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Mathias Gartner & Vera Tolazzi

THE TRANSPARENCY OF RANDOMNESS
“The Transparency of Randomness” gives insight into the world of randomness. In this interactive installation, visitors can directly experience the significance of the complex interplay of randomness and stochastics in current mathematical and physical research. 27 transparent boxes, floating in space, continuously generate random numbers by using the well-known medium of the dice.The process of random number generation is influenced by the complexity of nature and its structures, using a variety of natural materials. The ensemble of all generated random numbers forms the basis of a real-time calculation and comprehensibly demonstrates the impressive role in scientific research.

Troika

AVA

Ava’ is Troika’s first sculptural manifestation of their exploration of algorithms. ‘Ava’ is the physical result of emergence and self organisation brought about by ‘growing’ a sculpture through the use of a computer algorithm that imitates the emergence of life by which complexity arises from the simplest of things. As such the sculpture probes at the nature of becoming, existence and our strive to understand and replicate the complexities of life.In a landscape where our personal data is a raw material, and where we, humans, have become subordinate spectators of algorithms and a computerised infrastructure, we ask the question how much or little are we capable of influencing our surrounding reality, how much is predetermined, how much is down to chance.

ANDY LOMAS

Morphogenetic Creations
Created by a mathematician, digital artist and Emmy award winning supervisor of computer generated effects – Andy Lomas, Morphogenetic Creations is a collection of works that explore the nature of complex forms that can be produced by digital simulation of growth systems. These pieces start with a simple initial form which is incrementally developed over time by adding iterative layers of complexity to the structure.The aim is to create structures emergently: exploring generic similarities between many different forms in nature rather than recreating any particular organism. In the process he is exploring universal archetypal forms that can come from growth processes rather than top-down externally engineered design.Programmed using C++ with CUDA, the series use a system of growth by deposition: small particles of matter are repeatedly deposited onto a growing structure to build incrementally over time. Rules are used to determine how new particles are created, and how they move before being deposited. Small changes to these rules can have dramatic effects on the final structure, in effect changing the environment in which the form is grown. To create these works, Andy uses the GPU as a compute device rather than as a display device. All the data is held in memory on the GPU and various kernel functions are called to do things like apply forces to the cells, make cells split, and to render the cells using ray-tracing. The simulations and rendering for each of the different animated structures within this piece take about 12 hours to run, Andy explains. By the end of the simulations there are over 50,000,000 cells in each structure.The Cellular Forms use a more biological model, representing a simplified system of cellular growth. Structures are created out of interconnected cells, with rules for the forces between cells, as well as rules for how cells accumulate internal nutrients. When the nutrient level in a cell exceeds a given threshold the cell splits into two, with both the parent and daughter cells reconnecting to their immediate neighbours. Many different complex organic structures are seen to arise from subtle variations on these rules, creating forms with strong reminiscences of plants, corals, internal organs and micro-organisms.

Plebian Design

Patterned by Nature
Patterned by Nature was commissioned by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for the newly built Nature Research Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The exhibit celebrates our abstraction of nature’s infinite complexity into patterns through the scientific process, and through our perceptions. It brings to light the similarity of patterns in our universe, across all scales of space and time.

Rosie Danford Phillips

Opulent Virulence
“My collection is inspired by my fascination with nature; an interpretation of the complexity and unrestrained beauty of nature, which I express through complex layering, colour and a maximalist aesthetic that takes joy in abundance and opulence. I create my own ecosystems of layered and built fabrics in knit, print and unconventional embroidery. My clothes are in a state of rewilding – I infect the silhouettes with rich colourful textiles, giving them life. I grow my embroideries over graphic and sculptural silhouettes to emphasise and contrast the organic and the built landscape.” Rosie Danford Phillips

MARIA FERNANDA CARDOSO

Woven water

I am interested in chaos and complexity theories, where simple units form complex systems and if you follow those systems it somehow connects us to the universe. In Woven water: submarine landscape I want to create the illusion of the ocean and its currents. The piece is commenting on the environmental impact tourism has on animals and our planet. Although the feeling evoked in a viewer ‘immersed’ in the artwork is peace and tranquillity, the frozen and dry nature of these sea creatures hints at their ghostlike and melancholic end.

Undercurrent architects

Leaf House Sydney

Leaf House is building that allows users to be inside and in-the-garden at the same time. It is a self contained cottage forming part of a coastal residence in Sydney; a Pavilion for experiencing Nature. The building integrates the environment and reflects qualities of the landscape: its canopy structure blends into the foliage; its podium base shapes the terrain. The design is characterised by curved copper roof shells resembling fallen leaves and a vine-like structural system channelling dynamic growth inside. Daylight filters through porous roof shells onto a podium deck and the open plan living areas. Views and reflections subtly modulate the surrounding garden through an enclosure of moulded glass. Private spaces offer introspection inside the sandstone podium buried in the terrain. The project entailed design and building roles as methods were improvised to achieve high technical complexity within cost constraints.