Recognizable Earthly Art

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Recognizable Earthly Art ?

• Carlo H. Séquin
• EECS Computer Science Division
• University of California, Berkeley

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The Question

• Which of the artworks produced by the human race
  might be recognizable as ART by some future
  visiting foreign intelligences ?

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Is It Art ?
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• Sometimes art is indistinguishable from its
  surroundings

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Is this Art -- Is this Special ?

• YES if it was done by your own child !

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Another Special Drawing

• Medhia Mahmood, age 5, Gainesville, VA

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Why are These Paintings Special ?
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Is This Special ?

• They were painted by an Elephant in Thailand

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Is This Special ?

• YES painted by a robot

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Robotic Action Painter

• and its inventor / designer Leonel Moura
• studio_at_leonelmoura.com

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• Painting by Robotic Action Painter

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Is This Special ?

• YES painted by someone famous

• YES ! done by Jackson Pollock

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Is this also Special ?

• Perhaps believed to be done by Pollock

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Is This Special ?

• NO just a piece of a lab coat

• Not really! done by an on-line applet !

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Pollock Generator

• http//a.parsons.edu/can/code/intro.html

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Now also as an iPhone Applet
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Importance of Background Information

• Background Knowledge is often the only reason
  why something is considered to be art
  or valuable or at least special

But what if no such information is available
? Then the artwork/artifact has to speak for
itself
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Little Background Available

• True for our most ancient known art pieces

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Cave Paintings
30000 years old
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Little Background Available

• True for our most ancient known art pieces

25000 years old
Discovered 1908
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Is This Something Special ?
300000 years old

• Archeologists debate whether this modified stone
  was meant to represent a woman.

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SCIENCE VOL 323, Feb. 6, 2009
77000 years old
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Our Question -- Again

• Which of the artworks produced by the human race
  might be recognizable as ART to some future
  visiting foreign intelligences ?

By looking back we can gain some insightsof what
it might be like for future intelligencesto
puzzle over artifacts left by todays
civilization.
First of all, our art must be able to survive!
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Whirled White Web Breckenridge 2003
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1240 pm -- 42 F
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1241 pm -- 42 F
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100000 Year Doomsday Scenarios

• Some virus wipes out almost all of mankind( as
  in George R. Stewarts Earth abides).
  Civilization, as we know it, disappears.
• Giant volcanic eruption covers everything with
  many meters of ash.
• Some man-made stupidity destroys our habitat.

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Some Things That Will NOT Survive

• Magnetic Tapes
• CDs and DVDs
• Books and Journals
• Unprotected Paintings

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More Stuff that Will Not Survive
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100000 Years in the Future

• Only inorganic materials survive
• All museums have caved in
• Most written / printed information is lost
• Tapes, CDs, DVDs are all unreadable
• No background information available !
• What objects can speak for themselves ?

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Among the Artifacts that Do Survive,What Makes
an Object Special?

• It must stand out from its surroundings

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Something that Stands Out

• Big stone structures in a flat landscape

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Nothing Special . . .

• Just some dirty sidewalk with typical 20th
  century junk

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A Precious Instrument

• with a sensible cover (Joseph Beuys Center
  Piece)

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Among the Artifacts that Do Survive,What Makes
an Object Special?

• It must stand out from its surroundings
• Should not look accidental

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Unfinished Construction Site

• Another installation by Joseph Beuys

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A Manufacturing Mishap ?
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Why could the walls not be made straight ?

• Richard Serra

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Richard Serra Torqued Ellipses
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Among the Artifacts that Do Survive,What Makes
an Object Special?

• It must stand out from its surroundings
• Should not look accidental
• Should exhibit a plan, conscious thought

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Clearly a Special Design

• Nazca Lines in Peru

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Art or Wallpaper ?

• Drawings by Sol LeWitt

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Among the Artifacts that Do Survive,What Makes
an Object Special?

• It must stand out from its surroundings
• Should not look accidental
• Should exhibits planning, conscious thought
• Appears to require some special skills

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How Did They Build This ?

• Only a few thousand years ago,and we already
  have trouble figuring out how it was done

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Anybody could do this

• Richard Serrra Lead Piece, 1968

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How Did They Build This ?
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Among the Artifacts that Do Survive,What Makes
an Object Special?

• It must stand out from its surroundings
• Should not look accidental
• Should exhibits planning, conscious thought
• Appears to require some special skills
• Other . . .

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Missing Background Information

• . . . will lead to misinterpretations !

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Discovered in NYC

• Celebration of . . . ?

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And what might this be ?

• Celebrating the end of the war with the Indians ?

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???

• Some special Antenna from the Electronic Century ?

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Another Mysterious Object

• Propeller for motor boat ?
• Grinder head ?
• Galactic force concentrator ?

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Hyperbolic Hexagon II, Bronze

• A collaboration between
• Brent Collins (sculptor),
• Steve Reinmuth (craftsman),
• Carlo Séquin (computer scientist).

• Installed Feb. 27, 2009 CITRIS headquarter
  reception area, U.C. Berkeley.

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Brent Collins Hyperbolic Hexagon II
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Brent Collins Stacked Saddles
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Scherks 2nd Minimal Surface
Normal biped saddles
Generalization to higher-order saddles(monkey
saddle)
Scherk Tower
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Hyperbolic Hexagon by B. Collins

• 6 saddles in a ring
• 6 holes passing through symmetry plane at 45º
• wound up 6-story
  Scherk tower
• Discussion What if
• we added more stories ?
• or introduced a twist before closing the ring ?

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Closing the Loop
straight or twisted
Scherk Tower
Scherk-Collins Toroids
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Brent Collins Prototyping Process
Mockup for the Saddle Trefoil
Armature for the Hyperbolic Heptagon
Time-consuming ! (1-3 weeks)
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Sculpture Generator 1, GUI
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V-art
VirtualGlassScherkTowerwith MonkeySaddles(R
adiance 40 hours) Jane Yen
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Collins Fabrication Process
Wood master patternfor sculpture
Layered laminated main shape
Example Vox Solis
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Slices through Minimal Trefoil
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10
23
30
45
5
20
27
35
2
15
25
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Profiled Slice through Heptoroid

• One thick slicethru sculpture,from which Brent
  can cut boards and assemble a rough shape.
• Traces represent top and bottom,as well as cuts
  at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4of one board.

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Emergence of the Heptoroid (1)
Assembly of the precut boards
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Emergence of the Heptoroid (2)
Forming a continuous smooth edge
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Emergence of the Heptoroid (3)
Smoothing the whole surface
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The Finished Heptoroid

• at Fermi Lab Art Gallery (1998).

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Construction Photos from Steve Reinmuth Bronze
StudioEugene, Oregon
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The Master Mold for Hyperbolic Hexagon II
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A Clean Wax Copy
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Adding Sprues and Runners
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First Sprues and Runners Added
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Details of Sprues and Runners
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Into the Kiln Burning out the Wax
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Bronze Pour
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Polish and Patina
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Hyperbolic Hexagon II at CITRIS, 2/27/09
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Will this survive ?Will it be recognizable as
something special ?

• Yes . . .
• if it is not turned into bullets for some
  future war!
• or will be used as a source of copper

Helaman Ferguson Work in stone !
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Helaman Ferguson Two Canoes
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Keizo Ushio Oushi Zokei, Ono City 2004
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Q U E S T I O N S ?
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Helaman Ferguson Two Canoes

• Original model by Helaman Ferguson, 1995

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Helaman Ferguson Two Canoes

• How it was assembled

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ISAMA, San Sebastian 1999

• Keizo Ushio and his OUSHI ZOKEI

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Schematic Model of 2-Link Torus
360

• 2 knife blades rotate through 360 degreesas
  they sweep once around the torus ring