This mesmerising digital art film imagines a future where your computer comes to life

Maxim Zhestkov imagines a future where digital power breaks free from the opaque black boxes that control our lives: our phones, laptops, and computers.

His latest video, Computations, shows a physical mass of digital power unleashed into the world, swaying and undulating as it creates a rich, constantly-adapting network.

Comprised of billions of particles, each network is far more than the sum of their parts— they are thinking machines that visualise, calculate, and communicate through coordinated movement and coloured illumination. Elements rise and fall, with each tiny particle working to create an elegant, emergent whole.

It’s the latest in a series of videos from the Moscow-based digital artist, who uses his work to push the limits of 3D modelling software.

His previous works, ​Optics,​ ​Layers,​ and ​Volumes also explored the use of light, colour, form, and motion to create mesmerising moving shapes.