Self-organizing painting
Under self-organizing painting all painting techniques which can be summarized to, patterning physical or chemical properties of the materials used to use. These materials create a non-linear system or dynamic system , the course of which over time forms patterns that can be used as motifs.
The principal property of these systems is the dynamics of pattern formation through immanent physical forces, which corresponds to a self-organization of the corresponding materials. Starting from an initial state, such a dynamic system develops independently or through control operations from outside, in that a sequence of intermediate states is passed through until a state of equilibrium occurs. The state of equilibrium usually has few interesting aesthetic properties, so that the intermediate states are the motifs that are of interest to the artist.
The tasks of the artist within this self-organization process consist initially of providing the materials used, which are mostly liquids. These materials are spatially related to one another in certain quantities and in certain configurations, which corresponds to the initialization state of self-organization. The pattern formation process develops on the basis of this initialization, whereby the artist uses control operations such as B. the addition of new materials, or the spatial reconfiguration of existing materials can affect this self-organization process. In most dynamic systems, the sequence of the individual intermediate states is irreversible over time. H. Conditions that have occurred occur only once and are then lost, so to speak. This property makes a form of documentation of the intermediate states necessary, whereby photography and film or video are suitable means for this. The task of the artist in this context consists in the classic composition decision, in which it must be determined when which section of an object or an event is to be photographed or filmed.
Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge is considered to be the discoverer / inventor of this form of painting , who in the 19th century applied chemical solutions to absorbent paper that organized themselves into complex and aesthetic color and shape patterns. He published the results of his experiments on pattern formation in 1855 in the book "The educational instinct of substances illustrated in independently grown images". He wrote: .... this new, previously unknown force (the educational instinct) ... is not aroused or fanned out by something outside, but originally dwells within the matter ... "and he regards it as" the role model in the Plants and animals are active in life. "From these experiments Runge later developed the process of chromatography .
Physical or chemical principles of pattern formation
- Surface tension
Pattern formation in liquids, triggered by surface tension using solvents and color pigments on an aqueous or oily surface. The surface tension is influenced by additives such as alcohol or surfactants. If two or more liquids with different surface tension meet, they try to achieve a state of equilibrium by forming branched runners (fingers). Morphologically different structures arise such as branches (dendrites), leaf shapes (viscous fingering), cell structures, pulsating tissue patterns.
- Interface dynamics (viscous fingering)
A liquid with a high viscosity is located between two parallel glass plates ( Hele-Shaw cell , named after the British engineer Henry S. Hele-Shaw ). Another liquid with a lower viscosity is injected into this liquid, creating wandering interfaces between the two liquids that continue to grow like plant structures. If the glass plates are pulled apart, finger-like, branched patterns form (viscous fingering).
- Oscillating chemical waves
Formation of circular waves or spirals by a Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction .
- Convection currents
Bénard convection : regular flow patterns in liquids that are heated from below. Possible intervention parameters by the artist are changing the amount of liquid, changing the shape of the vessel, regulating the energy supply.
literature
- Uwe Reichert: Pictures that paint themselves - shaping in non-linear dynamic systems. In: Spectrum of Science. September, 1996, p. 115.
- Volkhard Stürzbecher: Pictures that paint themselves. In: Spectrum of Science. April, 2001, pp. 78-85.