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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