Biomorph
With Biomorph ( Pl. Modeled on English biomorphs , rare Biomorphic ; adj. Biomorphic; of . Greek βίος bíos , life 'and μορφή morphé , shape, form ', "something that resembles a biological shape or form") is referred to in the Architecture , fine arts , design and science ( computer simulation and robotics ) are artificial, seemingly organic structures and images that are based on or look similar to living beings or their parts or biological products. In the past, the term organic was used for this.
Use of terms
The earliest use of biomorph is found by the British anthropologist and ethnologist Alfred Cort Haddon , who introduced this term in connection with the analysis of the development of the fine arts among primitive peoples :
"The biomorph is the representation of anything living in contradistinction to the skeuomorph, which, as we have seen, is the representation of anything made, or of the physicomorph which is the representation of an object or operation in the physical world."
“The biomorph is the representation of everything that lives, in contrast to the skeuomorph, which, as we have seen, is the representation of everything that has been manufactured, or the physicomorph, which is the representation of an object or a process in the physical world is. "
In 1936, the American art historian Alfred Hamilton Barr Jr. , founding director of the Museum of Modern Art , reintroduced the term to art. Barr gave no strict definition of biomorph , but used the term to denote the opposite of purely geometric forms in abstract art ; coined in the same context Barr also the compound term abstraction biomorphic ( biomorphic abstraction , now also a synonym of organic abstraction , Eng. organic abstraction ).
Based on art, the term biomorph found use in the natural sciences from the 1980s onwards.
The term biomorphism derived from biomorph (English biomorphism ) should not be confused with the biological term biomorphology (English biomorphology ; more often shortened to morphology or morphology ), the study of the structure and shape of organisms , or with biomorphosis , another name for the process of aging .
architecture
In organic architecture (from the Greek ὄργανον órganon 'tool', ' sensory tool', (biological) 'organ'), which also includes blob architecture , the designs of architects such as Santiago Calatrava , Richard Buckminster Fuller , and Antoni Gaudí follow , Hugo Häring , Frei Otto , Ionel Schein , Wladimir Grigorjewitsch Schuchow , Frank Lloyd Wright , Zaha Hadid , and others. a., a building concept from a holistic perspective: Buildings should be designed organically and in harmony with the landscape, taking their function into account ( form follows function ). This naturally results in geometrically strict shapes also adding plastic and biomorphic elements.
Visual arts
In paintings by surrealists like Salvador Dalí , Yves Tanguy , Joan Miró and Roberto Matta or abstract painters like Wassily Kandinsky there are structures that are called biomorphic. But biomorphic structural elements can also be discovered in subsequent artists such as Ida Kohlmeyer , James Brown , the painting zoologist and behavioral researcher Desmond Morris and other followers of surrealism or abstract painting.
In sculpture , biomorphic sculptures can be found, for example, by Hans Arp , Constantin Brâncuși , Mária Bartuszová , Barbara Hepworth , Reiner Maria Matysik , Henry Moore , Marina Schreiber , Hans Steinbrenner and Ladislav Zívr .
Bernd Löbach deals theoretically with biomorphism , the design ideology of biomorphic structures in art, architecture and design.
design
Works by designers such as Luigi Colani , Konstantin Grcic , Carlo Mollino , Marc Newson and Gaetano Pesce are called biomorphic or organic . In Basel "biomorphic - organic design from the collection of an exhibition titled took 2011/2012 Vitra Design Museum " instead, shown in the works of these artists and an overview of "organic design" was given in the 20th century.
The designer Henning Koppel is known for his variations of biomorphic shapes in pieces of jewelry made of silver and gold.
Computer simulation
In order to explain the principle of incremental evolution , Richard Dawkins describes (and shows) in his book Der blinde Uhrmacher , published in 1986, line graphics that he obtained by means of a computer program through randomized parameter variation based on a very simple basic structure. He refers to these symmetric , by the algorithm of the mutation to each other "related" and creatures resembling graphics as biomorphs .
robotics
Biomorphic machines, which are based on real life forms from their outer form , are a research area in robotics . The wide range of applications for the Biomorphs extends from the load-bearing Big Dog walking robot to the Paro seal , which is used therapeutically for people with dementia , toys such as Sony's Aibo and the Robosapien designed by Marc Tilden, to humanoid robots that are technically modeled on humans in terms of shape and selective functions.
literature
- Bernd Löbach: Biomorphism - A Revolution in Architecture , Volume 1 'History', Designbuch Verlag, Cremlingen 2010 (2nd edition 2011), ISBN 3-923971-70-2
- Rike Felka: Biomorphic Architectures, Verlag Brinkmann and Bose, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-940048-36-3
Individual evidence and explanations
- ^ Alfred Cort Haddon: Evolution in Art: As Illustrated by the Life-Histories of Designs , W. Scott, ltd. (1895), pp. 126-127 ; here PDF version of the new edition from 1914
- ↑ Haddon's term skeuomorph also experienced a change in meaning later in art. Today it is understood to be an artificially manufactured object that contains purely ornamental elements of one or more structures that have or had a function in the real original, e.g. B. the stone pylons of the Sydney Harbor Bridge .
- ^ William Baziotes, Michael Preble, Peggy Guggenheim Collection: William Baziotes: Paintings and Drawings, 1934-1962 , Skira (2004)
- ↑ Oliver AI Botar and Isabel Wünsche: Biocentrism and Modernism , Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. (2011), p. 67
- ↑ Abstract Art: A General Guide (English)
- ↑ Biomorphic abstraction (in English)
- ↑ Sabine Kraft (editor): Formfindings from biomorph to technoform , special issue 159/160, ARCH + Verlag (2002)
- ^ Roger Hull and Carl Hall Eden again: The Art of Carl Hall , Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University (2000), p. 43
- ^ Painting by Yves Tanguy
- ↑ Lawrence Alloway and Mary Davis MacNaughton: Adolph Gottlieb, a Retrospective Couverture , Hudson Hills (1995), p. 30 , discusses surrealist biomorphism and biomorphic forms.
- ↑ Biography of Ida Kohlmeyer at Sullivan Goss (English) ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Books on this subject are (a) Desmond Morris: The Secret Surrealist: Paintings of Desmond Morris , Phaidon Press Ltd (1987) and (b) Silvano Levy: Desmond Morris: Naked Surrealism , Petraco-Pandora NV (1999)
- ↑ Astrid von Asten and Heike Strelow: Biomorph !: Hans Arp in dialogue with current artist positions , Snoeck Verlagsgesellschaft (2011), editor: Oliver Kornhoff
- ↑ Biomorphism
- ↑ BioMorph - organic design from the collection of the Vitra Design Museum ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , September 30, 2011 to January 8, 2012
- ^ Richard Dawkins: The Evolution of Evolvability (English); there are several biomorph images in the article. ( Memento from May 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Robert Pepperell: The Posthuman Condition: Consciousness Beyond The Brain , Intellect Books (2003), p. 117
- ↑ Richard Dawkins and Desmond Morris are friends and as early as 1976 Dawkins used a painting by Morris for the cover of the first edition of "The Selfish Gene". In “The Blind Watchmaker” Dawkins explains that he adopted the term biomorph , inspired by Desmond Morris' painting.
- ↑ Biomorphic Robotics Lab ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio: Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species , MIT Press (2001), p. 117
