{"id":1260,"date":"2010-06-03T17:08:13","date_gmt":"2010-06-03T21:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1260"},"modified":"2010-06-04T02:16:33","modified_gmt":"2010-06-04T06:16:33","slug":"the-bmfac-exhibition-begins-who-knew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1260","title":{"rendered":"The BMFAC Exhibition Begins? Who Knew?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"How's<\/p>\n

I’m just like the Olympic torch.\u00a0 I travel the world, and no one knows my route in advance. <\/em><\/p>\n

[Promotional poster for the 2009 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest Exhibition.\u00a0 Image seen on Sandra Reid’s blog<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Apparently, the 2009 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest Exhibition has begun. Of course, you’d never know this from checking the main BMFAC site<\/a>, which remains as silent and dead as the audience at a screening of MacGruber<\/em>. I have to ask again: Why is BMFAC co-director Damien M. Jones<\/a> so consistently secretive and publicity-averse?<\/p>\n

It appears one has to actually be a contest winner to receive any dribble of detail about the exhibition.\u00a0 It was only by hunting and gathering at a few of the 2009 BMFAC winners’ virtual hang-outs that I could ferret out any information all at about the whats and whens of the exhibition(s).<\/p>\n

A good place to start seemed to be Dave Makin’s Facebook<\/a> page.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because Makin, a three-time BMFAC winner, is one to never shy away from gratuitous self-promotion (as seen by his recent horn-tooting on a Benoit Mandelbrot Facebook<\/a> page.)\u00a0 Makin’s page showcases three YouTube videos of Spanish television coverage of the BMFAC exhibit in Bilbao.\u00a0 This exhibition, according to BMFAC winner Sandra Reid’s blog<\/a>, took place at the Universidad de Pais Vasco (University of the Basque Country<\/a>) and ran from May 11th to May 21st (sorry — you already missed it).\u00a0 The videos feature BMFAC co-director Javier Barrallo<\/span> discussing the exhibit.\u00a0 Close-ups of the art are seen — as well as long shots of the exhibition, and an excerpt of an animated 3D Mandelbulb<\/a> created by Krzysztof Marczak<\/a> is also shown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the three videos pertaining to the exhibition:<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

But wait.\u00a0 Moving on to BMFAC winner Nicholas Rougeux’s c82 blog<\/a>, we learn that there was a previous<\/em> BMFAC exhibition in San Sebasti\u00e1n that ostensibly ran from April 26th to May 4th (sorry — again — you really<\/em> already missed it).\u00a0 Here’s a photo from Rougeux’s blog:<\/p>\n

\"We<\/p>\n

The BMFAC Exhibit in San Sebasti\u00e1n.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rougeux also points out that the exhibit will travel to Buenos Aires this month and then move on (as advertised) to Hyderabad, India, for the 2010 International Congress of Mathematicians<\/a> on August 19\u201327.<\/p>\n

Even a few of the competition’s winners seem surprised to learn of some of these turns of events — like OT’s old friend and deviantART’s master of masters Fiery-Fire<\/a> (Iwona Fido) who appeared taken aback on her redbubble page<\/a> to receive an email containing the videos of the Bilbao exhibit — but quickly uploads them (again) to YouTube “in order to show-off ROFL !!!”<\/p>\n

Stay classy and humble, Ms. Fire<\/a>…<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

So, let’s review the good news here:<\/p>\n

–TV coverage.\u00a0 Cool.
\n–Multiple venues.\u00a0 Neat.
\n–BMFAC judges’ work still not included in the exhibition (so far).\u00a0 Outstanding.<\/p>\n

But I do have a few questions and concerns.\u00a0 Like:<\/p>\n

–How come so many people are going to have to hear about all of this from Orbit Trap?\u00a0 Why isn’t the main BMFAC site all over this news?\u00a0 Why has even the formerly official organ of all things BMFAC — that is, the Ultra Fractal Mailing List<\/a> — not been discussing the now-suddenly-plural exhibition(s)?\u00a0 Or, according to the contest co-directors,\u00a0 is the majority of the fractal community seen as being on a strictly need-to-know basis?<\/p>\n

–Who’s paying for all of this?\u00a0 Like the different exhibition spaces?\u00a0 Like the freight charges to ship the show around Spain, then to Latin America, then over to India?\u00a0 Did the sponsors in India foot the printing costs, so the other venues could display the prints for free?\u00a0 Who’s making the calls and paying the costs here?<\/p>\n

–Is this why the 2009 BMFAC was held so far in advance of the announced August 2010 exhibition in India?\u00a0 Because there were a number of earlier, additional exhibitions planned as well?\u00a0 If so, why weren’t these other shows announced at the time of the competition?\u00a0 And if the other exhibitions fell into place later, then why keep so tight-lipped about this development?<\/p>\n

–Although, as seen in photos of the San Sebasti\u00e1n show on Rougeux’s site, some of the prints are fairly large, most are merely medium-sized — which comes as a puzzler given the contest rules that all entries needed to weigh in at an unwavering, gigantic 8000 pixels to be eligible for the contest. I’ve made larger prints than many I saw in the photos and videos at less than half that size.\u00a0 This incongruity just further feeds my gut instinct that the file sizes are deliberately made monolithic to privilege one of the co-director’s pet programs<\/a> — Ultra Fractal.\u00a0 If you aren’t going to print everything big as a barn door, then why insist all entries must be massive?<\/p>\n

–Why are all of the prints for the exhibit made on canvas?\u00a0 Aren’t Gicl\u00e9e<\/a> (ink-jet) paper prints, using archival inks and papers, the common standard for making fine arts prints from a digital source for a museum setting?\u00a0 Even Wikipedia<\/a> thinks so and flatly notes:<\/p>\n

Artists generally use Gicl\u00e9e inkjet printing to make reproductions of their original two-dimensional artwork, photographs or computer-generated art.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

–What’s with the poster boards and blue backgrounds at the Bilbao show?\u00a0 Isn’t a white (or maybe black) background conventionally used for exhibitions to cut down on color clash?<\/p>\n

–Why is there nothing about the India exhibition on the 2010 ICM web site<\/a>?\u00a0 A search of every variant of the phrase benoit mandelbrot fractal art contest<\/em> turns up zip.<\/p>\n

–It looks to me like the real winner of the 2009 BMFAC is — the animated Mandelbulb<\/em>.\u00a0 Isn’t that the image that got the most TV screen time?\u00a0 And, to think, the poor thing wasn’t even entered.<\/p>\n

And how about we end this post with two new OT contests of our own (and, hey, we won’t even impose any entry size restrictions):<\/p>\n

First, guess where the BMFAC exhibit will unexpectedly turn up in July.\u00a0 1st prize?\u00a0 An honorable mention!!<\/p>\n

Second, guess who will circumstantially be BMFAC’s newest surprise sponsor next week.\u00a0 Hint: it rhymes with “Argentina”!!<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

A tip of the hat here to Tim.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong> Corrected a misspelled name.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tags:<\/strong> fractal<\/a>, fractals<\/a>, fractal art<\/a>, fractal blog<\/a>, fractal contest<\/a>, benoit mandelbrot fractal art contest<\/a>, benoit mandelbrot fractal art contest exhibition<\/a>, bmfac<\/a>, international congress of mathematicians<\/a>, damien m jones<\/a>, javier barrallo<\/a>, set your exhibition on random render<\/a>, cruelanimal<\/a>, orbit trap<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m just like the Olympic torch.\u00a0 I travel the world, and no one knows my route in advance. [Promotional poster for the 2009 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest Exhibition.\u00a0 Image seen on Sandra Reid’s blog.] Apparently, the 2009 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest Exhibition has begun. Of course, you’d never know this from checking the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/BMFAC_SanSebastian.jpg?fit=450%2C300","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1556,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1556","url_meta":{"origin":1260,"position":0},"title":"BMFAC: Out of Sight, Out of Mind?","author":"cruelanimal","date":"11 September, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I find this work menacing\/playful because of the way the optical suggestions of the purity of line makes resonant the larger carcass. Review courtesy of the The Instant Art Critique Generator. The 2009 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Competition's crowning exhibition at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Hyderabad, India, ended\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Reverse BMFAC","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/ReverseBMFAC.jpg?fit=450%2C450&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":340,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=340","url_meta":{"origin":1260,"position":1},"title":"Review of the Week: The 2007 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest Exhibition","author":"cruelanimal","date":"21 August, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I find art is best contemplated while jogging...They say you learn something new every day. Today, I discovered it's not easy to write a review of an exhibition I never actually attended. Then again, it's impossible to actually attend an exhibition when you don't hear about it until seven months\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"I find art is best contemplated while jogging.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/BMFAC2007.jpg?fit=584%2C351&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/BMFAC2007.jpg?fit=584%2C351&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/BMFAC2007.jpg?fit=584%2C351&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2566,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2566","url_meta":{"origin":1260,"position":2},"title":"BMFAC: “We Are All Winners Now”","author":"cruelanimal","date":"20 February, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This does not look like an art exhibition. Two photographs of the exhibition of the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest in Hyderabad, India, 2010. Photographs released by Esin Turkakin. Photographs of the showcase exhibition of the 2009 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest (BMFAC) have been released by one of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BMFAC in India","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/BMFAC_India2_sm.jpg?fit=450%2C300&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2189,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2189","url_meta":{"origin":1260,"position":3},"title":"BMFAC: Sorry, you’re looking for something that isn’t here","author":"Tim","date":"11 January, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a riddle:\u00a0 when is the host of an art exhibition not the host of an art exhibition? Interesting search results for \"fractal art\".\u00a0 Maybe they don't call it \"art?\"\u00a0 Well, alright.\u00a0 Some people might not see fractals as real art but how about just \"fractals\"?\u00a0 That's got to come\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2189#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Screenshot-3.png?fit=728%2C319&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Screenshot-3.png?fit=728%2C319&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Screenshot-3.png?fit=728%2C319&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Screenshot-3.png?fit=728%2C319&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":414,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=414","url_meta":{"origin":1260,"position":4},"title":"2009 BMFAC Winners Leaked ?!!?","author":"cruelanimal","date":"24 September, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"And the winner is... Elvis' alien clone better move over. What is one to make of this? Just by accident, OT wandered into the \"winners\" page of the current (and ongoing) 2009 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest and found it active and showing thumbnails of entries listed as exhibition winners,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Sneak Peek?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/BMFACSP_Detail1.jpg?fit=600%2C300&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/BMFACSP_Detail1.jpg?fit=600%2C300&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/BMFACSP_Detail1.jpg?fit=600%2C300&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":405,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=405","url_meta":{"origin":1260,"position":5},"title":"Nothing New in the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest","author":"cruelanimal","date":"30 August, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't want to hear about why art competitions should be run professionally using fair play to promote excellence and diversity rather than favoring a select group. I'd much rather be openly exploited and cynically scammed. You say you got a real solution Well, you know We'd all love to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"La la la la la...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/ignore.jpg?fit=450%2C293&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1260"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1264,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions\/1264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}