind and stimulate creative imagination in the viewer.
Artistic Influences
There are few artists working directly in this space. Brian Eno is a pioneer and continuing inspiration. Laurie Anderson is another. The best film makers utilize this function intentionally, with Stanley Kubrick and Christopher Nolan being good examples.
Images
Immersive
Immersive experience is a natural fit for what I am doing. I have created versions of my animation as 360º fully immersive environments, cylindrical displays, and rectangular theatrical experiences.
VR Experience
The Future!
If you happen to have goggles, you can get the VR experience here. Phones also work if you have the YouTube app.
View with VR goggles, or with a phone: Click + drag for a full 360° view, or orient your phone to look around (YouTube app required)
For more on the VR experience, go to EyeTripVR.com
Gigapixel Photography
Stitched Photography
These images are made from many individual frames, combined to create one large image. As a result, they can contain far more detail than a normal photograph. Some are over a gigapixel in size. They can be printed very large. The largest one shown here would be 241 inches (20 feet) across, if it were printed at 300 dpi.
Unprecedented Detail
Each Gigapixel image contains billions of pixels, revealing details impossible in a normal photograph. The stitching process combines hundreds of individual photographs into a single, massive image file.
3.0+ GP
Largest Image
241′
Max Print Width
500+
Source Images
Beyond Gigapixel: Extreme Resolution
Matrix Flyover Video
The Matrix Flyover video is based on an image with an effective resolution of 384,480 x 256,244 pixels, or 98.5 gigapixels. That would be 108.6 feet long and 71.1 feet high, at 300 dpi.
Super Zoom Animations
The Super Zoom animations are based on images, that if printed would be larger than the Milky Way Galaxy. The horizontal resolution of the Scraptangle image is equivalent to 125,728,547,573,089,599,609,375,000 pixels.