Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1992 - 15

whar is beauriful.
"\xrhy is geomecry ofren described as
cold and dry) One reason lies in irs
inabiliry co describe rhe shape of a cloud,
a moumain, a coasdine or a cree. Clouds
are nor spheres, moumains are nor cones,
coasdines are nor circles, and bark is nor
smoorh, nor does lighrning rravel in a
scraighr line... Tarure exhibirs nor simply
a higher degree bur an alcogerher differem level of complexity The number of
disrincr scales of lengrh of panerns is for
all purposes infinire." "
The idea of infinire scale and panern
is explained in rhe lirerarure on chaos by
looking ar rhe lengrh of a coasdine. [f we
measure rhe coasrline of Brirain on a
map, one lengrh is derermined. A more
derailed map will give a longer lengrh. By
walking rhe coasr and measuring wirh a
ruler, anorher figure is obrained. On
hands and knees and using a microscope,
srill anorher measuremem is produced
and rhe process courinues co infinity.
Coasdines are also examples of selfsimilar and scaleless forms. [n orher
words, no maner ar whar scale or from
whar disrance we look ar a coasdine, ir
looks like a coasdine. From an airplane or
when walking on rhe beach, rhe same
characrerisric bays and inlers are evidenr.
Mandelbror found rhar compurer
images represenring rhe formulae for
irregular evems in narural processes had a
common and characrerisric form, somerhing like a gingerbread man wirh a
spikeyoudine. sing rhe compurers abiliry co magnify any ponion of rhe shape,
he found rhar rhe spikey ourline conrained more gingerbread men and rhe
same ourline. More magnificarions
revealed rhar rhe complex oudine cominued (Q infiniry. Ar any scale, rhe
Mandelbror Ser is self-similar, rhe ulrimare fracral.
In narure, alrhough rhe parrerns of
self-similariry may only exrend for rhree
or four levels, rhey are all around us: in
clouds, crees, leaves, blood vessels and
fearhers. The ubiquiry of fracral geomerry in narural forms leads co compelling
rheories abour our perceprion of fracrals
and our innarc scnse of rhe beauriful.

CHAOS AND THE ARTS
i\landelbror argues rhar geomerrical
shapes such as rhose box-like buildings
produced in rhe [mernarional or Bauhaus
schools of archirecrure are nor pleasing.
Fracral shapes, combining order and disorder, complexirv and self-similariry
across scales, are so much a parr of
human biology rhar we find beaury in
clouds, crees and seashores as well as in

designs rhar comain rhese qualiries. He
cires rhe Paris Opera as an example.
When we see rhe building ar a disrance,
rhe complex oudine is beauriful. As we
ger closer, rhe largesr srarues and decorarions are pleasing. And when we are very
close, rhere are moldings and derails rhar
cominue co hold our anemion. '-'
Science and posrmodernisrs seem co
have come up wirh rhe same ideas ar rhe
same rime: Complexiry is in, simpliciry is
passe. Alrhough we have always judged
works of an on rhe basis of rheir deprhclassics reveal more meaning each rime
we re-experience rhem-are we now in
an era which demands complexiry of
form as well as complexiry of significance?
Fracral research has already reached
rhe ans. Dr. Kennerh J. Hsu and his son
Andrew published a paper which proposes rhar music-Bach is rheir examplecan be reduced co a fracral framework.
ew nares added ro rhe basic form will
creare "new" Bach pieces. "
As a sure sign rhar imeresr in fracrals
has arrived, a brochure from Fracral
Generarion in Miami, FL, announces
"Fracral Arrwear," a line ofT-shins and
swearshirrs imprinred wirh fracral
designs. As rhe brochure rells us,
"Perhaps rhe mosr convincing argumem
in favor of rhe srudy of fracrals is rheir
sheer beaury." Thar beaury has been
employed in Hollywood, where fracral
compurer an has helped produce orherworldly landscapes for
movies. In 1984, an exhibirion of fracral arc was
mounred and documemed
in a widely available book,
"The Beauty of Fracrals." "
Fracrals and chaos suggesr anorher aesrheric principle. They rell us rhar
boundaries are rhe mosr
inreresring place ro look.
Wirh fracrals ir is rhe place
where jusr one more compurer irerarion causes rhe
shape (Q change, wirh
chaoric sysrems ir is rhe
insranr berween calm and
rurbulence, wirh narure ir is
rhe insram in which life is
creared.
In rhe rhearre, we are rhrilled by
momenrs of recognirion, by our own
sudden insighrs, and by a characrer moving over rhe edge from one srare (Q
anorher. A characrer who is in love is nor
very couching, bur rhe momem berween
nor being in love and being in love, when
rhe realizarion hirs, can affecr us deeply.
Designers havc always been con-

cerned wirh boundaries. The:.' use moldings co cover joims and co add imeresr.
They are aware of rhe line bem'een negarive and posirive shapes, of rhe profile of
walls againsr a eyc, of rhe shape of a cosrume and of rhe imersecrion of rwo colors. The added anemion ro boundaries
may be like M. Joudain's realizarion rhar
he had been speaking prose all his life, a
perceprion rhar whar has been done au comarically has rules and reasons.
Anisrs have also been a\\'are, on some
level or anorher, of rhe effecrs of self-simi1ariry, fracrals and boundaries. The
imporrance of chaos research is in rhe
changes ir is bringing co rhe way we rhink
abour rhe way rhe world works. ",'a
Prigogine and Isabelle Srengers rell :IS,
"Each grear period of science has led ro
some model of narure. For classical science ir was rhe clock; for 19rh cenrurv
science, rhe period of rhe [ndusrri;1
Revolurion, ir was rhe engine running
down. Whar will be rhe symbol for us?" 1"
Prigogine and Srengers answer rheir
own quesrion and suggesr rhar rhe image
for our rime may be somerhing like rhe
dancing Shiva, "a juncrion berween srillness and marion, rime arresred and rime
passing." 1- Their choice of an image resrs
on rhe abandonmenr of rhe rime
employed in ewconian physics in which
phenomena were borh linear and
reversible, and where a machine like universe was predicrable-assuming we had
all rhe informarion needed ro calculare

cause and effecr. The concepr of such a
universe ignored much of narure rhar was
chaoric.
ow rhar chaos is being considered,
we musr again look ar rhe age-old problem of fare, of dercrminism versus free
will. Progogine and Srcngers offer us a
rheory. They see sysrems rcaching a poim
where flucruarions wirhin rhe sysrcm
rhrearcn irs equilibrium. Ar rhis bifurcaTD&T

1992 SPRING

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1992