Tuesday, February 15, 2011

11.398 MATTHEW BARNEY



MATHHEW BARNEY. AMERICAN ARTIST WHO WORKS IN SCULPTURE, PHOTOGRAPHY, DRAWING AND FILM. FROM SCULPTURAL INSTALLATIONS COMBINED WITH PERFORMANCE AND VIDEO. HE CREATED THE CREMASTER CYCLE. DRAWING RESTRAINTS 1–6 (1987–89) WERE DOCUMENTED WITH VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHY. A MAJOR PROJECT CONSISTING OF A FEATURE-LENGTH FILM WITH SOUNDTRACK COMPOSED BY BJÖRK, LARGE-SCALE SCULPTURES, PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS, HIS GRAPHITE AND PETROLEUM JELLY DRAWINGS. HE HAS EXPLORED LIVE PERFORMANCE BEFORE AN AUDIENCE A RITUALISTIC EXPLORATION OF EGYPTIAN SYMBOLISM IN ANCIENT NIGHTS. WIKI VIEW HISTORY.

11.397 BENOIT MANDELBROT




FRENCH AMERICAN MATHEMATICIAN. FATHER OF FRACTAL GEOMETRY. MANDELBROT COINED THE TERM FRACTAL AND PUBLISHED HIS IDEAS IN LES OBJETS FRACTALS, FORME, HASARD ET DIMENSION (1975; AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION FRACTALS: FORM, CHANCE AND DIMENSION WAS PUBLISHED IN 1977). HE BELIEVED THAT FRACTALS, FAR FROM BEING UNNATURAL, WERE IN MANY WAYS MORE INTUITIVE AND NATURAL THAN THE ARTIFICIALLY SMOOTH OBJECTS OF TRADITIONAL EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY. HE PUBLISHED THE FRACTAL GEOMETRY OF NATURE ACCESSIBLE TO NON-SPECIALISTS. WHERE HE STATED CLOUDS ARE NOT SPHERES, MOUNTAINS ARE NOT CONES, COASTLINES ARE NOT CIRCLES, AND BARK IS NOT SMOOTH, NOR DOES LIGHTNING TRAVEL IN A STRAIGHT LINE. WIKY. VIEW HISTORY

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

11.392 AI WEI WEI



AI WIE WIE. CHINESE ARTIST, CURATOR, ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER, SOCIAL COMMENTATOR, AND ACTIVIST ESTABLISH THE EXPERIMENTAL ARTISTS' GROUP BEIJING EAST VILLAGE AND PUBLISHED THREE BOOKS ABOUT THIS NEW GENERATION BLACK COVER BOOK (1994), WHITE COVER BOOK (1995), AND GRAY COVER BOOK (1997). FOCUSED AT EXPOSING CORRUPTION SCANDAL IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SICHUAN SCHOOLS THAT COLLAPSED DURING THE 2008 SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE FOR THIS HE CREATED THE INSTALLATION REMEMBERING MADE OUT OF 9000 CHILDREN'S BACKPACKS. IN CHINESE CHARACTERS. IN 2010, SUNFLOWER SEEDS WAS INSTALLED AT THE TATE MODERN TURBINE HALL, ONE HUNDRED MILLION PORCELAIN "SEEDS," HAND-PAINTED IN THE TOWN OF JINGDEZHEN BY 1,600 CHINESE ARTISANS. WIKI. VIEW HISTORY.