Whether you are a fan of comic books or not, this is an entertaining TED talk and here is why: it expounds the process of thought and observational connectivity in science and in the arts. Uh- what does that mean? In simpler terms, this short TED lecture explains how a scientific mind operates in the arts.
Narrator Scott McCloud is the son of a blind genius.
His Father was a rocket scientist and inventor for the US defense industry and his siblings are all working in the Sciences. Scott on the other hand, is a comic book artist.
At the start of his TED talk, Scott refers to his Father and explains that the ‘apple’ really doesn’t fall that far from the ‘tree’- it’s tough to fight genetics. He came to realize that working in Comic Books is actually not that different from working in Science and that our contemporary understanding of how we define art and understand media is wrong. It is, he says, one of interrelated connectivity based on thought and observation. In other words- Variantology.
Scott McCloud. Comic creator and Variantologist.
This is a short lecture weighing in at a little over 17 minutes. Scott does an artful job of breaking down the ‘modus operandi’ of curious minds. He summarizes insight using a K.I.S.S. quadrant grid that shows that our processes of thought are indeed interrelated. Using a four-sectioned pyramid, he helps rearrange and reuse a mathematical formula- illustrating how the Classicist, the Formalist, the Animist and the Iconoclast are all just parts of the same formula of human experience and thought. As in scientific investigation and theorizing, creativity in the arts is powered by human experience and thought.
Things worth remembering.
Scott offers a “quick bake” recipe for meaningful results: Learn from everyone. Follow no one. Watch for patterns. Work like Hell. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker
Transcending time, transcending linear thought, transcending singularity. The ‘comic strip’ panel has been used throughout the ages- it’s a mystic form of communication.
“Digital Domestic Dialogues” stages a near future in which technology has acquired an emotional and sensitive intelligence: it is capable of exciting itself and others through everyday gestures as an analog and primordial archive of human communication, culture and social dynamics.
Robots and users interact with a range of seemingly familiar objects through simple and natural gestures, triggering scenarios of everyday wonder. The collection, born out of a design exploration within the Habits Design Studio team, is a reflection on the poetic role of technology in the digital evolution of the domestic scenario. Technical Partners: Laminam, Giovanardi
COSMO
“Cosmo” is a lamp born from the desire to infuse new life into the act of lighting; the idea is to return to the primordial concept of fire, which through propagating from one body to another expands the quantity and at the same time transfers the luminous qualities of the flame.
“Cosmo” is able to learn the characteristics of the light source placed below it, detecting its intensity, color, movement, returning the effect to the environment and creating dynamic light scenarios.
The user is called upon to create the desired atmosphere himself by experimenting with direct sources, such as a candle flame or telephone flashlight; or by showing the lamp a video of a sunset, or another special moment he can evoke a light scenario. Turning it on thus becomes once again an exciting moment of awe and wonder.
The design of the lamp draws inspiration from scientific representations of black holes, the only phenomenon found in nature able to absorb light radiation. The captured light, is then returned to the environment dynamically and three-dimensionally by the spherical diffuser, allowing the creation of a 360° light scene, similar to HDRI images used in digital rendering software.
“Cosmo” redefines the boundaries of properties normally attributed to lighting fixtures with its ability to learn, imitate and stage emotions through light. Project by Selma Antonellini, Habits Design
RITO
The coat rack, a familiar but often overlooked object, is the subject of this project, which offers a contemporary reinterpretation of it with the product “Rito”; no longer just a support point, but an active companion that enriches the daily routine and transforms the experience of entering the home.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, “Rito”reacts to the presence of inhabitants, and recognizes when clothes and objects are hung or removed, interpreting the situation and animating the entrance area with dynamic projections on the wall.
The name “Rito” stems from a reflection on the fact that moments of entry and return home, though fleeting and temporary, are precious fragments of our lives, each with its own unique meaning and value. While some may be more ordinary and repetitive, such as returning after a day’s work or a morning walk with the dog, others can be more special and emotional, like returning after a long journey.
Regardless of the nature of the return, “Rito” aims to transform every entry and departure from home into a moment of warmth and hospitality. Its projections bring the wall to life, animating it with contextual content.
Before leaving the dwelling, “Rito” transforms the wall into a dynamic and inspiring space, offering motivational content, helpful tips, and personalized reminders. Upon return, it welcomes with tailor-made evocative scenarios, reigniting the surrounding environment and making the return even more pleasant and familiar. Project by Ilaria Tarozzi and Ilaria Vitali, Habits Design
VISIONARIA
VISIONARIA is a digital device that combines literary tradition with artificial intelligence, offering an innovative reading experience. Digital integration enhances the potential of printed material and opens up new imaginative horizons, transforming reading into a visual and artistic experience.
By swiping across the lines of a page in a book, similarly to how we would underline a beloved or noteworthy phrase, VISIONARIA recognizes the text. The selected phrase is then instantly input as a prompt into a dedicated AI generator, aiming to create an image of the book scene that can be viewed in real-time.
This mode of consumption, aided by the product’s pencil-like shape, introduces a new dimension to the reading experience, encouraging increased engagement that can be intimate and profound or shared on larger devices such as smartphones, TVs, and more, ensuring flexibility depending on the context – be it at home for relaxation and entertainment, in education, enhancing the consumption of educational content, or in public settings, stimulating imagination in artistic installations.
With VISIONARIA, literature evolves and broadens the spectrum of an age-old activity through an extremely accessible mode, towards unexplored scenarios in the world of culture and entertainment. Project by Alberto Milano, Michele Poggi, Marco Rissetto, Habits Design
1g1lm
1g1lm represents the unusual marriage of two seemingly incompatible units of measurement: “g” for weight in grams and “lm” for luminous flux in lumens. This lamp was born from a simple but fascinating question, “What would be the effect if light had a tangible weight?”
To visualize the weight, the lamp uses an elastic fabric on top. By placing an object on top of it, the fabric deforms, generating a unique and unrepeatable aesthetic because it is shaped directly by the weight, not predetermined by the designer. In addition, as the deformation increases, so does the intensity of light. Due to the light diffusion of the fabric, the light seems to take shape and weight. In the act of placing and taking objects, an impossible interaction with the very essence of light is realized, made solid and tangible for a moment.
1g1lm writes a new equation between light and matter, giving birth to a new ritual rich in poetry and at the same time exploring new alternative scenarios: proposing, in contrast to the digitization of the real, to make, through technology, concrete experiences that were once ephemeral and intangible.
Habits Design
Habits is a multidisciplinary industrial design studio, founded in 2004 by Innocenzo Rifino and Diego Rossi in Milan. The work of the studio is focused on technological and interactive projects of international relevance, partnering with companies to design timeless products and experiences.
The team is composed of industrial designers, electronic and mechanical engineers, model makers, interaction and visual designers, and interior designers with a global point of view. Recognizing the unique Asian technological know-how, Habits started a branch in Bangkok in 2021.With over 20 years of experience in a wide range of industries, today Habits mainly covers digital products, home appliances, automation, lighting, UX/UI, and phygital interfaces.
The team awarded more than 180 international design prizes such as Red Dot, IF, Compasso d’Oro, Design Plus, Good Design, and German Design Award. “We study science and art. We design new habits. Prototyping our ideas, embedding electronics, we reduce the gap between physical and digital.”
Laminam
Pioneers since the beginning.
Laminam was born in the early 2000s, following the invention of production technologies to create ultra- thin ceramic surfaces of large dimensions. A pioneering company, it was the first to revolutionize the ceramics market, giving new impetus to a mature sector, betting on the intuition of creating large architectural surfaces and launching innovative sizes and thicknesses on the market. Over the years, the company has developed a production process characterized by innovative methods and highly automated technologies typical of Industry 4.0 such as digital decoration systems, dry cutting systems and internal logistics managed by automatic laser-guided vehicles. These are methods and technologies that increase energy efficiency while reducing environmental impact.
Today Laminam produces and offers a range of eclectic and versatile large ceramic surfaces used in many applications – from traditional and advanced architecture to furniture and design – distributed in over 100 countries worldwide. Over the years, the series have been enriched with new textures and finishes to enhance the creativity of designers, architects and anyone who wants to give a new connotation to their spaces.
Giovanardi
Giovanardi designs, industrializes and manufactures supports for in-store communication (displays, merchandising, shop windows, shop in shop, technical packaging) and for art.
Giovanardi’s history began in 1919 as a manufacturer of plaques and dials: today Giovanardi SpA is an advanced, certified company, structured to process projects of increasing complexity, according to up-to-date technologies, with a network of accredited partners and an attentive, flexible, punctual client-service. For 100 years it has been shaping ideas.For the Silo, Elena Assante.
This isn’t such a complex principle after all. Essentially, the idea is- if we can see strong similarities in design between say a Planet and between a structure or diagram that represents something else, then the inherent ‘sameness’ means an intelligence is at work, not some form of randomness. We’d love to hear your thoughts- agree or disagree? Comments are welcome at the bottom of this post CP
Nothing exists for nothing, the universe is not itself made, and nothing in it has nothing to do.
The moment Mankind has been waiting for over a millennium has finally arrived. A tangible proof of off-planet life has occurred. The higher powers have at long last shown their hand.
In nineteen ninety nine, a website called ‘The Revelatorium’ was launched. The website revealed many aspects of the higher dimensions not previously known. By the fall of two thousand and thirteen the Revelatorium had morphed into a full revelation of the Intelligent Design by which all of Creation has been blueprinted and expressed.
The verity of the Design has now been proven in real time.
The drawing is Figure 77 in Chapter 8 of the Revelatorium. The figure depicts the cubistic blueprint of the first six dimensions of the Outer Creation according to the formats of the Intelligent design.
This image is of Saturn’s North Pole and was taken recently by the Cassini probe.
If you carefully compare the Revelatorium and Cassini pictures you will see that they are structurally identical. The Revelatorium drawing was done in two thousand and two. The Cassini probe was launched in 2009.
Both have a clearly defined center hexagon area representing the first, second, and third dimensions collectively. Particularly confirmed is the red circle area in the middle.
A second greenish coloured hexagon ring with pink splotches around the first hexagon ring matches the ring of six different cubit designs around the center of Figure 77, representing the fourth dimension.
A third, blue colored hexagon shaped ring with uniform pink splotches around the second ring matches the ring of twelve identical cubit designs around the second ring of six cubits of Figure 77, representing the fifth dimension.
And finally a fourth hexagon shaped ring with faint pink splotches and completely different background color around the third ring matches the ring of eighteen identical cubit designs around the ring of twelve cubits of Figure 77, representing the six dimension.
A close up of the Cassini image in black and white shows the features more distinctly, in particular the first second and third dimensional hexagon and circle aspects in the middle
In short, the Saturn hexagon is a concrete lower dimensional proof of a higher dimensional factor.
The striking similarities in the respective pictures are not coincidental. The Saturn hexagon is home of the Solar System government. The hexagon is a magnetic resonance reflection in the third dimension of the domain’s six dimensional configuration. The population lives within its fifth dimensional band of materialization, represented by the thick ring in the hexagon, and ring of twelve similar designs in the same location in Figure 77.
As the cubistic matrix of Figure 77 would imply, the whole Intelligent Design is dirt simple and can be understood by anyone. The basic elements of the Intelligent Design consist solely of a sphere, a cube, and straight lines. The rules by which the elements work together hold the key. There is aught in existence not of the Design.
In figure 77, the red spheres represents Intelligence, the blue straight lines represent Energy, and the yellow cubes represents Substance. The attribute of the Father is Intelligence, the attribute of the Son is Energy, and the attribute of the Holy Ghost is Substance. Intelligence, Energy, and Substance is all there is.
The two most fundamental elements of the whole Design are The ‘Cube and Sphere of Alpha and Omega’ and the ‘Cubit’.
The Cube and Sphere comprises the entirety of the fourteenth dimension and acts as interface between the un-materialized inner form of the Creators in their fifteenth dimension as the Holy Trinity and above, and their materialized outer form in the thirteenth dimension and below as ‘Creation’.
The Cube and Sphere projected one dimension down to the thirteenth dimension comprises the ‘Cubit’, shown below. The ‘Cubit’ is the basic genome of Creation. By principle of the Cubit the whole of Creation has been blueprinted and expressed.
If you look again at Figure 77, you will see that it is composed entirely of variations upon the cubit. The variations reflect specifically different frequencies according to rule. By the rule the differing frequencies comprise the differing aspects of Creation. By this simple principle, the Intelligent Design is capable of blueprinting and depicting all of Creation in all of its aspects. The current Creation is over nine hundred trillion light years across and still within its infancy.
The Intelligent Design can be found in its totality at website http://www.revelatorium.com/. For details about every thing going on now inter-dimensionally, also see: http://www.revelatorium.com/. For the Silo, Delahnnovahh-Starr Livingstone.
RAPID CITY, SD- Professor Travis Kowalski starts most days with a squiggle.
For the past eight years, the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology math professor has carried on a family tradition started by his father, who would ask the young Travis to make a squiggle on a piece of paper. From that squiggle, his father would create a drawing. Often, Kowalski’s father would give him a squiggle and the two would sit together drawing.
Nowadays,
Kowalski uses a napkin and markers in his “squiggle game,” and the
recipients are his two daughters – Liliana, 13, and Maia, 9. Kowalski
says he started the tradition when Liliana was entering kindergarten,
hoping the lunch napkin art would make her transition to school easier.
Each evening or early in the morning, Kowalski encouraged his oldest to draw a squiggle on a napkin. The next morning, he turned the squiggle into colorful drawings and slipped it into her lunch box. Once Maia arrived, Kowalski began doing the same for her. “She expected it,” he says.
It’s
not exactly what most people expect from a math professor at an
engineering and science university. But Kowalski, a Ph.D. who currently
serves as the interim head of the Department of Mathematics at SD Mines,
says math and art co-mingle perfectly.
His drawings range from a buffalo against a bright pink sky (drawn May 6, 2019) to an astronaut in space (Jan. 24, 2019), to Kermit the Frog (Dec. 7, 2018), to the composer Bach at his harpsichord (May 14, 2018). Kowalski posts both the starting squiggle and the finished product on his Facebook and Instagram pages.
The
two social media platforms are filled with vibrant, colorful drawings
often accompanied by clever taglines – a bear holding up a paw and
asking, “I would like some salmon, please” and a praying mantis playing a
video game under the title, “Playing Mantis.”
Known on campus for his colorful Hawaiian shirts and clever math-related ties, Kowalski is the professor whose office walls are covered with unique visual art. He’s the kind of professor who sneaks his labradoodle Cauchy, named after French mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy, into class the last day of the semester to play out an obscure (to the general audience at least) mathematics joke. He’s the math teacher who so passionately talks about the subject that even the least math-minded people can’t help but get excited.
And he’s good at what he does in the classroom. So good that Kowalski was recently awarded the 2019 Burton W. Jones Award by the Mathematical Association of America. The award recognizes post-secondary level math instructors nationally who “foster student excitement about mathematics.”
“It’s cool and humbling to be part of that group,” he admits.
Donald
Teets, a Ph.D. professor in the SD Mines math department, is a previous
winner of the award and the person who nominated Kowalski. In his
nomination, Teets writes, “He is, (in this writer’s opinion) the best
teacher in a department devoted to teaching excellence.”
This
is hardly the first recognition for Kowalski, Teets says. In 2014,
Kowalski was awarded the Benard Ennenga Award, which honors one SD Mines
faculty member each year for teaching excellence; and in 2017, he won
the George Polya Award from the Math Association of America for his College Mathematics Journal article, “The Sine of a Single Degree.”
“His
lecture based on ‘The Sine of a Single Degree’ is as good a mathematics
lecture as you will ever see!” Teets wrote in his nomination.
Teets
says the thing that makes Kowalski so good at this job is his
enthusiasm, noting that students consistently rate him on classroom
surveys as “the best math teacher I’ve ever had.” He’s “innovative,”
constantly striving to engage his students and utilize technology into
his teaching, Teets says. “Like Superman wears the big ‘S’ on his chest,
Dr. Kowalski deserves a big ‘I’ for Innovator.”
As
for Kowalski’s artistic talents, Teets is equally as effusive. “As a
person who can barely draw recognizable stick figures, I am in awe of
Travis’s artistic abilities. It’s a great complement to his
extraordinary skills in mathematics!” he says.
Kowalski
grew up in California, raised by a draftsman father and a “crafty”
stepmother. “My dad drew all of the time,” Kowalski says. “That was the
home I grew up in. You drew.”
In college at University of California, Riverside, Kowalski majored in art. To finish off an academic requirement, he enrolled in Calculus 2. A good student in high school, he had already taken an advanced placement Calculus 1 class. He was class valedictorian, but “I worked hard at it. I was not a prodigy,” he says with a laugh.
He
still remembers the Riverside professor’s name who taught his first
college math course – Albert Stralka. He “taught in a way I hadn’t seen
before,” Kowalski says. “There were ideas behind the math.”
When he got an A in that class, the professor convinced him to take Calculus 3.
Next,
the professor suggested he take topology, which is the study of
geometric properties and spatial relations which are unaffected by the
change of shape or size of figures. “It’s the geometry of shapes under
change,” Kolwaski says. “That class blew my mind.”
The
rest is history – after topology Kolwaski changed his major and
embraced a love of mathematics. But he never left his art behind, and
it’s important to understand that the two subjects go hand-in-hand, he
says. “Half of mathematicians do what they do because they think it’s
pretty,” he says of the geometry of math.
As
a math professor at SD Mines, Kolwaski admits that “I still like to sit
and draw things, but I don’t have as much time anymore,” he says.
That’s where his morning squiggle drawings come in.
Each
one of Kowalski’s squiggles for his daughters takes about 15 to 30
minutes from start to finish. “The first part is to see something,” he
says. He spins the napkin around, looking at the squiggle until he
“sees” the picture that will emerge.
Mia
tends to draw extremely elaborate squiggles, sometimes lobbying for a
specific outcome – for instance a unicorn. Other times, his daughters
will bring home requests from friends for specific drawings.
Liliana
has saved all her napkins over the years, storing them in a plastic
container in her room. That made it a little easier for Kowalski when
she came to him recently to say, “What with my school schedule being so
busy and my lunch break so short and closet so full of the ones you’ve
already made me – which I love, thank you – I just don’t think you need
to make me lunch napkins anymore.” Kowalski playfully posted her words
on social media with an image from Boromir’s death from “Fellowship of
the Rings” with arrows sticking from his heart.
Kowalski
says his older daughter relented, most likely after an intervention
from his wife, and is continuing to play the squiggle game. He’s glad,
hoping that both of his daughters will always remember the squiggle game
and maybe even carry it on with their own families one day.
“It’s definitely a great memory about my dad,” he says. “Hopefully it will be the same for them.” For the Silo, Lynn Taylor Rick.
