At the beginning of the lecture we watched a video by @notthisbody and @jason_silva called ‘To understand is to perceive patterns’; you can find it at http://notthisbody.com/?p=798. It is 1.45 minutes of wow factor, it makes me want to learn more about patterns and chaos and the universe, it’s more than art in fact it could be everything… great start to the lecture.
When I was looking at the video again I came across the ‘about me’ for NOTTHISBODY, I think it’s pretty special so here it is again.
About us…
We are NOTTHISBODY – an outlet for subjective experience. Narratives are our interest. We recognize the value of entertainment, but not its mindlessness. We do not recognize borders between mediums. A medium is a means to an end, and a means should not end but ever progress. We are open to any and all who would like to cooperate & co-create with us.
Jill asked a question at the start of the lecture and here it is again, and although I don’t know the answer right now, by the end of this project, I hope I do.
As visual artists and designers what should we understand about pattern and why?
As I skim through my notes I have to say a lot of this is new to me and I’m not sure I understand all of it but it’s a good starting point for my own research and so the following may be a little disjointed, for now.
Galileo, as sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei:
Galileo was one of the first modern thinkers to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical. In The Assayer he wrote “Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe … It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures …” In Drake (1957, pp. 237–238)
Drake, Stillman (1957). Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo. New York: Doubleday & Company. ISBN 0-385-09239-3.
Cristobal Vila as sourced from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnkLDFpgix4
Watch this video called – Nature by Numbers – Cristóbal Vila (2010), so beautiful.
Fibonacci sequenced as sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number
In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers or Fibonacci series or Fibonacci sequence are the numbers in the following sequence:
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, …
By definition, the first two numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. These numbers occur over and over in nature.
Fritjof Capra and the ‘Web of Life’, “understanding of life begins with the understanding of patterns”. Capra is a systems theorist who believes that there are three questions we need to consider and that is:
- What is it made of? Or structure
- What is the pattern?
- What is the process?
In short:
- Networks as a basic pattern of life, networks with feedback loops are dynamic, self correcting.
- Organised complexity, systems’ thinking is about networks.
- Knowledge is highly interconnected.
- Benoit Mandelbrot, the father of Fractals. Hunting the hidden pattern.
A lot going on here and some time needed to take it all in and have an opinion on.
leanne morrison 
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