The Zoomquilt is a collaborative art project between 15 artists and a Flash designer.

There is also a non-animated HTML version (offline at the main site, mirror here), but the Flash version is definitely better.

Like Nosepilot, The Zoomquilt is essentially a diversion, a visual toy meant to amuse and entertain, and just maybe make you look at things a little differently.

While Nosepilot has been on the web for at least eight or nine years, I first encountered The Zoomquilt a little over a year ago, so I think it’s relatively new.

The project is the brainchild of German graphic design student Nikolaus Baumgarten. The other artists are listed on the intro page with links (in some cases to their own portfolios, in others to mirrors of The Zoomquilt).

From the intro screen, choose your version (choose Flash) and, as the intro screen explains, click and drag up to move forward, into the image, or click and drag down to move backward, causing the image to recede.

Either way the animation progresses from scene into scene, passing through image elements that serve as portals to the next scene.

The disparate scenes are tied together by a couple of morphing ribbon shapes that you basically follow through the various “worlds”.

The images are bizarre, often grotesque, which I think makes it a little easier to blend the different artists’ styles, and the progression from one scene to the next is nicely done.

The fact that you are controlling the movement adds to the fun. The overall effect is hypnotic.