Algorithms and Art

Eyeo2012 - Casey Reas from Eyeo Festival // INST-INT on Vimeo.

An interesting exploration of the intersection of math, art, and computer science.

The Islands of Benoît Mandelbrot

The Bard Graduate Center recently closed a show entitled "The Islands ofBenoît Mandelbrot:Fractals, Chaos, and theMateriality of Thinking". Interesting, for a computer scientist to have a show in what has historically been an institution dedicated to showcasing the arts.

Benoit Mandelbrot is perhaps most famous for his work involving fractals (including helping to generate the mountains in Star Trek II). Fractals are shapes that exhibit the interesting property of having self-similarity. This fractal was named after Mandelbrot:

People call it the "Mandelbrot Set". It's a "set" because this shape is actually a visual map to a collection of special Julia Set fractals.

This "art" show at the Bard Graduate Center focused on the visual record of the mathematical discovery of the mysterious properties of these shapes:

It's hard to find visual artifacts to document the lifespan of a mathematical discovery. Several pieces in the show are obviously sketches of ideas that have yet to come to full fruition.

• New York Times coverage of the Islands of Benoit Mandelbrot
• Exhibition Catalog- The Islands of Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals, Chaos, and the Materiality of Thinking
• The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptation 
• Making the Genesis Effect in Star Trek II

Computational Choreography

A Romanian university (Sapientia University) uses the Quick Sort algorithm to choreograph a dance in the traditional Hungarian style. Hats are passed along as iterators, partitions turn around once sorted, and the dancers explode into a jig after the algorithm finishes. It's a creative combination of art and computer science.

Using an algorithm to dictate compositional elements is a technique many artists have employed, including Sol LeWitt, John Cage, and Yoko Ono.

One of the best sort animators I've ever seen, this video seems particularly useful to anyone trying to learn computer science sorting routines. Stepping through the pseudocode of an algorithm is a sometimes tedious job; watching characters twirl through the procedure is the opposite experience.

Check out some of the other sorting routines that have been choreographed into dances by the AlgoRythmics:

• Insertion Sort - A Romanian Folk Dance
• Selection Sort - A Gypsy Folk Dance
• Shell Sort - A Hungarian Folk Dance