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

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)

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)

Language

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

Eligible Participants

Undergraduates and graduates enrolled in the faculties of Media, Gestaltung and Architecture.

Requirements

Applicants should have some programming experience and feel comfortable with the Processing IDE.

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
I. Computational Systems	29.11.2013	Fri	Cellular Automata
	30.11.1013	Sat	Particle Systems
	01.12.2013	Sun	Vector Fields
II. Geometric Systems	06.12.2013	Fri	Swarm Art
	07.12.1013	Sat	Geometric Physics
	08.12.2013	Sun	Geometric Chemistry
III. Natural Systems	13.12.2013	Fri	Patterns in Nature I
	14.12.1013	Sat	Patterns in Nature II
	15.12.2013	Sun	Patterns in Society

Evaluation

• 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

Links

Processing

Check out the Processing links in this wiki if you are new to Processing.
Make sure to get comfortable with the Processing IDE before the course, so we can dive right into the code.

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 + Scientific Paper (PDF)

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
• Cyclic Symmetric Multi-Scale Turing Patterns
• Turing-McCabe Pattern Explorer

Literature

Processing

• Bartmann, Erik: Processing: kreativ programmieren mit Processing; für Designer, Künstler und Geeks; visuelle Welten gestalten ISBN 978-3-89721-997-7
• Greenberg, Ira Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art ISBN 9781590596173
• Hartmut Bohnacker, Benedikt Groß, Julia Laub (herausg.: Lazzeroni, Claudius): Generative Gestaltung: Entwerfen. Programmieren. Visualisieren. ISBN 978-3-87439-759-9
• Maeda, John: Creative Code: Ästhetik und Programmierung am MIT Media Lab ISBN 3764371080
• Maeda, John: Maeda@media ISBN 0500282358
• Noble, Joshua: Programming interactivity: a designer's guide to processing, Arduino, and openFrameworks ISBN 0-596-15414-3
• Pearson, Matt: Generative Art - A Practical Guide Using Processing, 2011 Manning, ISBN 978-1935182627
• Reas, Casey; Fry, Ben: Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists ISBN 978-0262182621
• Reas, Casey; McWilliams, Chandler: Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture ISBN 978-1568989372
• Shiffman, Daniel Learning Processing: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Images, Animation, and Interaction ISBN 9780123736024
• Terzidis, Kostas: Algorithms for visual design using the processing language ISBN 978-0-470-37548-8

Further Reading

There are a couple of books in the Semesterapparat of Things that organize themselves, that you might want to flip trough:

Semesterapparat WS2013 (Limona Empore bis 15.02.2014)

• Wilson, E.O; Helldöber B.: The Ants ISBN 3-540-52092-9 (El 2072/3)
• Wilson, Stephen: Art + Science Now ISBN 0-500-23868-5 (Ih 1073/2)
• Küppers, Günter: Chaos und Ordnung: Formen der Selbstorganisation in Natur und Gesellschaft ISBN 3-15-009434-8 (137 658/2)
• Margulis, L; Asikainen C.A.; Krumbein W.E. Chimeras and Consciousness: Evolution of the Sensory Self ISBN 978-0262515832 (bestellt)
• Trogemann, Georg; Viehoff, Jochen: CodeArt: eine elementare Einführung in die Programmierung als künstlerische Praktik ISBN 3-211-20438-5 (Lb 6600/4)
• Trogemann Georg: Code und Material: Exkursionen ins Undingliche ISBN 978-3-7091-0120-9 (246 434)
• Pickering, Andrew The cybernetic brain: sketches of another future ISBN 0-226-66789-8 (Lb 5610/30)
• Wilson, Stephen: Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology ISBN 978-0262731584 (bestellt)
• Freitas, R.A., Merkle, R.C.: Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines ISBN 978-1570596902 (bestellt)
• Ausstellung Kunstmaschinen - Maschinenkunst ISBN 978-3-939583-40-0 (Ie 6480/4)
• Spencer-Brown, George: Laws of Form ISBN 3-89094-321-7 (Eb 1200/26)
• Kauffman Stewart: Der Öltropfen im Wasser ISBN 978-3492226547 (bestellt)
• Schmidt, Petra: Patterns: Muster in Design, Kunst und Architektur ISBN 978-3-7643-7185-2 (Ie 2500/1:1)
• Teichmann, KlauS, Wilke, Joachim: Prozeß und Form "Natürlicher Konstruktionen" ISBN 3-433-02883-4 (Ne 4081/4)
• Wellmann Marc: Romantische Maschinen ISBN 978-3-86832-005-3 (Ie 6480/6)