{"id":331,"date":"2008-07-16T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-16T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=331"},"modified":"2008-07-16T09:30:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-16T13:30:00","slug":"no-remorse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=331","title":{"rendered":"No Remorse"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Doing<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

[Photograph seen on Memory and Desire<\/a>.] <\/p>\n

The “jury” is still out as to whether the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest<\/a> will be held again this year, so we don’t yet know whether its judges will once more give themselves a free backstage pass to hang their own art next to the “winning entries” they select. There is one thing we do know though. The BMFAC judges have shown absolutely no remorse for engaging in such a conspicuous breach of professionalism <\/p>\n

It’s been two years now since the first competition, and we’ve yet to hear any of the judges knock or question the contest’s framework. They cannot claim to be pawns, for they have never complained to being used as such. If they were not complicit in the set up of the contest, then they are least complicit in not criticizing the arrangement after the fact. Have any of them denied the insider privileges they enjoy? No, they have either remained silent or openly defended the competition’s ethically questionable protocols.<\/p>\n

At best, they have a confused view as to what has transpired. They evidently fail to see their own responsibility or the competition’s unbalanced provisions — and who it (coincidentally) benefits. Maybe only an Ultra Fractal zealot like BMFAC’s director could create an entity that so conveniently favors UF fractal art, but the rest of the judges apparently have no qualms about helping out or defending the contest.<\/p>\n

BMFAC judge Mark Townsend disagreed there is any UF bias and said recently in an OT comment<\/a> that he just votes “for the images he likes.” It’s too bad the entry requirements prevented him from seeing much else but work made with UF. He notes that images made in other programs were among last year’s winners — but avoids providing any percentages that would allow an evenhanded comparison. He also had this observation:<\/p>\n

\n

To suggest that I (or Sam, or Kerry, or any of the other judges for that matter) would choose Ultra Fractal images (with or without image importing) just because they are Ultra Fractal images, is, I’m sorry, quite offensive.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fair enough. But since we are keeping score…<\/p>\n

I find the competition’s overt privileging of Ultra Fractal — from the massive size stipulations to the near total appointment of judges who use UF to the selection panel — to be offensive. And, I’m sorry, but I find the fact that BMFAC’s judges are allowed to include their own work in an exhibition they have judged to be very<\/em> offensive.<\/p>\n

Tags:<\/strong> fractal<\/a>, fractals<\/a>, fractal art<\/a>, fractal contest<\/a>, fractal blog<\/a>, art criticism<\/a>, ultra fractal<\/a>, benoit mandelbrot fractal art contest<\/a>, mark townsend<\/a>, cruelanimal<\/a>, orbit trap<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Photograph seen on Memory and Desire.] The “jury” is still out as to whether the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest will be held again this year, so we don’t yet know whether its judges will once more give themselves a free backstage pass to hang their own art next to the “winning entries” they select. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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-331","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\/2008\/07\/noremorse2.jpg?fit=400%2C300","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":399,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=399","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":0},"title":"Conflicts of Interest in the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest","author":"cruelanimal","date":"13 August, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Don't you trust us? I am starting this post with a premise. Either the organizers and sponsors of the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest know absolutely nothing about how to run an art contest, or they have chosen to deliberately disregard established safeguards and universally accepted standards and practices. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox in the Hen House","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/FoxintheHenHouse.jpg?fit=450%2C590&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":228,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=228","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":1},"title":"Placing the Blame","author":"cruelanimal","date":"16 September, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Soma (2001) It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you place the blame.--Oscar WildeWhy is it that people who question the improprieties of the BMFAC contest are repeatedly told they must \u201cget over it.\u201dYet, if Dzeni and other supporters are still able to comment, then why can't I\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=228#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Soma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/soma2.jpg?fit=450%2C338&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":403,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=403","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":2},"title":"Will the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest Do the Right Thing?","author":"cruelanimal","date":"22 August, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.--Mark Twain Image seen on afgc.org. I wanted to pop on briefly and second what Tim said in his last post. I've known Garth Thornton since I helped test early versions of Xenodream years ago. I always found\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"No easy button...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/dotherightthing.jpg?fit=450%2C505&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":225,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=225","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":3},"title":"Questions about the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest…","author":"cruelanimal","date":"8 September, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A New Way of Seeing (2007) \u2026you should be asking -- asking now that Version.2006 has a year of dry paint and Version.2007 has just rolled its wet pixels off the assembly line-- asking before you start your generators and begin revving your fractals for next year\u2019s Version.2008: ~Why is\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=225#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"A New Way of Seeing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/newwayofseeing.jpg?fit=450%2C600&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":339,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=339","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":4},"title":"Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2008 Cancelled","author":"Tim","date":"20 August, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"How could this have happened?I really thought this was going to become a regular part of the Fractal Art world, but I guess that was too much to hope for.What could have gone wrong this year? How did this happen?Let me count the ways...Artistically Anemic: I guess when you make\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=339#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":250,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=250","url_meta":{"origin":331,"position":5},"title":"The Price of Professionalism","author":"cruelanimal","date":"17 November, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Naysayer (2007) The price of professionalism is no more costly than the mistakes of amateurs.--Slogan for MonkeyITThe fractal contest fracases refuse to \u201cgo gentle into that good night.\u201dAfter much sound and fury (signifying nothing?) in the OT comments, I finally posed this challenge seeking whether someone could:explain to me why\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=250#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Naysayer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/naysayer.jpg?fit=450%2C600&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\/331","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=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}