Emergent Form

What is Emergent Form?

Emergent Form is an interdisciplinary multi-part event featuring discussions, performative lectures, performances and guerrilla exhibitions in Toronto (Apr. 10-11-12) and Ottawa (Apr. 14).

Nature teems with self-organized forms that seem to spring spontaneously from the smooth background of things, by mechanisms that are not always apparent. Think of rippled sand on a beach or regular stripes in the clouds. Plants, insects and animals exhibit spirals and spots and stripes in an exuberant riot of colours. Fluid flows in amazingly regular swirls and eddies. The emergence of form is ubiquitous, and presents a challenge and an inspiration to both artists and scientists. In mathematics, patterns appear as solutions of the nonlinear partial differential equations in the continuum limit of classical physics, chemistry and biology. In the arts and humanities, “emergent form” addresses the entangled ways in which humans, plants animals, microorganisms inevitably co-exist in the universe; the way that human intervention and natural transformation can generate new landscapes and new forms of life.

With Emergent Form, we want to question the idea of a fixed world.

For us, Emergent Form is not just a series of natural and human phenomena too complicated to understand, measure or predict, but also a concept to help us identify ways in which we can come to term with, and embrace their complexity as a source of inspiration.

An interdisciplinary concept

Tue. Apr 10
6:00-8:00 pm
The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences,
222 College Street
Toronto M5T 3J1
RSVP

Pier Luigi Capucci, Accademia di Belle Arti Urbino. Founder and director, Noemalab

Charles SowersIndependent artist and exhibit designer, the Exploratorium

Stephen Morris, Professor of of Physics University of Toronto

Ron Wild, smART Maps

Anatomy of an Interconnected System

Wed. Apr 11
6:00-8:00 pm
The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences
222 College Street,
M5T 3J1 Toronto
Anatomy of an Interconnected System
A Performative Lecture with Margherita Pevere, Aalto University, Helsinki
RSVP

Thu. Apr 12
5:00 pm
Cabinets in the Koffler Student Centre
214 College Street
Toronto
Anatomy of an Interconnected System part II
An exhibition by Margherita Pevere

Margherita Pevere is  “fascinated by the connection between humans and nature, and how the pervasive introduction of technology into all aspects of our lives is affecting this relationship. Her work puts living organisms and technology in the spotlight to incite the debate over where our “hyper-technological era” is headed” (from Clara Rodriguez Fernandez, Memories Encoded in DNA and Biological Reliques, 2017).

Anatomy of an Interconnected system is a performative lecture that focuses on the human-nature interconnection in the frame of the emergent environmental crisis. It is structured in two parts – a lecture and a participative performance – which aim at manifesting the transient concepts underpinning the human-nature complex.

Margherita Pevere’s performance will be site-specific, making full use of the space at the fields Institute and treating the audience/participants to a few surprises.

The memories and material gathered during the performative lecture will join Pevere’s recent work, leading to an installation which will open the next day in the Koffler Students Centre

 Image credit: Tim Deussen 2017

biopoetriX – conFiGURing AI

Thu, 12 April 2018
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
The Luella Massey Studio Theatre
4 Glen Morris Avenue
University of Toronto
Toronto, M5S 1J1
RSVP

A collaboration between the ArtSci Salon at the FIeld’s Institute, the Digital Dramaturgy Lab (DDL) / Institute for Digital Humanities in Performance (idHIP) and the International Performance Series of the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto.

This event is part of the International LASER – Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous

6pm
Performance: “Corpus Nil. A Ritual of Birth for a Modified Body” conceived and performed by Marco Donnarumma (Canadian premiere)

6:30pm
LAB dance: 
Blitz media posters on labs in the arts, sciences and engineering as represented by our panel below

10 min. intermission

7:10pm
Panel: 
Performing AI, hybrid media and humans in/as technology

Panel participants: Dr. Marco DonnarummaDr. Doug van Nort (Dispersion Lab, York U.), Jane Tingley (Stratford User Research & Gameful Experiences Lab (SURGE), U of Waterloo), Dr. Angela Schoellig (Dynamic Systems Lab, U of T)

Panel animators: Dr. Antje Budde (Digital Dramaturgy Lab) and Dr. Roberta Buiani (ArtSci Salon)

Followed by a reception at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (496 Huron St.) 8:15 – 10pm

Tickets are by donation; 100% of donations will go towards covering Marco Donnarumma’s artist fee.

Concept and event dramaturgy: Antje Budde and Roberta Buiani with DDL collaborators Sanja Vodovnik, Nina Czegledy, Berna Celikkaya, Richard Windeyer
Technical Director: Paul Stoesser
Event media interface design: Montgomery C. Martin (DDL)
TPA Assistant: Ross Slaughter
Event music design: Richard Windeyer (DDL)

Event supported by:

Italian Embassy in Canada; Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at U of T; Istituto Italiano di Cultura; Digital Dramaturgy Lab
community partner: GYBO Robotics

LASER – Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous is a project of Leonardo® /ISAST

 

Emergent Form and Complex Phenomena

Apr. 14, 2018
11:00 am-1:00 pm
Rossy Pavillion
National Arts Centre
1 Elgin Street
Ottawa K1P 5W1
RSVP

A creative panel discussion and surprise demonstrations
The world is a complicated engine. How can we make sense of it? How do artists and scientists turn its complexity into a source of inspiration?

Emergent Form and Complex Phenomena is the last event of a four-parts interdisciplinary series which took place in Toronto at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences on Apr 10-11-12. Consisting of talks, performances, workshops and exhibitions, the series reflected on the idea of “Emergent Form” not only as a series of natural and human phenomena that often seem too complicated to understand, measure or predict, but also as a concept that helps us identify ways in which we can come to term with, and embrace their complexity as a source of inspiration.

in the spirit of this event, we are venturing outside of the comfort zone of our familiar environment (the city of Toronto, our homes, our community) and we become unexpected “emergent forms” ourselves: what kind of discussion will we be able to evoke? in how many ways can we spell this concept? from what disciplinary perspective? as our special panelists share their findings, we invite artists, mathematicians, philosophers, academic and non-academics in Ottawa to join in the conversation.

With

Pier Luigi CapucciAccademia di Belle Arti Urbino. Founder and director, Noemalab

Stephen MorrisProfessor of of Physics University of Toronto

Margherita Peverebioartist, performer and PhD candidate, Aalto University, Helsinki

Marco DonnarummaArtist and scholar in biophysical sound, Berlin