The Luxury of Protest

Sep 4th, 2009
6 Comments

The Luxury of Protest
The Luxury of Protest
The Luxury of Protest
The Luxury of Protest

‘Maths Dreamed Universe’ Poster
Design The Luxury of Protest

“‘Maths Dreamed Universe’ is a quantitative visualisation of the manner in which elemental forms in nature order themselves. The graph – created using generative Python code – maps numbers 0 to 100,001 arranged in a logarithmic spiral. The pattern that results is frequently found in nature, as in the arrangement of floral organs and the formation of galaxies. The spiral reveals the visual relationships of elemental numbers and the aesthetic beauty of mathematical equations.

The project reflects the contemporary interest in the intersection of science and art : in particular the crossover of pure math with graphic aestheticism. The appreciation of aesthetic forms has a long tradition in art and design, but ornamentation is often derided as being little more than a fancy. But what if aesthetic appreciation was functional? – what if beauty communicates and is thus open to analytical investigation? “Maths Dreamed Universe” is the first in a series of projects that investigates meaning in aesthetics.”

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K2 really had their work cut out for them this time with some of the finer details on this poster—namely the smallest dots—measuring in at a mere 1/10 of a mm in diameter! Suffice to say Peter has certainly outdone himself again and this thought-provoking, well crafted poster (should you chose to purchase a copy) really is worth the £65 price tag. Click here to buy a copy at Stereohype.

Acknowledgements: Peter


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6 Comments

  1. Sep 7th, 2009

    Darren

    Another cool poster.

    Kinda reminds me of this Hirst (questionable) piece.

    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/article-23371767-details/Can+you+spot+the+difference/article.do

  2. Sep 7th, 2009

    Peter Crnokrak

    good eye Darren! interesting that any artist can claim ownership for this pattern – which is found at the very centre of my poster – termed phyllotaxis : the patterning of floral organs on a flower. if anyone “owns” this work it’s H. Vogel – the mathematician who formulated the equation that describes the pattern. but realistically, no scientist owns a discovery of nature.

  3. Sep 8th, 2009

    David

    Darren – Ah yes…
    Peter – You learn something new everyday ;) I definitely agree with you though – no scientist owns a discovery of nature. It’s the same thing as trying to own the Golden Section.

  4. Sep 8th, 2009

    Darren

    Don’t they at least get to name the discovery though? Halley’s comet, Pythagoras theory etc?

    Out of interest why is it called phyllotaxis?

  5. Sep 8th, 2009

    Peter Crnokrak

    naming a discovery after the discoverer is mostly a thing of the past – thought to be a bit too egotistical these days. though darren you are right in it’s convention – in fact the spiral in my poster is variously called Vogel’s spiral or Fermat’s spiral (Fermat formulated it first, Vogel significantly modified afterward).

    here’s a good source for phyllotaxis : http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Phyllotaxis.html

    what’s really amazing about phyllotaxis is that the resulting spiral pattern – although seemingly simple compasses both the concepts of Fibonacci numbers + the Golden ratio

    the pattern is also used in the branding of Seed magazine : http://seedmagazine.com/

    and as a side note – Hirst must have copied the pattern generated by Dixon (there is no way by chance alone to come across exactly the same pattern without having the same mathematical input values) – but Dixon is not justified in saying he owns it. interestingly Dixon has published a book called Mathographics where he outlines techniques to generate aesthetically interesting math-based equations.

  6. Sep 15th, 2009

    Darren

    Interesting stuff Peter – I’ll happily admit I had to read the article a couple of times though!

    Re: Hirst, I don’t think it’s the first time he’s been accused of plagiarism and he’s doesn’t seem to come across too well in the pieces I’ve read about him either.

    http://boingboing.net/2009/05/19/damien-hirsts-giant.html

    I really like the seed ident – nice.

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