Coded Chimera: exploring relationships between sculptural form making and biological morphogenesis through computer modelling

编码嵌合体：通过计算机建模探索雕塑形式制作与生物形态发生之间的关系

• 批准号: AH/H033742/1
• 负责人: Bruce Gernand
• 金额: $ 2.84万
• 依托单位: University of the Arts London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2010 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FH033742%2F1
• 关键词: Coded; Chimera; exploring; relationships; between

Artists have long been inspired by forms of the natural world and have been involved in their imaging and representation. Contemporarily, with the invention of technologies that bring the unseen into visibility, artists have been engaged even more with imaginative representations of abstract scientific data. This project situates itself within this tradition and will make a unique contribution: it will develop a method for describing and reflecting the evolution and transformations of form. It will be guided by the analogy that the process of making is to the finished work of art, as natural selection is to an individuated member of a species. Principles of morphogenesis will be employed to interrogate the generative aspects of form-making.About 100 years ago, the sculptor Gaudier-Breszka carved a modest and playful work of a bird devouring a fish. It captures a decisive moment but also, through the continuity of the material and the carving process, the bird and fish exist in a reciprocal relationship; they morph into one another. Gaudier-Breszka's work refers to the sculptures of diverse cultures where the flux and transformations of nature can become crystallized in a particular object. Around the same time, the biologist D'Arcy Thompson was compiling his seminal work On Growth and Form, which laid the foundations of morphogenesis, the study of biological dynamics. I am particularly interested in his elaboration of 'co-ordinate networks' which describe morphological change. Today, digital capacities make possible more complex 3-dimensional meshworks and I plan to elaborate on Thompson's earlier 'pencil and paper' diagrams. This part of the project will form the basis of a more extended exploration of the development of form using computer languages to simulate evolutionary dynamics. Some of these computations are known as genetic algorithms (GA), and I plan to use them to 'grow' generations of forms, discover rules for selection, and use these new techniques to make work which embodies shape shifting features, including, perhaps, a 21st century bird/fish.This project, however, is not just about using clever technology. It will look at more fundamental issues of the creative process. My interest in morphogenesis leads me to make connections between the process of making an artwork and the principles of biological dynamics. The fluidity of either process is difficult to articulate. Features such as randomness appear trivial; trial and error is just too mundane; how do we come to embrace what appears accidental: we struggle to describe the shape of adaptations. The use of digital technology allied with its selective embodiment in material provides a method to explore the way such patterns transform anew. The tools I use, including 3D digital modelling, influence my work: they are part of the subject matter and 'the look' of final pieces. The challenge of the project is how an artist responds to the new tools of 'programming languages' in the production of sculptural objects. This project is multidisciplinary, calling on the collaboration and expertise of others. Links have been established with the Natural History Museum, the Zoological Museum, Cambridge, and the Cambridge Computer Lab. In addition to practical objectives and outcomes, the project creates a context for synergy and connectivity across disciplines.Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection underpins this proposal. My project has a palpable topicality in the light of the current celebrations around his huge influence in science and culture. I will use the opportunity of this timely context to expose the research to a wider audience.The Art of Evolution: Darwin, Darwinisms, and Visual Culture (Larson and Brauer, eds) is hot off the press. My project will contribute to these latest intellectual developments through a practice based inquiry of embodied transformations.

艺术家长期以来一直受到自然世界形式的启发，并参与其成像和表现。与此同时，随着技术的发明，使看不见的变成可见的，艺术家们更多地参与了抽象科学数据的想象力表现。这个项目将自己定位在这一传统中，并将做出独特的贡献：它将开发一种描述和反映形式演变和转变的方法。它将遵循这样一个类比：制作过程之于艺术品的完成，就像自然选择之于一个物种的个体化成员一样。形态发生的原理将被用来询问形式形成的生成方面。大约100年前，雕塑家高迪耶-布雷斯卡雕刻了一个温和而有趣的鸟吃鱼的作品。它捕捉了一个决定性的时刻，但也通过材料和雕刻过程的连续性，鸟和鱼存在于一种相互的关系中;它们彼此变形。Gaudier-Breszka的作品是指不同文化的雕塑，其中自然的流动和变化可以在特定的对象中结晶。大约在同一时间，生物学家达西·汤普森（D 'Arcy Thompson）正在编纂他的开创性著作《生长与形态》（On Growth and Form），这本书奠定了形态发生学的基础，也就是生物动力学的研究。我特别感兴趣的是他阐述的'坐标网络'描述形态变化。今天，数字能力使更复杂的三维网络成为可能，我计划详细介绍汤普森早期的“铅笔和纸”图表。该项目的这一部分将形成一个更广泛的探索形式的发展使用计算机语言来模拟进化动力学的基础。其中一些计算被称为遗传算法（GA），我计划用它们来“生长”一代又一代的形式，发现选择的规则，并使用这些新技术来制作体现形状变化特征的作品，包括，也许，21世纪的鸟/鱼。它将着眼于创作过程中更基本的问题。我对形态发生的兴趣使我在制作艺术品的过程和生物动力学原理之间建立了联系。这两个过程的流动性都很难说清楚。随机性等特征看起来微不足道;试错法太平凡了;我们如何接受看似偶然的东西：我们很难描述适应的形状。数字技术的使用与其在材料中的选择性体现相结合，提供了一种探索这种模式重新转变的方法。我使用的工具，包括3D数字建模，影响了我的工作：它们是主题的一部分，也是最终作品的“外观”。该项目的挑战是艺术家如何在雕塑对象的生产中应对“编程语言”的新工具。该项目是多学科的，需要其他人的合作和专门知识。与自然历史博物馆、动物博物馆、剑桥和剑桥计算机实验室建立了联系。除了实际的目标和成果外，该项目还为跨学科的协同作用和连通性创造了一个环境。达尔文的自然选择进化论支持了这一提议。鉴于目前围绕他在科学和文化方面的巨大影响力的庆祝活动，我的项目具有明显的时事性。我将利用这个及时的背景下的机会，向更广泛的读者展示这项研究。进化的艺术：达尔文，达尔文主义和视觉文化（拉森和布劳尔，编辑）正在火热的新闻界。我的项目将有助于这些最新的智力发展，通过实践为基础的调查体现的转变。