Drawing on Complexity (ISEA Experiment): Modelling systems through rule-based, collaborative art
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Drawing on Complexity is an ongoing series of art-science experiments in which groups of participants follow simple rules to make a large-scale, collaborative drawing using lines of tape and become part of a complex adaptive system in real time.
Ongoing since 2011, experiments have been run with fixed groups of people (3-30 people) or on a drop-in basis with the general public (up to 8000 people) for periods ranging from two hours to two weeks.
A real-time ‘agent-based model’, the evolving artwork visualises and tracks how decisions and interactions between agents gives rise to larger, emergent patterns. The process of drawing together using simple rules (or ‘enabling constraints’) is also an opportunity for relaxed conversation between participating agents.
The rules for each experiment are designed by Australian independent artist Briony Barr and physicist, Prof Andrew Melatos (The University of Melbourne). Drawings have taken place in schools, festivals, galleries and science institutions around Australia and internationally, including at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, USA, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea and Scienceworks in Melbourne, Australia. More about the project at www.brionybarr.com
The ISEA drawing experiment:
The artwork will be created using a set of rules designed for a recent 8-day collaborative drawing enacted with the general public as part of the World Science Festival Brisbane. During the workshop, we will compare and contrast emergent outcomes.
