Fractals - Their Place in the Evolution of Western Arts
Nature is mostly made of fractals.
By contrast, man-made objects are usually using linear math .
.
.
straight lines, simple curves, etc.
For about a thousand years, the progression of the Western Art Tradition has been mostly about symbols, rather than reality.
An obvious examples is music where up until a few decades ago, Western Art Tradition (ie.
Classical) music was almost entirely about notes which are symbols of sound rather than sounds themselves.
In music, the progression has mostly been an increasing complexity of allowed symbolic relationships, from plainsong where only the simplest mathematical ratios (octaves, 5ths, 4ths) were allowed through equal-tempered scales, to 12-tone music and microtones.
All of which stayed within the one symbolic system of notes.
When the development of this system (notes) reached its logical conclusion, the only way forward was to go beyond the system itself, to actual sound, rather than notes, ie.
to reality rather than symbols.
This is the ambient revolution in music (which came out of the classical and "pop" genres simultaneously) which could be said to be the most significant revolution in the western art tradition music in a thousand years.
After a progressively increasing range of mostly symbolic subject matter, a similar revolution in visual art began at about the same time with Turners works which are very nearly abstract in nature, and very fractal.
So, what has this got to do with fractals? Well, a note is not a fractal, but a sound is.
The way that musical instruments make sounds is fundamentally fractal in nature, both the generator of the sound such as air hitting an edge (wind instruments, voice, organ) or a bow dragging and releasing a string, and the resonant system (a harmonic series is a fractal .
.
.
see the obvious self-similarity).
Also, contemporary music (whether it be "classical" or pop/rock etc.
) uses sounds from nature as part of the music itself.
Currently it's the sound, rather than the notes, which is of greatest importance in most musical forms.
Fractals, as part of the ambient/abstract revolution, are very much part of the ongoing evolution of Western Arts.
By contrast, man-made objects are usually using linear math .
.
.
straight lines, simple curves, etc.
For about a thousand years, the progression of the Western Art Tradition has been mostly about symbols, rather than reality.
An obvious examples is music where up until a few decades ago, Western Art Tradition (ie.
Classical) music was almost entirely about notes which are symbols of sound rather than sounds themselves.
In music, the progression has mostly been an increasing complexity of allowed symbolic relationships, from plainsong where only the simplest mathematical ratios (octaves, 5ths, 4ths) were allowed through equal-tempered scales, to 12-tone music and microtones.
All of which stayed within the one symbolic system of notes.
When the development of this system (notes) reached its logical conclusion, the only way forward was to go beyond the system itself, to actual sound, rather than notes, ie.
to reality rather than symbols.
This is the ambient revolution in music (which came out of the classical and "pop" genres simultaneously) which could be said to be the most significant revolution in the western art tradition music in a thousand years.
After a progressively increasing range of mostly symbolic subject matter, a similar revolution in visual art began at about the same time with Turners works which are very nearly abstract in nature, and very fractal.
So, what has this got to do with fractals? Well, a note is not a fractal, but a sound is.
The way that musical instruments make sounds is fundamentally fractal in nature, both the generator of the sound such as air hitting an edge (wind instruments, voice, organ) or a bow dragging and releasing a string, and the resonant system (a harmonic series is a fractal .
.
.
see the obvious self-similarity).
Also, contemporary music (whether it be "classical" or pop/rock etc.
) uses sounds from nature as part of the music itself.
Currently it's the sound, rather than the notes, which is of greatest importance in most musical forms.
Fractals, as part of the ambient/abstract revolution, are very much part of the ongoing evolution of Western Arts.
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