{"id":3613,"date":"2011-12-12T00:41:03","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T05:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3613"},"modified":"2011-12-13T12:23:30","modified_gmt":"2011-12-13T17:23:30","slug":"phase-two-byte-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3613","title":{"rendered":"Phase Two: Byte 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fractal Alchemy<\/em> (Detail) by Carl Scrase<\/a><\/p>\n

Now that the decorative dust has settled from the most recent (and oftentimes lamest) iteration of the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest<\/a> (BMFAC), I figure it’s time again to revisit the notion that the competition (and fractal art in general) ought to think outside the program and envision our discipline in broader and more encompassing terms. To this end, I decided why not begin a short series of OT posts dedicated to re-showcasing some possibilities and advantages of a Phase Two approach.<\/p>\n

Tim first outlined<\/a> the ramifications of Phase Two fractalness, and I followed up with some posts (like this<\/a> and that<\/a>) examining what a Phase Two exhibition of fractal art might include. To me, Phase Two reimagines fractal art as any art that utilizes fractal forms and\/or exhibits fractal properties. Phase Two moves beyond the borders of computer-generated imagery and settles directly into the realm of fine art expressions like painting, sculpture, ceramics, collage, installations, architecture, and so forth. Phase Two is a new way of thinking about fractal art — a way of seeing the discipline with new eyes and incorporating new tools.<\/p>\n

Too bad BMFAC decided to keep wearing its program-generated-or-nothing blinders<\/a>. I question whether BMFAC will ever evolve beyond ornamental eye candy<\/a> unless it a) allows more post-processing (Tim makes a case here<\/a>), and b) permits fractal art entries made using Phase Two tools.<\/p>\n

And, yes, I know BMFAC went out of its way to embrace fractal art’s (current) new wave: 3D fractals. But maybe we should pause in our oohing and awwing over Mandelbulb splendor<\/a> to remember that reality<\/a> also comes 3D-enabled and is rendered in very high-def — that is, to remember that Phase Two fractal art can often have a depth and tactility beyond what can be created using conventional fractal art software.<\/p>\n

Why tell when one can instead show…<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

\"Bicycles<\/a><\/p>\n

Bicycles<\/em> by Ai WeiWei<\/a><\/p>\n

Ai WeiWei is a contemporary Chinese artist who works primarily in sculpture\/installation\/architecture and whose works often dovetail with social, political, or cultural criticism. Ai is probably best known for his collaborative work with architects Herzog and & de Meuron<\/a> in designing the Beijing National Stadium<\/a> (the “Bird’s Nest”<\/a>) for the 2008 Olympics. Ai has been openly critical of Chinese human rights abuses, and for his outspokenness he has been both detained and beaten<\/a>. Last January, his studio was destroyed<\/a> without warning by local government authorities.<\/p>\n

I’ve written before<\/a> about the necessity of artistic witnessing<\/a> and the possibilities of making political fractal art, to the chagrin of some (see several comments to the linked post), but Ai may be the best living example of an artist who convincingly can mix fractal forms with political commentary.<\/p>\n

\"Mock<\/a><\/p>\n

Mock Up Beijing<\/em> by Ai WeiWei and Herzog & de Meuron<\/p>\n

\"Mock<\/a><\/p>\n

Mock Up Beijing<\/em> (Detail) by Ai WeiWei and Herzog & de Meuron<\/p>\n

In December of 2008, Ai spearheaded an investigation into student casualties caused by the Sichuan earthquak<\/a>e. By mid-April of 2009, Ai’s list had amassed 5,385 names. Ai published the collected names as well as multiple documents substantiating his research on his blog<\/a> until it was shut down by Chinese authorities in May of 2009.<\/p>\n

The loss of the schoolchildren is suggested best in Mock Up Beijing<\/em>. Absence pervades the piece as the empty chairs, suspended and tilted in space, impaled as if on public display to shame the government’s inaction on the children’s fate, remind us of ties to the lost and the missing. The emptiness left behind by the dead is shown by the vacant seats and the stark poles that map the connections of those who vanished to one another. The recursive forms undergirding the installation suggest the exponentially growing numbers of the disaster’s victims, as well as the still unrequited counting of loved ones who have disappeared.<\/p>\n

BMFAC could sure use a little more of Ai’s aesthetic cure-all, and a lot less of bitter medicine like this<\/a>.<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

\"Pepper-Spraying<\/a><\/p>\n

Pepper Spraying Cop (After Klimt). Seen on Pepper Spraying Cop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Satire has long been indispensible ammunition in the arsenal of political art weaponry, and the Internet has proven a dependable rapid-fire delivery system for political-digital salvos. Politically tinged gaffes or quirks can quickly go globally viral and gel into memes. Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean uncomfortably discovered this truthiness when a blurted-out, overly enthusiastic “scream”<\/a> was instantly mashed<\/a> into pop parodies. More recently, after an evil eye worthy Newsweek<\/a><\/em> cover<\/a>, Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann has seen her eyes digitally transplanted<\/a> into numerous historical persons<\/a> and icons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The latest Internet meme centers around the now infamous “pepper spraying cop,” that is, John Pike, the police officer who pepper-sprayed<\/a> a seated and seemingly non-violent group of protesters at the University of California at Davis. In the ever mediated now, any news event, no matter how much it stings the eyes or shrivels the soul, instantaneously becomes an amusing meme. Soon, faster than Windows Vista<\/a> can reboot, the iconic officer was pepper-spraying his way throughout the ages. Fresh spraycan-in-action evidence was unearthed and ranges from pre-history<\/a> to earlier social protests<\/a> to art history classics like Wyeth’s Cristina’s World<\/a> <\/em>and Picasso’s Guernica<\/a><\/em> (apparently, those writhing, firebombed wretches haven’t yet suffered enough).<\/p>\n

Tim first made the connection<\/a> between fractal art and Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt on OT back in 2007. The parody above of The Kiss<\/a> <\/em>faithfully captures Klimt’s idiosyncratic, self-similar features while adhering to BMFAC’s criteria<\/a> of having “lots of good, interesting fractal detail.” Click on the image above for a high rez see-for-yourself testimonial.<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

\"Fractal<\/a><\/p>\n

Fractal Alchemy<\/em> (Installation) by Carl Scrase<\/p>\n

In Fractal Alchemy<\/em>, Australian artist Carl Scrase has chosen unusual readymade materials: binder clips arranged to replicate the self-similar patterns found in biomorphic forms. The result is an unsettling fractal origami<\/a> using office supplies that brings to mind embedded, elemental, naturally found blueprints like genetic coding and the self-organized designs of living organisms.<\/p>\n

\"Fractal<\/a><\/p>\n

Fractal Alchemy<\/em> (Installation) by Carl Scrase<\/p>\n

To some, of course, Scrase has made only a 3D doodle during a supply room coffee break while momentarily on leave from his cubicle. Dr. Marcus Bunyan, writing on Art Blart<\/a><\/em>, prefers that his bulldog clips stay out of the gallery and keep firmly clasped on term papers where they belong. He says of Fractal Alchemy<\/em> that<\/p>\n

\n

The wonder of this piece is short-lived. Unlike the ever magical repetition of fractal geometry with its inherent iteration of forms that constantly amaze here the shapes are not stretched far enough, the exposition not grounded in broken or fractured forms that invite alchemical awareness in the viewer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’d guess that many in our community would agree. The limitations of physical space<\/a> could never be stretched enough to begin approximating the theoretical infinity one often senses and even sometimes sees unfurling in computer-made fractal imagery.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \"Fractal<\/a><\/p>\n

Fractal Alchemy<\/em> (Detail) by Carl Scrase<\/p>\n

Still, Scrase has tapped into some primal pattern recognition. Form, like the fractal conventions of life itself, does not necessarily follow function here. The recursion is evident but unsettling and eerie. Do I see suggestions of caterpillar-like segmentation<\/a> in Scrase’s shapes and beings? With a little push, could they one day crawl their way into the BMFAC exhibition?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fractal Alchemy (Detail) by Carl Scrase Now that the decorative dust has settled from the most recent (and oftentimes lamest) iteration of the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest (BMFAC), I figure it’s time again to revisit the notion that the competition (and fractal art in general) ought to think outside the program and envision our … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3614,"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-3613","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\/2011\/12\/GustavKlimt_PepperSprayingCop_sm1.jpg?fit=450%2C338&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":406,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=406","url_meta":{"origin":3613,"position":0},"title":"Fractal Art, Phase Two","author":"Tim","date":"3 September, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"What? You didn't know even know there was a Phase One? Well, let me begin there, then. At the dawn of fractal art.Phase One, the first stage of fractal art, has been oriented around software. The big developments in fractal art came from developments in the software that made it.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=406#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ambaka.com\/blog\/25\/phase2.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2249,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2249","url_meta":{"origin":3613,"position":1},"title":"More Phase Two Sightings","author":"cruelanimal","date":"16 January, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"sbioelements (from Undersea) by Tatiana Plokhova I figured it might be time to return again to examining work that falls into the category of Phase Two fractal art.\u00a0 Tim laid down the foundation for Phase Two thinking in an earlier OT post where he notes that Phase Two fractal art\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"White by Tatiana Plokhova","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/white_TatianaPlokhova.jpg?fit=425%2C444&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1316,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1316","url_meta":{"origin":3613,"position":2},"title":"Photoblog 1","author":"cruelanimal","date":"21 June, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't dislike everything.\u00a0 The OT faithful probably know from past posts that I often see fractal art works I find interesting. When Tim and I were first forming Orbit Trap and discussing its possibilities, one idea we knocked around was to post an occasional fractal art photoblog -- that\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1316#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Deep Sea Monster by Maria K. Lemming","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/DeepSeaMonster_MariaKLemming.jpg?fit=425%2C372&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":411,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=411","url_meta":{"origin":3613,"position":3},"title":"Phase Two: A Real Fractal Art Exhibition","author":"cruelanimal","date":"17 September, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Swine Flu by Luke Jerram I think Tim's recent observations that fractal art is about to undergo into a new Phase Two paradigm shift are on target. Fractal art will never evolve beyond a curious, trippy, decorative craft until it moves away from being defined by software and instead starts\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=411#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/JackieJokers_recursion.jpg?fit=337%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1053,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1053","url_meta":{"origin":3613,"position":4},"title":"Return to Phase Two","author":"cruelanimal","date":"4 April, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Detail of Tuna by Chris Jordan I thought it might be fitting to once again examine pushing fractal art into its second phase.\u00a0 Tim laid the initial groundwork for a Phase Two approach to our discipline, and I've presented several examples of what a Phase Two fractal art exhibition might\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Tuna (Detail) by Chris Jordan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/ChrisJordan_Running7.jpg?fit=400%2C267&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5462,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5462","url_meta":{"origin":3613,"position":5},"title":"Maybe You Should Stop Calling Yourself a “Fractal Artist”","author":"cruelanimal","date":"17 August, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Oxford Tire Pile 9b by Edward Burtynsky [Click on images to see higher resolution renditions.] \u00a0 Shut up and play your guitar. --Frank Zappa Seriously. I mean it. Calling yourself a \"fractal artist\" could be damaging your fine artistic street cred. On the Wikipedia Fractal entry, as Tim revealed in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/EdwardBurtynsky_OxfordTirePile9b_sm.jpg?fit=450%2C364&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3613"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3627,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3613\/revisions\/3627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}