BitArt
Website: http://home.netcom.com/~bitart/
by Robert J. Krawczyk
Reviewed by Luisa Paraguai Donati
Department of Multimedia
Institute of Arts, Unicamp, Brazil
http://wawrwt.iar.unicamp.br
luisa@iar.unicamp.br
The first impression of the website makes me to rethink the conceptual
threshold between a piece of mathematical art and a mathematical
scientific graphic both of which intend to create 'a tangible experience'
of abstract mathematical objects and concepts. This interdisciplinary
interface is not a contemporary occurrence but has generated distinct
aesthetic outcomes; artists are moved by poetic proposals which
contrasts with mathematicians and their accurate representations.
Currently, the production of these kinds of images using computers
has generated works more systematically, producing aesthetic experiences
as simulation and visualization through the manipulation of algorithms
and programming languages. This use of algorithms can produce a
disintegration of the symmetry, generating other relations and constructions
in the organisation of artistic works. In the same way, random options
introduce the possibility of instability and unpredictability, breaking
the systematic and the symmetrical elements by embodying 'something
accidental' ? a recurrent artistic procedure.
The BitArt website formalizes the Robert J. Krawczyk's intention,
in researching mathematical concepts aesthetically in spirolaterals
and a series of related strange attractor equations. In both situations
Krawczyk investigates the possibilities of graphical visualization
by describing and manipulating those expressions. In the Art
of Spirolaterals there is a gallery showing a variety of spirolaterals
and a section with a demonstration version. In another section Web
users can create their own by changing the parameters (turning angles,
number of turns, number of repeats, and all reversed turns) so as
to visualise all the reversals without any prior knowledge. According
to Krawczyk, 'Spirolaterals were first encountered while investigating
space curves and fractals in Abelson. What was intriguing about
them was the simple procedure to generate them and the great variety
that could result from modifying a small set of parameters.' From
this experience of investigating the rules of generating spirolaterals,
he obtained unexpected designs as results; this unpredictability,
under controlled conditions, is what makes spirolaterals of continuing
interest for him. The action of compounding forms and structures
by changing parameters and using a variety of line thickness has
generated infinite possibilities of rhythm, spatial directions,
spatialities and it characterises the author's aesthetic interest.
In the Dimension of time in strange attractors Krawczyk
explored non-random equations of chaotic processes, to generate
'spatial forms' which can be visualized and rendered when the element
of time is introduced into their interpretation. By using colouring
algorithms, he exposes the time element of the computational process
that produces images of coherent three-dimensional forms. Consequently
these images can be visually explained by a continuous movement
of folding and folding their structure - endless bending and twisting.
Some contemporary artists are also involved in 'the action
of doing something' by working and playing with numbers in order
to obtain and visualize forms, curves, and spaces. According to
Tania Fraga, '- [these] artists have potentialised the environment
using this 'something' as sign, as symbol, in experiences of presenting
and not representing'. Consequently, these visual poetics can be
understood as a space of possibilities which will be realised (actualised)
in a certain moment, as something that 'presents the virtual giving
visibility and therefore reality". From the relation between
users and graphical presentations, different unities can be revealed
- hidden compositions disclosed by the visualization that are not
apparent from the theoretical description. This confirms Merleau
Ponty's claim that, '- art is an operation of the expression - a
phenomenon of the expression', that works in the 'domain of the
possible', evoke experiences that will compose viewers consciousness.
This is a valiant and engaging project but finally there is a slight
disappointment. Thinking about the website as a design there is
a visual and aesthetical difference between its proposal and content.
Personally, I would have liked to have seen some elements from those
curves and forms embodied in the Web design so as to integrate its
aesthetic context with Krawczyk's works.
Bibliographical references:
T. Fraga, 'Virtualidade e Realidade,' Proceedings of XII Compos (2003).
M. Merleau Ponty, 'A d?vida de C?zanne,' Os pensadores (S?o Paulo: Abril Cultural, 1980) p.113-126.
L.M.M. Saboia, Uma po?tica interdisciplinar ? arte, matem?tica,
simetria e linguagem de programa??o PostScript, Thesis
(Campinas, Brazil: 2001)
R. J. Krawczyk, 'Introduction to Spirolaterals,' BitArt, http://home.netcom.com/~bitart/spirols/spdesc01.htm
(2000).
