From Thursday's Lecture

Jacqueline and I went to the Blanton last Thursday night for a lecture, but no one was present when we arrived, a little late already, and the doors were locked. Then, on the ground, ON THE GROUND! where it is dark, by our feet, not on the door where you'd expect it, was a poster-board sign with permanent marker directions for the new building location - which the lecture had apparently been moved to... and an arrow pointing...straight? Neither of us were familiar with the building mentioned, so we started walking in the direction the arrow appeared to point. Almost too much of a distance later, we came to another poster-board note pointing...straight still? Okay. Walking along. There's a street to cross, guess keep straight? Almost another too much of a distance later, we come to third poster-board note pointing...left? And then, not too far away, but not on the ground where we've come to expect it, is the final poster-board stuck on the doors of a building. We enter, 20 minutes late. Someone is up there talking. We think it is the speaker until he says, "It is my pleasure to introduce Zach Booth Simpson. 

Notes on a guest check from the talk "The Evolution of Evolutionary Design" by Zach Booth Simpson

- genetic art design

- Art/science intersection

What is art? Unanswerable. Art is whatever you say it is and good art is whatever I say it is. You know it when you see it.

What we are going to talk about is the evolution of evolutionary design.

- splitting of art and craft [Jacqueline and I think Lisa would be interested in this part]

- week link has been the mechanical reproduction

- first began to split with emergence of architecture

- the future is mass customization...and 3D printers

- we can explore objects we've never been able to make before

- the way nature builds things...organisms build things from the inside out BOTTOM UP ASSEMBLY whales and trees built from seeds, contains the instructions to grow into these from the start [Jacqueline and I think Cecelia would find this fascinating]

grow, self-repair, adaptation all built in

When you create something, it gives you new questions that you never knew to ask before! [I like this part]

Form = Process

Life is a process

Form = Function

Art is about distilling the essence of something [I like this part too]