'Cities of the Sun'. Still from movie. 2024. 16:12

This movie is an observation of an imaginary Sun which is respiring electro-magnetically. In this rendering the granulations are rectilinear and merge to form sunspots, filaments and other dynamic elements.

The imagery is shot from a drone, hovering above a sheet of golden material. The currents of air from the propellers blow the sheet around in complex patterns.

It accompanies the project 'Cities of the Sun' inspired by the book of the same name from 1901 by George Woodward Warder. In this he imagines the Earth as a hatchery of souls and the Sun as their natural home when we die.

It also relates to the theory of the Sun proposed by William Herschel, astronomer royal of the late 1700's. In this, the photosphere was a layer of glowing clouds surrounding a planet not too dissimilar from the Earth.

 

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Stills below : click to enlarge