GMU:Self-Organization by Design

Werkmodul/Fachmodul
Lecturer: Martin Schneider
Credits: 6 ECTS, 4 SWS
Date: Block-Workshops
Venue: Marienstraße 7b, Room 204
First meeting: 2013-11-29

Beschreibung

Dieser Kurs setzt sich mit verschiedenen Formen der Selbst-Organisation auseinander.
Das geschieht in Form von Übungen und Experimenten mit der Programmiersprache Processing.

Die drei Themengebiete sind:

• Muster-Bildung (Zelluläre Automaten und Turing Patterns)
• Dynamische Selbst-Organisation (Swarm-Art)
• Selbst-Konfiguration (Geometrische Physik und Chemie)

Description

This course tackles several forms of self-organisation.
The subject is approached via exercises and experiments in the Processing programming language.

The three subject areas are:

• Pattern Formation (Cellular Automata and Turing Patterns)
• Dynamic Self-Organisation (Swarm-Art)
• Self-Assembly (Geometric Physics and Chemistry)

Language

The course will be in English, unless all participants are speaking German.

Leistungsnachweis

• Regular and active participation in all three workshop blocks.
• Working on subtasks and presenting them with documentation on the wiki and on OpenProcessing
• Autonomous preparation of the course involving self-study of the relevant skills (such as programming in Processing)
• Final Assignment: Individual exploration of self-organisation with documentation on the wiki

Application

Please sign up on the official list at the secretary with Daniela Dembowski.

All applicants are encouraged, to send an email

To: Martin Schneider
Subject: Self-Organisation by Design /// Application

Please provide a short answer to the questions below:

• What's your programming expertise? (Programming languages, generative works, projects ...)
• What do you already know about self-organisation (Books you read, related courses you took)
• What kind of computational processes are you most interested in? (Cellular Automata, Swarm Systems ...)
• What kind of patterns in nature would you like to learn more about?

Syllabus

This is an outline of the syllabus.
The dates are fixed, but details of the course may be subject to change.

Block	Date	Day	Topics
Computational Systems	29.11.2013	Fri	Cellular Automata
	30.11.1013	Sat	Particle Systems
	01.12.2013	Sun	Vector Fields
Geometric Systems	06.12.2013	Fri	Swarm Art
	07.12.1013	Sat	Geometric Physics
	08.12.2013	Sun	Geometric Chemistry
Natural Systems	13.12.2013	Fri	Patterns in Nature 1
	14.12.1013	Sat	Patterns in Nature 2
	15.12.2013	Sun	Patterns in Nature 3

Links

Virtual Classroom

Open Processing is a website for learning Processing and sharing sketches.
The virtual classroom "Self-Organisation by Design" will be used extensively both during the course, and to publish your assignments.

Inspiration

Below is a list of resources provided by scientists, artists and designers, that rely heavily on nature inspired self-organisation in their work.

Self-Organisation Collection

Martin Schneider has created four collections of Processing sketches to give you an impression what self-organisation in software can look like.

• Pattern Formation
• Swarming and Flocking
• Geometric Physics
• Geometric Chemistry

The Nature of Code

Daniel Shiffman has published a Processing book on Natural Systems, that is available online.
Some chapters are quite relevant to the kind of systems we are going to explore in our course.

• Particle Systems
• Cellular Automata
• Fractals

Inspired by the Nature of Code, Diana Lange did her own explorations of Natural Systems.
Her works are an excellent example of what you can achieve with Processing given the right combination of artistic and programming skills, dedication to the subject and a good eye for visual detail.

• Diana Lange's Nature of Code
• OpenProcessing Portfolio of Diana Lange

Nervous System

Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Eisenberg are making use of self-organisation to generate 2D and 3D printable forms.
Their work relies on scientific models of growth, such as Diffusion Limited Aggregation and Laplacian Growth which we will explore in our course.

• Nervous System on Flickr
• Generative Jigsaw Puzzles
• Multiphase Numerical Modeling of Dendritic Solidification for Jigsaw Puzzle Generation

Jonathan McCabe

Jonathan McCabe is a scientist who uses self-organisation to create art.
His works are visually stunning and unique, and the code behind them is a well-kept secret.
However the open source community has managed to recreate some of his algorithms in Processing. We will study those algorithms and explore the kind of patterns they can create.

• Jonathan McCabe's Art on Flickr
• Turing-McCabe Pattern Explorer
• Cyclic Symmetric Multi-Scale Turing Patterns