Tribes

Are there patterns in the way we move?

In Tribes, thousands of people flow, follow and form in sync, creating connections and collective patterns that hint at common goals. If we zoom out and look down, these human figures become a fluid stream of colour and movement, a living artwork that reveals the invisible design in the crowd’s behaviour.

For this work, Universal Everything (UE) referenced crowd-simulation software, which typically predicts the flow of people through airports or sports stadiums. Here, it reflects UE’s curiosity about choreography and the rules of human behaviour. Aerial photography and fluid dynamics simulations also inspired these hypnotic compositions, which were animated using Houdini.

Although made using modern software, the tribal chanting in the soundtrack connects us to the past, asking us to think about how a crowd reveals the universality of humanity.

Creative Director: Matt Pyke, Mike Hughes

Senior Producer: Greg Povey

Animator: Chris Perry

Sound Design: Simon Pyke

Commissioned by the Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul