{"id":5403,"date":"2014-07-05T00:01:12","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T04:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5403"},"modified":"2014-07-05T00:01:12","modified_gmt":"2014-07-05T04:01:12","slug":"fresh-winds-from-san-sebastian-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5403","title":{"rendered":"Fresh Winds from San Sebastian"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was called the “International Fractal Art Symposium<\/a>” and was held in San Sebastian, Spain (that’s in Europe) from June 25th to 27th, 2014. \u00a0I first heard about it back in December 2013 in a thread<\/a> on Fractalforums.com, but reined in my instant desire to comment about it because something made me think it was more like a private party than an International Symposium and so I thought to myself, “let the poor folks have their privacy”.<\/p>\n

But watching the growing list on the “Attendees<\/a>” page on Mathartistry.com became a daily, maybe hourly, obsession with me and I soon began wondering if this private party might actually end up being something like a symposium after all. \u00a0If you could check the web logs you’d probably find me in there as the most frequent visitor to the “symposium” site.<\/p>\n

If you’re going, to San Francisco<\/del> San Sebastian… Be sure to wear, some flowers in your hair…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t these “International Symposium” things immediately excite everyone? \u00a0Think of the\u00a0enthusiasm that was whipped up in past years by the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Exhibitions (07, 09, 11). \u00a0We’re all hopelessly optimistic or something. \u00a0Or maybe we see fractal art as held back by something, or held up by something and this year, maybe, fractal art is finally going to break out.<\/p>\n

Break out of where it is now. \u00a0Where it’s been since the 90s: \u00a0A hotbed of enthusiastic (and talented) practioners, albeit small in number (at this point in time) refining and advancing a real art form (if only others understood it (like we do)) waiting for that critical mass of numbers, and the attention of just one Hollywood scout to alert the whole world to\u00a0this\u00a0great breakthrough in\u00a0art.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Future of Fractal Art<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Program

Program details<\/p><\/div>\n

One<\/em> hour for a group discussion (starting) with the future of fractal art, and then two<\/em> hours for lunch.<\/p>\n

Fractal “Sharing”; “Show-n-Tell”? \u00a0They are a parody\u00a0of themselves.<\/p>\n

I am often struck by the wisdom of saying nothing and I have almost knocked myself out this time when I realize how wise I was not to have said anything about Javier’s Barbecue back in December when I first found out about it.<\/p>\n

But why criticize or make fun of something like this? (you may be asking?) \u00a0Isn’t it just mean? \u00a0And, and… why don’t I try organizing something –constructive– like this and see how hard it is? \u00a0Or, and this is the perennial thought in fractal art: “Isn’t it too early to say what’s going to come of this?”<\/em><\/p>\n

The Wreckage of the BMFACs<\/strong><\/p>\n

What if this is all there is to the world’s reaction to fractals? \u00a0What if the audience for fractal art is primarily just the people who make it? \u00a0Fractal art is so easy to “do” and is so much fun to play with that anyone who has any interest in the art form is only one free download away from joining the ranks of the “artists”. \u00a0As a result, what separates the artists from the audience is often nothing at all. \u00a0In fact, is there really an audience at all for fractal art? \u00a0Who out there is an avid fan of fractal art and doesn’t have an online gallery somewhere?<\/p>\n

The Future we Fear<\/strong><\/p>\n

What took place in San Sebastian is what I think fractal art is and will always be: 20-some people hanging out together: \u00a0sharing artwork; telling anectdotes; discussing new programs. \u00a0Like an endless fractal zoom where we\u00a0feel like we’re moving but it never seems to end at anything. \u00a0How ironic that the future of fractal art should be a recursive loop.<\/p>\n

\"jjj\"

Not with a bang, but a Print Swap<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was called the “International Fractal Art Symposium” and was held in San Sebastian, Spain (that’s in Europe) from June 25th to 27th, 2014. \u00a0I first heard about it back in December 2013 in a thread on Fractalforums.com, but reined in my instant desire to comment about it because something made me think it was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5409,"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-5403","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\/2014\/07\/sebastian02.jpg?fit=274%2C91&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5474,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5474","url_meta":{"origin":5403,"position":0},"title":"No Talk of Art at Fractal Art Conference","author":"cruelanimal","date":"1 September, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Untitled by Alice Olive \u00a0 And then you get an artist says he doesn't want to paint at all He takes an empty canvas and sticks it on the wall --\"In the Gallery,\" Dire Straits I wrote last time about my concerns that most fractal \"artists\" are more accurately merely\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5474#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/UntitledbyAliceOlive_sm.jpg?fit=450%2C299&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1260,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1260","url_meta":{"origin":5403,"position":1},"title":"The BMFAC Exhibition Begins? Who Knew?","author":"cruelanimal","date":"3 June, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1260#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"BMFAC in San Sabastian","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/BMFAC_SanSebastian.jpg?fit=450%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2566,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2566","url_meta":{"origin":5403,"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&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":275,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=275","url_meta":{"origin":5403,"position":3},"title":""The Best Fractal Art Ever Created"","author":"cruelanimal","date":"16 February, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's an exciting neck and neck (sea)horse race over at the idreamincolor forum where the locals are busy buzzing and definitively storming the hive while answering this honey-dripping question: What Is the Best Fractal Art Ever Created?Next week, rumor has it, members will reboot cerebrums to grok something less\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=275#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"#2: Trees","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/bestfractal_trees.jpg?fit=450%2C338&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1253,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1253","url_meta":{"origin":5403,"position":4},"title":"Dance This Mess Around","author":"cruelanimal","date":"2 June, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Dance first.\u00a0 Think later. It's the natural order. --Samuel Beckett [Photograph seen on Janet Parke's Sketchblog.] In a post to the Ultra Fractal Mailing List, Janet Parke describes a recent project mashing fractal art with ballet.\u00a0 She links to an entry in her Sketchblog where she outlines the genesis of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1253#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fractal Ballet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/fractalballet.jpg?fit=450%2C392&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":403,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=403","url_meta":{"origin":5403,"position":5},"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&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\/5403","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5403"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5413,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403\/revisions\/5413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}