[spectre] Re: Synthazards

[Vladimir Todorovic]

Dear Melentie,

thanks for your questions.

The work is not based on Thom's catastrophe theory, but definitely  
there are some parallels we can draw. It is a fact that some hazards  
trigger other hazards: volcanoes can trigger lightning, earthquakes  
can cause tsunamis, lightnings trigger landslides, etc. If we could  
come up with mathematical models for analysis of natural hazards as a  
dynamical system, we might (not) have been closer to understanding of  
what natural hazards are. This is something we were not interested in  
pursuing when we were producing Synthazards.

In our project, algorithms used to prototype the hazards are almost  
arbitrary and they work like one layer of the project that is equally  
important to the other ones: the type of hazards, the dynamics of the  
forms generated, materials, etc. they are not used to understand the  
hazards better, but they are used so that we can manufacture the  
prototypes we can look at. we used vornoi 2d algorithm for drought,  
random walk for lightning, simulation of fluid dynamics for lava, and  
others to focus mainly on the beauty of hazards. one can say that the  
beauty of the vornoi algorithm is interacting with the beauty of  
drought. this formal approach is so 'romantic' that it is in a way  
ignorant of the notions to understand what natural hazards are.

best,
v



On Mar 1, 2009, at 6:51 PM, EAF Director wrote:

> Thanks for this Vladimir.
>
> It is a quite interesting project, indeed.
> I certainly look forward to seeing it in May.
>
> I am also curious as to why you have chosen to look into, or define,  
> these works through the notion of "hazard"?
> Also curious if there is any connection to Rene Thom's catastrophe  
> theory?
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Melentie
>
>
>
> On 26/02/2009, at 10:19 PM, Vladimir Todorovic wrote:
>
>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> if you are in Singapore, you are welcome to visit Synthazards, a  
>> new project by Syntfarm.
>> it is on display from 18 Feb to 19 May 2009 at: Lasalle Building 1  
>> McNally Street, Singapore.
>>
>> http://www.syntfarm.org/projects/synthazards/
>>
>> Synthazards are replicas of natural hazards. They are manufactured  
>> by using various rapid prototyping techniques, laser cutouts, and  
>> algorithms. In this project, Syntfarm are fabricating the  
>> following: earthquake, drought, whirlpool, lightning, volcano,  
>> tsunami, tornado and lava. The objects are celebrating mostly  
>> formal aspects of these phenomena. What is apparent in fabrications  
>> is a unique synthetic form, which is given-by algorithms and  
>> inscribed in the language of prototyping machines. Hosted by ICAS,  
>> the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore.
>>
>> best,
>> v
>>
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>
>